Page 54 of A Country Kind Of Love

“That should fix it.” Marvin sits back. He looks tired this morning. He’s got early sprouts of a beard growing in; it suits him, but it looks out of place against his military buzzcut. “I’m excited for you to hear what we’ve done with‘Luckiest’.”

“My song?” She doesn’t recall giving it a name, she isn’t against it, but it feels strange.

“Yeah, or did you want to call it ‘The Luckiest Hand’? I think either of those titles would be great.”

“I haven’t thought about it.” A week ago the song was scribbles in her notebook. She isn’t even sure the second verse works; she did it on a whim. Cleo has a different version that really works, and Peyton likes it just as much as she likes Cleo, maybe evenlovesCleo.

Hell, it’s only been four weeks. This is the kind of lesbian chaos she didn’t want to get swept up in. She can hear the echo of her dad’s words whenever she thinks about Cleo in the all-consuming, sexually charged, passion-bursting way she does, “me and your mom dated for six months before we said we lovedeach other”.

The world existed for 4.5 billion years before Peyton appeared on it. That’s life. She fell in love with Chloe, madly and deeply after a short period of time, and she swore when she did it again she would take it slow.

It’s easier said than done.

“I’m just going to play it for you.” Marvin presses a button. The piano plays softly in the background. It’s different than the track she heard when she was in the booth recording. It sounds softer and less digital.

Her voice comes in for the first chorus; she instantly critiques the way the second line sounds; her pitch is shaky. Marvin must seeher cringe.

“We can tweak it.” He smiles.

The piano deepens for the chorus. She’s pleased with the way the lower pitches inject a sense of calm into the song. The emphasis on the final line brings out the emotion, but she knows she can do better.

Marvin pauses the track. “Can you hear the layers in your voice? I think it really elevates the chorus,don’t you?”

“Yeah, it sounds great.”

“The rest of the song from here is what I’m excited for you to hear.” He presses play.

Is that Avery’s voice?

Wait, what?

She’s confused. Why is Avery on her song? She didn’t ask for that; it was never in any discussion. Why is he singing the second verse, and why does his voice sound so velvety and perfect singing it? Damn.

“And I hope you’ll get what you’re needing. Cause I feel like I’m probably dreaming...”

He stretches out the worddreaming, for impact, and it works. The second verse is about Cleo, and now a guy she barely knows is singing it. The emotional pull disappears. Marvin stares at her. She can feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of her head as she tries desperately to hide her initial surprise. She doesn’t want Marvin to think she hates it, or that she’s not appreciative of what he’s done, but should she be appreciative when this isn’t something she wants?

When the chorus kicks in, she knows what’s coming, and she’s secretly hoping they sound awful together, but their voices blend like a fine champagne cognac.

Shit.

How do I get outof this now?

“Obviously it will work a lot better if I can get the two of you in the studio together again. I think the intimacy of that would really shine through, but this is the best I could do as a demo.” Marvin beams.

She doesn’t want her name and Avery’s and the word intimacy mentioned in the same sentence again.

“What doyou think?”

Peyton looks at Jesse who grins in response, which tells her all she needs to know abouthis opinion.

“It’s nice.”

Nice. Bad choice of words. Marvin’sface drops.

“You hate itdon’t you?”

“No,not at all.”