Page 143 of The Drummer

Her expression mirrors the rest of me that’s just as confused about that perplexing confession.

“What is? What do you mean?”

I motion toward the door, the ghosts on the other side.

“This. Having Luke back. What if it’s not for real? What if this is it?” Once the words start they won’t stop. “I don’t think I can handle losing him again. I don’t want to do this without him anymore. Ican’t.”

It’s all pouring out. Pain, fear, history she’ll never understand, even though she wants to.

She shifts forward to pull me in. Her arms wrap around my back, and I hold her close. The pressure on my chest eases the second my heartbeat finds hers.

“Do you think it’s not?” she murmurs.

“I don’t know,” I whisper against her hair. My lips stay there as I try to gather my thoughts. “He seems sincere, like he’s happy to be back, but what if… I don’t know. What if we wake up tomorrow and learn this was it, all we’re getting?”

My eyes slip closed. A knot forms in my chest.

I don’t know if I’d survive that. I don’t know if I could sit behind my kit and stare into the vacuum again.

This afternoon is all I’ve been fighting for since he disappeared. And now that it’s here, I realize it’s not enough. I don’t want a hologram of my best friend. I want the real thing.

“You need to tell him this,” she says, leaning back. Her gaze locks on mine with silent warning. “He needs to know how important he is.”

My gaze drifts back to the door. On the other side is a fantasy come true, along with a potential nightmare.That’show important he is. The critical power of this monumental phase shift.

“He just needs to come back,” I say quietly.

God,pleasebring him back.

No oneelse seems to be affected by my hidden panic as the night wears on.

Caught in the familiar tide of creation, hours pass quickly before we even realize it.

Callie stays engrossed in her laptop, while we refine the song.

Luke’ssong.

The deeper we get into the process, the more it becomes his. Callie and I wrote it, but it always belonged to him.

By the time we wrap for the day, the future fate of this track is sealed. If Luke doesn’t claim “Greetings from the Inside,” no one will. It can’t possibly be led by anyone else.

I’m mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted when Eli and Sweeny announce they want to go out. Their plan doesn’t surprise me, and neither does Luke’s decision to pass and Callie’s decision to stay home with us.

The ride up the elevator to the fourth floor is quiet but not strained. Aiden isn’t on duty and the night attendant is understandably more reserved in his interactions with guests.

Callie’s silence is different than ours, though. She keeps casting weighted looks at us, like she wants to say something, but doesn’t know how.

When we reach our floor, I decide to give her an opening.

“Saw you working. Looked intense,” I say as we move down the hall.

She returns a shy smile. “Yeah, I had some stuff I had to get out.”

“Can I see it?”

“Once we get inside.”

Luke leads us into the suite, looking as drained as I feel.

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