Page 116 of Embracing the Beat
“Sure you are.” But I might as well be talking to a wall, since his back is to me, and he only listens when he wants to.
We’re nearly to his car when he stops so suddenly that I run into his back. He reaches behind himself to steady me.
“What?” Craning my neck around his massive shoulder, I see Evie hoisting a big bag out of her car. “Morning, Evie!”
Sawyer’s body goes rigid at my words. What’s his problem?
“Morning, Michaela.” She doesn’t acknowledge Sawyer’s presence, but he doesn’t relax and move again until after she’s in the main house.
“What was all that about?” I drill a finger into his side.
“What was what about?” he asks while he flinches away.
“Evie.”
“What about her?” He points to the passenger door, and I sigh but follow his directions.
“Do you not like her or something?”
He grunts again, like it’s an answer.
“She’s really sweet,” I tell him. “And an amazing assistant for Mia.”
“Do you ever stop talking?” He pulls the car around the driveway, heading toward the gate. “I swear you talk more now than you did when you were little.”
“I do not!”
Another grunt.
“You know, if I talk too much, you don’t talk at all. Grunting is not a foreign language.”
“I talk when I have stuff to say.”
“You’re irritating.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“Part of my job description as your big brother.”
Just to be a pain in his ass, I grunt, and he barks out a laugh.
“Glad to see I’m rubbing off on you, Mikey.”
??????
Thanksgiving is approaching, and California in November is a far cry from what I’m used to. I’m still adjusting to how different the weather is. In Pennsylvania, the impression of snow is already in the air, if it hasn’t snowed already. Here in LA, I’m still wearing shorts, although they’re getting tighter, and I usually have to put a hair band around the button and thread it through the buttonhole to make them comfortable. The baby continues to grow right on target, and I’ve gone from hating meat to craving it.
I’ve had a few other missed calls from West, but he never leaves a message. I could call him back or text him, but I have no idea what I would say.
After a month, I’ve recorded four songs, and after all the time I’ve spent with Nick and Jax in the studio, they’re ready for release.
Arrhythmic is a dream come true. Nick and Jax remind me of my brothers. They joke around constantly until it’s time to work. And the stuff they come up with together is amazing.
We’ve spent several hours recording today, and they’re messing around with a guitar in the studio while I watch from the booth, awed by their magic. We’re done, but Sawyer’s on a job, so I need to order a car.
I’m not excited to head back to the quiet of the guest house since Mia and Garrett have been gone for the last few days. Instead, I’m sitting on a couch in the booth, enjoying the presence of other humans to avoid the loneliness at home, when Charlie walks in. She stops when she sees me.
Awkwardness still makes me fidget when I run into her, which is often since the studio is in a converted building behind her house. I still remember her face when I walked up to her and Jax at the awards ceremony, the anger snapping in her gaze as she turned from him to me and back again.
There’s nothing like that anymore, only a quiet curiosity. What does she think when she sees me?
