Page 23 of Drive
“I’m hanging up, Holi. I’ll talk to youto—”
“Don’t hang up—” Holi’s voice rose and ended in a coughingfit.
Rainey wanted to, but she couldn’t hang up on her sister while she was coughing like that. So while she listened to Holi hack and struggle, Rainey closed her eyes and focused on herbreath.
In. Out. In. Out. If she put all of her attention on her breathing, the assault of all other thoughts would wash like waves over a stone and pass over without taking her under. She would be the stone, parting the waves, not being tossed like a haplessskiff.
In. Out. In.Out.
She opened her eyes and searched the living room for her craft satchel. She’d finished the slippers yesterday — two pairs, in fact. She had given Holi the first pair and the second to a nurse, who passed them onto an elderly patient who’d complained of the cold. And she would have started a third, but her last ball of yarn had dwindled to nothing sometime around one in themorning.
As Rainey climbed the stairs on her way to check her room, Holi caught her breath and cleared her throat. “So, this Uber guy — you said his name wasJacques?”
“Mmm-hmm,” Rainey murmured, entering her room and spotting the blessed bag on the foot of her bed. She reached inside for her hook kit and found a skein of Pantone’s Greenery on the top of the yarn pile in her wicker basket. The bright color had been perfect for a cloche she’d made for her mother’s birthday, but there was no reason she couldn’t make a headband with theleftovers.
“He asked you out?” she asked softly when Rainey didn’telaborate.
“Sort of,” she managed on a sigh, tying off the yarn around her G-hook and starting herchain.
“What does ‘sort of’ mean?” Holi’s voice was still gentle,encouraging.
“He asked me to go to one of his shows Thursday night.” She settled cross-legged on the foot of her bed, and Archie jumped up to joinher.
Holi had gone silent. Like Rainey, she was probably remembering the years they’d spent as kids touring with their father. Life on a charter bus. In hotels. A different one every night. The way her father and mother would fight about the drinking and the women and the brokenpromises.
But then Holi spoke, and all of those memories blewaway.
“Do you likehim?”
Her crochet hook froze mid-loop. “I-I’ve only known him for two days, Holi,” Rainey stammered, caught off-guard.
“You know what I mean,” Holi leveled. “Do you like what he’s shownyou.”
Rainey held her breath. Because she didn’t want to admit that she, indeed, did like what he’d shown her. Apart from the fact that he was undeniably attractive — in the sexiest devil-may-care kind of way — she found him intriguing. He was open, yet mysterious. He was clearly talented, yet pretty humble. His taste in music was broader than her own, and she wondered what she might discover just by listening with him as she had the two times she’d ridden in hiscar.
And he waskind.
He’d gone out of his way to return Holi’s book to her yesterday. He’d shown concern for her welfare both after they’d narrowly avoided an accident as well as today when she’d been so upset after leaving the hospital. He’d clearly told her about his father to make her feel better about sharing the truth about her own. And the part about his mother tore at herheart.
“I think so,” she confessedquietly.
“Then it’s simple,” Holi said. “You should give him achance.”
“But—”
“Not every musician is going to be likeDad.”
“Still, the odds aren’t good,” sheargued.
Rainey heard her sister sigh. “Honey, the odds aren’t good for anyrelationship.”
She frowned. “What’s that supposed tomean?”
“Just what I said. Not every relationship is meant to last. Some men cheat. Some women cheat. Sometimes love fades. People grow apart. That’slife.”
A twinge of worry took up residence in Rainey’s stomach. “Are you and Ash okay? Is that what we’re talkingabout.”
“Jeez, no, Rainey. Stop worrying,” she scolded. “I just mean you need to take some chances and try to find more people to put into yourlife.”
