Page 54 of Love is a Lyric
Chase pushed away from the counter and crossed the kitchen to throw an arm over Ben’s shoulders. “No so fast, Benny boy. You’re coming with us.”
“I don’t think so. I’m kind of tired.”
Piper met his gaze, uttering a single word. “Please.” She wanted, needed him to come, to experience the pub with her and Chase. She didn’t know if he spent any time there when he was a teenager, but it had once been everything to her, saving her every time she started veering down a dark path.
Ben held her gaze, his throat bobbing as he nodded his head. “Okay.”
Her lips twitched up, and her worries from moments before melted away. Quinn was a problem for another time. Ben’s career didn’t matter tonight.
All that existed was Piper, Chase, and Ben and their need to disappear into the music.
* * *
The State Street Pub didn’t change. Throughout the years, the clientele evolved, but the atmosphere never did. Piper stood on the threshold of the place that had once been a second home, leaving behind wind-strewn streets. No rain had fallen yet, but it was a matter of time.
Yet, inside, no storm could touch the calm.
Piper stepped onto the dark bamboo flooring, her eyes sweeping the cozy room full of black tables and deep blue booths and chairs. Light blue lights hung from the ceiling, their soft white bulbs turned low.
The walls held pictures depicting local musicians, each signed. Some went on to fame—like Gary LeVox—others, not so much, people like Piper Hayes herself. The owner made her sign a picture when she was fourteen years old, convinced she’d be famous one day. Well, her songs were, but no one knew that.
“Usual booth?” Chase asked, gesturing to the empty booth she’d sat in countless times.
She nodded with a smile. “Yeah, that sounds good.” Stepping through the doors was like setting foot back in time when everything was both simpler and more painful. It took her years to move on from her parents’ deaths. It wasn’t until Jonathan brought her here that she’d started to become herself again.
Chase slid behind the booth, and Piper sat next to him, leaving the other side for Ben. It was odd seeing him there across from her in the pub. He didn’t belong to the memories she associated with the place.
“I’ve never been here.” Ben eyed the menu.
“Really?” It shouldn’t have surprised her. It wasn’t a hangout for high school students, and he left town when he was eighteen, only returning for short visits.
A familiar voice wound through the pub. “Someone call an ambulance, I think I’m having hallucinations.”
At the loud voice, Ben pulled his hat down further to cover his eyes and slouched in the booth. Piper wanted to tell him he didn’t have to hide, but her attention fell to the older man rushing toward them.
“Piper Hayes,” he boomed. “There’s my girl.”
Piper stood to sink into the man’s embrace. “Good to see you, Tommy.” He practically squeezed the air from her lungs before releasing her and reaching a hand down to fist bump Chase.
“I see Chase here sometimes, but how long has it been since you graced my door?”
She shrugged. “A while.”
His attention fell on the still-trying-to-disappear-Ben. “Bring me a stray?”
Chase laughed. “Nah, this is my brother. Ben, meet Tommy. He owns the pub.”
Tommy’s eyes widened so far they practically fell out of his head. “Ben Evans? In my establishment? Hold me up, Piper. I think I’m going to faint.”
Piper bumped his shoulder. “Stop it, Tommy. You’re embarrassing him.”
Red coated Ben’s face from his neck to his ears.
Tommy laughed. “If all it takes to embarrass Mr. Superstar here is attention from an old man like me, he chose the wrong profession.” He held a hand out to Ben. “Welcome to the pub, Mr. Evans. A place where no one will care who you are or how good you are, only how much you love music.”
Ben took Tommy’s hand. “I love music, sir.”
Tommy released him and cackled. “Piper, he called me sir. I like this guy. He can stay.” He pinned her with a look. “You, on the other hand, only stay if I get a song.”
