Page 30 of Love is a Harmony
There’s a blue-eyed boy
And he’s in love
Showing the world just who he is
One step at a time
She stopped singing, unwilling to reveal more of the thoughts going through her head. Noah sang again.
Little girl with the smiling eyes
Come chase the shadows away
Oh oh oh oh
Come on, come
Come on, come
Chase Chase Chase
My shadows
Away
He slammed the top of the guitar. “It’s a hit!”
Stella chewed on her lip. “That was kind of terrible.”
“You take that back, missy.”
She shook her head.
Noah dropped his voice. “Only because Melanie can’t sing… or write.”
“Hey.” She reached for a paper coaster and tossed it toward them, but it hung in the air before fluttering to the ground.
The traitors laughed.
Melanie didn’t care that it was at her expense, she didn’t care they’d made her come up with ridiculous lyrics on the spot or sing with her off-key voice. Not as she watched Noah pull Stella into a side hug as their bodies shook with laughter.
Tomorrow, they’d wake, and the grief would be just as fresh. But for now, these moments gave them hope.
9
Noah
“Who knew they had Scrabble in France?” Noah set his wine glass on the table next to the board and leaned back against the couch.
“Everyone.” Melanie peered down at him from her spot on the couch, the haze of wine in her eyes. “We’re in Europe, Noah, not some other planet.”
He sighed a full body sigh from his spot on the floor in front of the coffee table. Stella had fallen asleep on the couch, and as soon as Noah moved her to her bed, Melanie found Carson’s wine stash. Noah’s brother may have fed his daughter food like weenies and beanies, but he had good taste in wine.
Noah leaned his head back against Melanie’s leg. He didn’t know when he’d gotten so comfortable with his publicist. Maybe it was the wine or just the sheer exhaustion from days grieving and having his entire life changed, but he was glad she was there. “Sometimes, Mel, I don’t feel European.”
Her long fingers twisted through his hair, her nails scraping along his scalp. “Your accent says otherwise.”
“I moved from England when I was twenty, still practically a kid, and since then, I’ve done everything in my power to avoid going home.” Until last summer. He’d returned for a week to meet with his PI, who thought he had a lead on Carson. It had only been another dead end.
