Page 47 of The Ghost of You

I shrug. “It was just a night of hanging out with a friend.”Did my voice just go up an octave as I said that?

“Hmm. I’ve never seen him drink that much. He only has a beer or two whenever he is out with us.”

I throw the shot back, not caring if I wait to take it with Mason. “We were using it as a distraction.”

“For what?” Mason asks before taking his own shot.

“You know, shit that happens.”

Mason eyes me over his shot glass before setting it back down. “My brother only drinks like that when he is thinking about Claire.”

My ears perk up at that. I’m not sure if I should pretend to know who she is or ask. Maybe this is why Noah is always cryptic. “Umm, he didn’t talk about Claire last night.”

“Strange then.”

“Why is it so strange? He rarely brings her up.”Come on Mason, give me something to work with here.

“He’s actually talked about her to you?” Mason asks, looking like a deer in headlights.

Okay, I can do this. I can finally get some answers about Noah. It’s not wrong I am getting them from his brother, right? “Not a lot. But I know she hurt him.”

“That would be an understatement. He tries to hide it but I can see through him, most of us can, but we don’t let on. The guy has been a mess ever since she walked away. He’s holding on, hoping she will come back. I got to give him credit for being that fucking loyal to someone. But she’s not coming back. It’s been five years.”

Wow. No wonder Noah acts the way he does. “Did they live in his house together?” I quickly correct myself because that sounds like something that Noah would have brought up. “He never talks about his house. Just thought maybe he hasn’t put the effort into it because it reminds him too much of her.”

Okay, you are really pulling at the bit now, Anna May.

Mason shakes his head. “That would make more sense. He bought that house two years after Claire left him. My family and I had to force him to sell the house they bought after they got married. He was even worse there than he is now. We thought he was going to lose his job. I’ve never seen anyone so wrecked as him. Even after—never mind. But he’s made improvements since he got Brutus, and he moved to that house now. But I know he is still waiting for her to show up on his doorstep and apologize for leaving him.”

He was married? And his wife left him? No wonder he is lonely and sucks at taking care of himself. I at least didn’t have a choice when I lost Kyle, but she walked out on him. I can’t even imagine the blame he must be putting on himself. And to think I have been trying to make the moves on him. This sad and broken man who is waiting for his wife to come back. I am an idiot.

Mason clears his throat. “Let me guess. You didn’t know any of that.”

I feel my cheeks burn as I get caught. “Shall we try that song again?” I ask, changing the subject.

“I won’t tell him, Anna. But you better not say anything either. Bastard would kill me if I told someone outside of the family and his work family about Claire.”

“Cross my heart,” I say, gesturing over my chest.

Mason gets up and grabs the bottle of tequila from the kitchen area across the room. “So let’s get back to that song we were working on. I am trying to get this artist to come record here and I think she might do it with that song.”

“Okay, yeah.” I start to play the melody I was working on as Mason pours us both another shot.

We end up finishing the song in a few hours, both happy with how it turned out.

“You ever think about recording music again, Anna May?”

I am startled by his question. I thought I had made it clear that I was not a performer anymore, just a songwriter. “Yeah, no. Not happening. I much prefer to be behind the scenes.”

“Dee tells me you used to love the limelight.”

I feel my chest getting red and turn my head away, letting my curls cover my face. “Not really. I mean, yeah, I liked playing my songs but I found more joy in having people hear them. The band we were in together, I was just a singer on the side of the stage with my guitar.”

“Yea but that other band, The Sparrows, that was all you.”

I shrug. “It was short-lived.”

“You made a huge impact on the indie-folk scene.”

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