Page 40 of The Music of Us
Not that I had any intention to. But life had been throwing me curveballs lately.
“Hey, Lucy,” Amber began, nervously biting her lip for a second before continuing. “I know you’re always there for me,like how you came to my house every day for a week after my grandfather died, but you know I’m there for you too, right? You can trust me to keep a secret. Like, I know I talk a lot. And maybe say things I shouldn’t. Okay, scratch that. Idefinitelysay things I shouldn’t. But I’d never betray something you told me in confidence.”
“Of course I know you wouldn’t,” I said instantly, dropping a jingle ball into the box with a surprised littletink!What brought this on? “Idotrust you, Amber.”
I pulled her into a half hug, careful not to bump into any more jingle balls.
“If I ever decide to rob a bank, I’m choosing you to drive the getaway car,” I promised.
She hugged me back. “I get to pick the playlist, though.”
“Ugh. Fine.”
“Especially now that I’ve actually met a singer.”
I groaned. Jake Moody even haunted my hypothetical heists.
“But that’s sort of what made me ask,” Amber admitted, letting go of me. “All those times we listened to US, you never told me you actuallyknewJake. Was that because you thought I would’ve blabbed about it? Like, I know you’ve only known me for about a year, but I wouldn’t have, not if you told me not to tell anyone.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Jake’s not someone I talk to anyone about. It’s definitely not you.”
“Ah,” Amber intoned, her eyes lighting up with an eerie look of understanding, like she’d just cracked a puzzle. “So it’shim.”
“Wait, what do you mean it’s—”
“I can see why you two would get along. You both really like cats and are super into music,” Amber mused to herself.“Melrose. Moody. If you two had a ship name, it would beMelody.”
“Excuse me?” I sputtered. “Where did that even come from?”
Amber ignored the flabbergasted look on my face in favor of leaning in like we were about to swap secrets at a slumber party and asking, “So what’s Jakereallylike?”
“I don’t know.”
I exited the pantry.
Catching up with me, Amber grabbed my arm and gave me an incredulous look. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I knew Jake back then, I don’t know him now,” I explained. “He used to be this quiet, unassuming music geek and English class nerd who’d play commercial jingles on his guitar just for fun and happily spend the day hanging out with me at the café.”
“You’re making him sound like a dork.” Amber shook her head. “Jake Moody? Uncool? You’ve got to be messing with me. I don’t believe it.”
As she said this, we rounded the corner and were greeted by the sight of Jake cradling all twenty pounds of Rumpelstiltskin in his arms like a baby as he talked to him.
“Never mind,” Amber said. “I believe it.”
Rumple’s two giant paws tugged at Jake’s chain necklace, and I could practically hear the wheels turning in Rumple’s head as he tried to figure out how to get it off Jake’s pesky, in-the-way neck so he could ferry it back to his hoard.
Shaking my head, I walked over to them and dug through my pockets for a klepto cat distraction. Searching, I took out my house keys, making my Ferris wheel key fob smack lightly against my palm as I did. Technically, my keys would be a perfect distraction, but I kind of needed to get back inside my house.
Reaching into my pocket again, I pulled out an orange bottle cap and tapped my nails against it. Attention caught, Rumple’s head swiveled over to me, his eyes dilating and then narrowing as he took in his new quarry.
Flicking my wrist, I tossed the cap across the room, and in a flash, Rumple let go of Jake’s necklace and sprang after it.
Thieving problem solved, I turned back to Jake, only to find him completely motionless, his eyes zeroed in on my hand, like he’d found the answer to something.
But I didn’t know the question.
What’s so fascinating about house keys?
