Page 114 of Hold Still

I consider her question. “With a song?”

“You already wrote her one. Why not change the lyrics in ‘Honesty?’”

Her solution floors me. “Why didn’t I think of this?” Fragments of new lyrics float out of my grasp, but I know they’ll come to me. “Our divorce is final. I’ve paid the alimony. I’m not responding to her letter, but I can do this.”

We lapse into silence, the only sound is Bans chasing the stick. After five more throws, I say, “I wrote one more new song that I want included in the album. It’s about you.”

“Me?” She beams at me. “I like the sound of that!” She blows on her closed fist like she’s too hot to handle. I guess, in a way, she is. “When can I hear it?”

“Give me a sec.” I toss the stick once more for Bans and head upstairs to our bedroom. Funny how I’ve changed the pronoun. McKenna and I are a “we.” Smiling, I grab my notes and the jewelry box I picked up nearly two weeks ago, and return to the patio where McKenna has taken up the stick throwing duties. I love how she’s come so far with my dog.

With me.

I shake the sheet music. “It’s going to be my first single.”

“But what about ‘Take Me’?”

I shake my head. “Nope. This one. It’s called ‘Hold Still.’ And it’s for you.” Without any instrument, I stand and sing the words I wrote this morning while she was sleeping in our bed:

You and I used to be

A glance, a smile, nothing more

We’d play and pass

But that was all

No reason to Hold Still

Come and go, go and come

I was cleansing my soul

And so were you

But that was all

No time to Hold Still

Chorus:

Underneath was something deeper

We both felt it but ran

No way could you be that person

For me, for you

Yet we couldn’t stop – we wouldn’t stop

Until we did

And you held me deep

When we both agreed to Hold Still

One day you called me on my bluff

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