She sat delicately and swiveled toward the desk. “I’m afraid to touch anything. This looks really expensive.”
“Well, yeah it is. It’s about a hundred grand or so.”
She gaped at him before folding her hands in her lap. “Oh my god. No wonder it looks like the controls of a spaceship. What does all of this do?”
“I’m going to show you.” He flipped a few switches. The red light that showed he was recording blinked back at him.
He handed her a pair of earphones. “Here, put these on.”
He couldn’t look at her as he pushed through another door into the recording room. She sat up straighter and watched him through the glass as he set the old guitar down in the middle of the room.
“This was one of my first guitars.” He spoke up slightly even though he knew she could hear him perfectly. Everything in the recording room was being transmitted back to her through the earphones.
She pointed at the earphones in confusion. He ignored her and pulled a short stool from the corner over to the microphone in the middle of the room. After adjusting the microphone, he picked up his guitar and strummed it a few times. He worked his way down the scale, fret by fret, tightening the tuning pegs until it sounded right.
“I bought it at a secondhand shop while I was in college. I have better ones now, of course. Electric ones. Expensive ones. But sometimes when I start hearing the notes of a new song, all I want is to strum bars on this old thing. That’s how I know if the song is any good or not. Truly good music doesn’t need accompaniment or a lot of studio tricks. It hits you right here.” He held his hand over his heart. “Even when it’s just a guy on a stool playing a guitar that’s older than he is.”
She didn’t say anything just watched him with those huge eyes that saw everything. It was just as well, because he had no idea how to explain what he was about to do. So, he just strummed a few more bars and then began to sing.
Mama always said to me
You’ll know you’ve found the one
When every day seems so short
And you’d give it all up for
Just one more day
Daddy always told me
That love was like a gift
But even gifts come with a price
But I’d pay anything for
Just one more day
For so long I thought I was broken
That I had nothing left inside
Until the day I met you
And all I wanted was
Just one more day
Just one more day with you
My love
Is all I need to survive
One more day
He let the last note fade away before looking up. It was so silent in the room, the only sound his breathing and the fading hum of the guitar strings. Even through the glass, he could tell Ridley had her eyes closed.
He’d made an impulsive decision to play for her but he wasn’t sure what had made him play a song that he hadn’t even finished writing. When she’d asked to hear some of his music, he’d originally been planning to play her one of the songs he’d written in the past. Songs that had been on the radio and billboard charts. Songs he had reason to believe a lot of people thought were good.
But when he’d turned around and seen her watching him and realized they were all alone, the song he’d had swimming around in his head for the past week had been the only thing on his mind. In that moment, he’d wanted to share it with her. To show her, in a way that nothing else could, what he was feeling.
It felt like an eternity before she opened her eyes. She let out a small breath and then shook her head. When she didn’t say anything, his heart sank.
* * * * *
“I CAN’T EVEN imagine having that kind of talent.”
Jackson gestured to his ears and she realized he couldn’t hear her. She pulled the headphones off and set them down gently. She walked through the door into the glass-walled room where Jackson was.
“So, what did you think?”
“I’m blown away. That’s what I was saying in there. I can’t imagine being so talented.”
His shoulders sagged and she realized that he’d been waiting for her approval. This amazing man was waiting for what she thought.
What she felt.
“I’m glad you liked it.” He stood and leaned the guitar against the stool.
Ridley followed him as he left the room and pulled the door closed behind them. She was honored that he’d been willing to sing for her when she knew how hard it was for him. It felt like they’d taken another step today, toward what she wasn’t sure, but wherever it led, she was willing to find out.
She was hesitant to ask too many questions, afraid he would tense up and pull away from her again but she found herself asking “Is that one of the songs Divine is going to record?”
“No. Not every song I write ends up being good enough to record, unfortunately. I’m probably going to end up scrapping it since I can’t quite get the music right.”
She met his eyes. “It sounded perfect to me.”
He stopped. They stood staring at each other for a moment before he tipped her chin up. He pressed his lips to hers gently. Ridley stood still, completely stunned. He’d kissed her many times. Sudden kisses. Shockingly erotic kisses. Kisses in places she couldn’t even say out loud.
But he’d never kissed her like this. Like he just wanted to be close to her. Not for anything sexual but just because he craved her presence.
On the ride home Jackson seemed unusually quiet and Ridley didn’t try to fill the silence with small talk. She was too preoccupied with her own thoughts about the events of the night.