Page 84 of Composed
tinkling keys echo the songs that we streamed
“Hmm, very poignant.” I chuckle.
A smile tugs at her lips, but she brushes it away with her thumb. “It fits the vibe, it just depends on whether you want something more serious or playful to kind of off-set the melody. If you hate it, we can just—”
“I don’t hate it. It just feels…” I hum, my nose crinkling.
“Stiff?”
“No, not that. They seem familiar, maybe?”
“Huh.” Her lips turn down. “Chuck me my phone.”
I do as she asks and she snatches it mid-air. Her thumbs punch against the screen, her frown deepening as she scrolls. “Nothing’s coming up on Google. Are you sure it’s familiar?”
I lift my shoulders. “Maybe we’ve used them before?”
“Maybe.” She taps a finger on her chin. “When I get home, I’ll fish out all our old stuff and bring it back with me and we can figure it out then. I guess for now we’ll just try something else. You got anything?”
“You’re coming back?”
“Yeah, I said that, didn’t I?”
“No, you just said you had to go home.”
“Oh.” A tinkling laugh spills from her. “Sorry. I’ve got a few things to wrap up back home but I’ll be back here Friday morning. Ready to work and with no plans to leave until we’ve finished the album.”
I itch the back of my neck as heat slithers up my spine.
She flicks her tongue over her lip stud. “Unless you’d rather I didn’t, then obviously I can stay at home and we can do it virtual—”
“No,” I blurt.
Hendrix jerks in her seat, phone slipping from her hand.
My cheeks flame.
I tap my knuckles on the body of my acoustic, I school my expression. “No, I think doing it together is better. Makes more sense.”
A high-pitched shriek pierces the air as I step out of my flat.
Lyric and Melody fly past me and down the stairs with Theo hot on their heels.
I chuckle, following their path to the studio.
Pretty sure Carter has banned them from entering for as long as Hendrix is around. But if there’s one thing his daughters are going to do, it’s ignore his rules with a big smile on their face.
It’s a good job Hendrix has already left and won’t be back for a couple days. There is no way I’m mentally prepared to deal with the fallout of that introduction.
I push the live room door to be greeted by Melody tinkling her fingers over the piano while Lyric bounces up and down on Theo’s stomach.
“Help me,” Theo shrieks.
I scoop Lyric off her and swing her onto my shoulders, before wrapping my hand around Theo’s and dragging her up to standing. “Are you on Terror Twin duty?”
“Yeah, Cart’s busy with his dad,” she tells me. “We had a day of ballet planned in the studio, but a pipe burst.”
I tug at the pink tulle itching my neck. “That explains the tutus.”
