Page 90 of The Backtrack
Byron finished his set by saluting the sun, then turned and walked back up the beach. Sam would miss waking up to the sound of his music.
“Don’t worry,” Damon said with a squeeze to her shoulder. “I recorded the whole thing on my phone so we can play it when we wake up in Paris.”
“You did not.” She sat up with a smile. “I wonder if he knows we’re his biggest fans.”
“The man has many fans, Sam. Of course he doesn’t know.”
Then, like the elephant in the room that it was, they both glanced at the CD player. On the one hand, this was the thing that had shown Sam a way back to Damon, and Tybee, on her own terms. On the other hand, it was possessed and had to be destroyed.
“Okay.” Sam tucked her hair behind her ears. “So our options are burn it, bury it, lock it in a safe or sell it on eBay.”
“Do you know how many hours I spent making that CD for you?” He leaned back in the sand, and the sun made him glow, and Sam hoped she would never forget the way he smiled out of the side of his mouth at her.
“Putting ‘Want You Bad’ on the mix was a little forward,” she said.
“You noticed that, huh?” He raised a playful eyebrow.
And then she had an idea. Sam popped open the lid of the player and gently removed the CD. It had once been the thing that marked the end of them, and now destroying it would mark a new beginning.
“You remember those friendship necklaces that were a broken heart, and one person got the half that saidbestand the other got the half that saidfriends?”
“Vaguely,” he said.
“Maybe this could be our version.” She handed the CD to Damon, and he took it. “Ourmore than friendsCD. You always keep one half, and I’ll always keep the other.”
“I like it,” he said. “But what about the player?”
Damon pushed himself up and held his hand out for her. She took it, and the warmth and strength in just his palm reassured Sam that she didn’t need this CD anymore. It was a thing that only showed the past, and she was ready to embrace her future with Damon.
“Maybe we keep it as a little reminder of what brought us back together.” She tucked the CD player under her free arm and held on to Damon’s hand as they walked the short distance down the beach. Their toes reached the point where water met earth, and the cool waves lapped gently across their feet.
“You can hold one side, and I’ll hold the other?” Damon pinched one side of the CD and held it out to her.
She grabbed the other side. “Let’s count to three, and we’ll snap it, okay?”
Sam rolled out her shoulders, ready to finally say goodbye to the what-if playlist.
“One, two, three,” they said together, then snapped it in half. There was Damon’s handwriting, and his drawings, cracked down the middle, forever changed.
He raised the broken half of the CD and slapped it against his open palm. “Now we have to make a new playlist.”
“I think we’ve seen what happens when we make music together.” Sam cringed at her own bad joke.
Damon raised an eyebrow. “I sure hope that’s the innuendo I think it was.”
Sam rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious, though.” Damon slung an arm around her. “Let’s start fresh, with new music, new meanings, and it can be a mix you can listen to when you’re flying and missing the hell out of me.”
“You really think I’ll be missing you when I’m forty thousand feet up and cutting through the clouds?” Sam said.
“Yes, I do.” He smiled broadly.
“Yes, I will,” she confirmed.
Damon shook out the beach blanket, and a spray of sand flew in the air. “How about Paramore’s ‘Still Into You’ for the first track?”
“I’m thrilled to hear my performance moved you so deeply.” Sam helped him fold the blanket. “What about ‘With Me’ by Sum 41?”
