Page 84 of The Perfect Melody

“I don’t think adjusting will be a problem. I’m feeling pretty motivated to make time for the things I love.” The tips of his ears darken, and he breaks the moment, patting his guitar. “I will need a quick reminder of the chords for these songs, though.”

“No problem.” I pull up the web browser on my phone, then hand it to him. “Those are the tabs for the first song.”

I give Austin a few minutes to re-familiarise himself with the chords, then we do a few practice runs where I quietly sing along.

“You’ve totally got it,” I tell him when we finish our latest run-through. “Are you ready to add in your vocals?”

“I’m really not much of a singer,” he argues.

“Please. I heard you while you were doing the dishes the other day. You’ve got a great voice.”

He scoffs. “No,you’vegot a great voice. I’m… passable at best.”

“Well, passable is still a pass, so let’s go.”

“You’re not going to drop this, are you?”

I grin. “Nope.”

“Why did I invite you inside my house again?” he teases.

“Probably something to do with all the sex.”

“So, you’re saying I’m just another man facing the repercussions of choices his dick made?”

“You sweet talker. And they say romance is dead,” I quip.

He sighs in defeat.

“Ah, there it is, the fifth and final stage of grief—acceptance.”

Austin snorts, shooting me an incredulous look. “What am I supposed to be grieving?”

I shrug. “The death of your single life?”

“Nothing sad about that, Trouble.”

“How about the loss of your ability to say no to me?” I suggest, batting my lashes.

“That sounds about right. Fine, I’ll sing.” Hesitation creeps into his expression. “Let me run through it a couple of times on my own first?”

“Sure.” I stand up, set my guitar on the couch, then press a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’ll grab us some water from the kitchen. Don’t worry, I’ll wait ten minutes before coming back.”

It only takes seven minutes before I hear the low rumble of Austin’s voice. Smiling, I pick up our glasses of water and head back into the living room only to freeze when I realise that he’s on the phone—myphone.

“Who is this?” A pause. My heart leaps into my throat. What if whoever’s on the other end gives me away? The only people outside of Pine Grove who should have that number are Liam, Bailey, and Ant. None of them would purposefully spill my secret, but what if they said something before realising that I’m not the one who answered the call? “You’ve got the wrong number,” Austin says, then hangs up.

That means whoever called didn’t ask for me—at least not by my real name. Dread grips my chest. Either this really was an innocent mistake, or someone from my old life got hold of my new number and called asking for Melody.

“You answered my phone?”

“Yeah, sorry I was scrolling through the tabs for the other song when it rang—I hit accept by mistake.”

“Who was it?”

“I didn’t get a name. It was a posh woman looking for someone called Melody.”

Miranda. It must be. I don’t know how she got my new number, but I’m sure it was her. “Can I see?”