Page 72 of Love is a Lyric
“No, you don’t. I’m not in love with Quinn. I don’t think I ever have been. But the way you make me feel…”
“Ben.” She lifted her eyes to his, doing her best to keep the mask from showing the emotions churning inside her. “I told you not to say it.”
He reached down to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “I—”
“Need to leave. For both our sake’s. You don’t see it, Ben, but I do. We don’t belong together. The world wouldn’t have it.”
“Screw the world.”
“That’s easy to say when you’re on top of it.” She gave him a sad smile. “I have known you for so long. I’ll always care about you. But as soon as you go back to L.A., we can chalk this up to a brief rebound.”
“This is not a rebound,” he growled.
“But it isn’t love either.” The words physically hurt to say. Melanie and Quinn were right. Ben needed to get back to the music that made him who he was. He had a great life, one that didn’t involve a ruined career or a girl his fans already hated. The gulf between them created by her previous lies widened as she told yet another one, telling herself it was for her own good.
And just like the lie about her lyrics, this one would change everything.
He nodded, her words finally sinking in. “I guess we don’t have anything left to talk about.” He turned and walked from her room like he’d never been there at all.
Piper stared out into the empty hall, her body caving in on itself as she hunched forward, and a sob worked its way up from her chest, exploding past her lips.
Her back shook as she stayed frozen in place, unable to rid herself of the pain stabbing through her heart. Everything she’d done, every word she spoke was for the good of both her and Ben. If they let themselves give in to whatever this was between them, neither would come out unscathed.
Piper’s bed dipped, and she looked up to find Julia sitting beside her. She slipped an arm over Piper’s shoulders, and Piper collapsed into her, her sobs coming in quick succession.
“Sweetie,” Julia cooed, pushing the hair back from her face. “You will survive this.”
Piper sniffled and lifted her head to meet Julia’s eyes. “How do you know what happened?”
“I don’t. But I know Piper Hayes, just like I knew her mother. And the Hayes women can survive anything.”
“Julia?”
“Hmm?”
“Did Mom ever have her heart broken?”
Understanding lit in Julia’s eyes. “Ah, yes. There was a boy when we first started college. She fell in love with him, but it turned out he didn’t deserve that love.”
“What happened?” Piper sat up, wiping her face.
A smile tilted Julia’s face. “She got through it using her music. And that music led her to your father.”
“Music doesn’t have that power.” Julia sounded like Ben with his wishful fantasies of fate.
“Your mother believed it did. She once told me love was just a lyric, one part of a song. An integral part, yes, but not the entire thing. Love doesn’t make music, dear. Not unless we choose to surround it with notes that help it breathe.”
She heard the meaning in Julia’s words. Love wasn’t enough, a fact she’d known. Drying her face on her sleeve, she tried to stop more tears from coming. “What would Mom think of me?” She was a college dropout, an assistant with no plans for the future.
“Oh, Piper. Your mom would be so proud of her talented, caring daughter. I don’t thinkFatewould be where they are without you.” There was something in her tone, some knowledge. It wasn’t the first time Piper had heard it.
The air rushed out of her lungs as her suspicions were confirmed. “You know, don’t you?”
Julia waited a long moment to respond. “I suspected. You used to leave your notebook in the kitchen. I’d hide it from the boys, but I couldn’t help myself. From the moment you started writing lyrics, it brought your mother back to me.”
Piper wasn’t upset Julia invaded her privacy. She’d have done the same thing if it made her feel closer to her mom. “Why didn’t you say anything?” She’d let Quinn and Piper lie to the entire world.
“Because that wasn’t my choice. The words belonged to you, and if you wished to give them to your sister, that was your right.”
