Page 79 of Second Verse

Norah struggled at first, her fingers fumbling over the frets, but she was determined not to quit. Poppy was patient with her and very nonjudgmental about errors, which helped.

After about half an hour, they knocked off. Poppy poured them both some more crap wine.

‘You’re not nearly as bad as I might have thought,’ Poppy said.

Norah raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ve had better compliments.’

Poppy decided to try again. ‘I didn’t think this wouldn’t be your thing. But you have a natural dexterity with your fingers.’ Then she added quickly. ‘Probably from the... art.’

‘Well, it helps that I got a guitar lesson from a globally multi-platinum-selling artist. Great day for the diary,’ Norah snarked.

‘It was one platinum. One time,’ Poppy groaned.

‘Was it for “Noah”?’ Norah asked hesitantly.

Poppy nodded, but she didn’t say anything.

‘Hey, crazy question, totally random... Was “Noah” originally “Norah’s song”?’ Norah found herself asking.

Poppy looked stunned. ‘You recognised it?’

‘You played it a lot back in the day. I only heard it once with lyrics, but... when I saw you on TV, I recognised the tune,’ Norah explained. She hoped she sounded casual about it.

‘It wasn’t really “Norah’s Song”, of course,’ Poppy said quickly. ‘The arrangement changed it. It was sped up significantly, and the lyrics were unrecognisable by the end.’

‘I still knew it,’ Norah confessed.

‘Even though they broke it? Must have played it around you more than I thought,’ Poppy said, rubbing the back of her neck.

‘They broke it?’ Norah asked.

Poppy sighed. ‘Totally.’

‘It was a hit, though, right?’ Norah said, trying to keep her voice light.

‘Our biggest one,’ Poppy admitted.

‘People liked it. So that seems like a good thing.’

‘But it was personal, and I let them pressure me into handing it over so they could chew it up and spit out money,’ Poppy said bitterly. ‘I’ll always regret that.’

Norah felt oddly breathless, and she took a second to collect herself. ‘It was personal?’

Poppy gave her an intense look. ‘Obviously.’

‘But...’ Norah started. But then stopped. What the hell did she think she was doing? This was the no-no zone.

‘What?’ Poppy pressed.

Norah didn’t want to say more. She didn’t know why she’d started in this direction. She wanted to put the guitar down and run out.

But unfortunately, she wasn’t Freddie’s age. She was a grown-up, and she was supposed to act like one, annoyingly. ‘I guess I thought maybe it was just... not that meaningful,’ Norah admitted.

Poppy frowned. ‘Itoldyou it was. Don’t you remember that?’

‘I remember. But then...’ Norah let the sentence hang.

‘I ended things,’ Poppy completed.

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