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The door flung open, the loud bang and even louder music shattering the tenuous glass wall that sheltered us from reality. I snatched my hand back, listening as a group of drunk women stumbled in, their giddy shrieks and laughs shrill. I glanced over in their direction, my lungs shriveling up. Frankie let out a soft noise, something between a scoff and a sigh. I looked back at her, catching the flash of sadness in her eyes.

“Frankie?”

She stepped away, turning her back on me and dragging in a long breath. “Let’s forget this happened,” she said. “We should keep things between us professional, for the sake of my family’s store.”

She walked away without looking back, the overhead light arching off her curls with each step.

I stood there for far too long, my eyes locked on the place she’d disappeared.

By the time I’d left the bar, Vinny had called me twice and left me a text.

Can I come over?

My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment before I typed out a quick reply, hitting send before I could convince myself to think better.

I needed a distraction.

Chapter nineteen

Knocked Down A Notch

Frankie

Theguitarstringshummedunder my fingertips, a soft, unfamiliar melody filling the otherwise empty store. It filled the bit of silence inside me as well, left behind by Hayden.

What had I been thinking?

Why would I have ever believed she’d be interested in me? Maybe she was, on a physical level. But that just… wasn’t enough for me.

I plucked at the strings, absently following the melody, letting it lead me wherever it felt right. I’d missed playing for the sake of it. After talking to June about it, I’d pottered around my apartment, throwing furtive glances at my guitar. I hadn’t touched it in over a year, only moving it to clean it along with the rest of my apartment. My fingers prickled with guilt on the strings of a different guitar. But I didn’t let it stop me from following after the skeletal melody. I fell into it, letting it sweep me up and away from my thoughts the way the music at the bar had. It was easier not to think in words, easier to think in chords and scales.

“I haven’t heard that one yet?”

I jumped in surprise, whirling around to find June leaning against the wall. Her eyes sparkled as she watched me get up from my seat on the floor.

“It’s your day off,” I said, stretching out the stiff joints in my lower back. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to check in,” she said, her face glowing. “And I found you playing a tune I’ve never heard before.”

“Oh,” I said lamely, glancing back at the guitar almost guiltily. “I guess I was just playing around.”

I thought about the melody, the thought that wove between each simple note. It all tied together, leading me back to Hayden. I’d written a song for Hayden without even meaning to. I cringed internally and set the guitar back on its stand.

“So, why are you really here?”

June’s mouth split into a megawatt smile and she stuck out her left hand, waving it around in answer. It took less than a second to notice the emerald and diamond sitting on her ring finger and my eyes bugged out of my skull.

“You’re ENGAGED?!” I shrieked, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Her laugh turned into a high pitched squeal.

“Yes!” she gushed, hopping up and down in place. “Dane proposed this morning and I was so excited I justhadto tell you.”

“I’m so happy for you,” I told her, my heart full to bursting for my dear friend. “How did he pop the question?”

She giggled, her cheeks turning bright red. “He was soDaneabout it.” She swooned. “He took me down to the beach where we had our first date and he’d arranged a whole bunch of pink rose petals into a heart shape-”

I listened to her explain how Dane had dropped down on one knee and professed his love through some cheesy poem. She teared up, mascara smudged around her eyes.

I was so happy. But it also hurt. More than anything, I wished I could share that kind of happiness with someone too. It had never hit me quite as hard, but I blamed the wave of vulnerability and sudden insecurity on my feelings for Hayden. I’d never met someone like her, and I probably wouldn’t ever again.