Page 47 of Just Wait

It’s all her.

My mind races a thousand miles a minute, trying to figure out how to broach the subject of asking her to stay and work with me on making more songs.

Fuck.

I really like this chick.

I don’t want her to get away.

I hand Lumen a bottle of water as we linger around near the door.

The guys should be in soon for our practice, and I’m practically giddy to tell them what I’ve learned.

“You’re a musician,” I say, grinning like a fiend. “Jesus, woman. Why the hell do you hide a voice like that?”

“What?” she sputters, taking a step back. “No. My dad was a musician. Not me.”

Was?

“Did he pass away?” I ask, wondering if he was someone I’d recognize.

“No, he’s still alive,” she says softly. “I guess he still is a musician. You don’t stop being one because you’re no longer performing.”

“Then just because you’re not performing, it doesn’t mean you’re not a musician.” I nod at the stage. “You’ve got crazy talent, Lulu.”

Her head shakes, and it’s like I can see her shut down before my very eyes.

“I’m sorry.” I hold up my palms, wondering where I went wrong. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just trying to give you a compliment.”

“Thanks.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach those bluish-gray eyes of hers. “All I did was keep you company while you worked out the kinks in your song.”

My head tilts.

That’s absolutely not what happened.

Either her ex made her downplay her talent to make himself feel better, or he convinced her that her contribution was small compared to what he did with crafting songs.

“You should be proud of what you created,” she says, pointing at my chest. “You have nothing to worry about. The guys are going to love it.”

I have no doubt they will, but I’m also not the type to take credit for someone else’s work, and that no longer feels like the song I created.

Right now doesn’t seem like the right time to push, but I am going to encourage her at every chance until she realizes how goddamn talented she is.

Chapter Twelve

Lumen

The pictures are everywhere. It’s not only music-related sites, either. Maybe my ad tracking is showing me things on my homepage because I searched Liminal recently, but this never happened when I did the same for Tangled Desires.

I shut off notifications for all the social media sites I normally scroll on to pass the time after I got so many that they killed my battery.

Theo texted and called consistently all morning.

I opened our text thread and read a few of the more recent ones.

He repeatedly said that we need to talk. He also begged me to meet him in Charleston… That alone told me he had no idea I spent the night on Liminal’s bus.

He’ll find out, though.