Page 25 of Isabelle & Jason
Isabelle hummed at his statement. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
“Now you go.”
She cut him a look. “I already?—”
“Something no one else knows about.”
“Now, that would be impossible?—”
“Something no one who works for your brother knows about,” he clarified.
This time she sighed, but there was amusement in the sound. “Okay, fine.” She pinched her lips together in thought for a moment, then nodded. “I like to play the piano.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” The smile that touched her lips was serene. He’d never seen this one before. The more she talked, the more at peace she seemed to become. “There’s something about getting lost in the music that makes you feel like anything is possible, you know? It’s not only the happy music, either. It’s the dark notes, the melancholy ones that tear you away from the present, maybe more so than those upbeat ones.”
He could understand where she was coming from. She’d been through so much. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder if that melancholy music made it harder for her to find her happiness again. There was a reason people who were miserable like to listen to those sad songs. They spoke to the broken part of their souls in a way that made them feel understood.
Were those songs capable of dragging a person from the depths of despair?
Jason wasn’t sure.
“Would you consider playing for me?”
A bark of laughter startled birds in a nearby tree and they tore into the sky. When she glanced at him, she sobered. “Oh. You’re serious.”
“Of course I’m serious.” He frowned. “I like music.”
“I didn’t say that. I just…” Isabelle shook her head. “It would be weird.”
“Weird? How?”
She sighed. “I don’t play for people.”
“Not even your family?”
Her sharp look reminded him they weren’t exactly as close as he had hoped. “Of course I played for them.”
Played. As in past tense. Was she still playing?
Isabelle cleared her throat, her hand coming to rest at her collarbone as she rubbed her fingers against the skin. “It’d be embarrassing,” she whispered almost too quietly.
He wanted to tell her that it wouldn’t. Jason wasn’t the kind of guy to judge her for sharing a piece of her with him. Even if she was a novice, he wouldn’t make it weird. But he kept his mouth shut. Isabelle had made her decision on the matter, and she wasn’t going to change her mind.
They made it back to the ranch in one piece, but his lungs were screaming—probably louder than the muscles in his legs. He was still alive. And he was still smiling, because so was she.
When Isabelle didn’t head straight for her house, he turned to her. “You’re not going home?”
She shook her head. “Checking on the dogs. Want to come?”
His heart might have just stopped. Isabelle Palmer was actually asking him to tag along? It was still too early in themorning for him to start on breakfast, and he didn’t know what she was going to do with the dogs, but he nodded anyway.
He couldn’t get enough of the way her eyes brightened when he did. Was it his imagination that she was sneaking glances in his direction?
Okay, yeah, probably.
He was the only one stealing as many of those smiles as he could. As they walked, the back of her hand brushed against his. She didn’t dart away, go stiff, or react like he expected her to. Yep, she was definitely warming up to him, and he was so here for it.
