Page 62 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
I blink out of my haze and bring my eyes up to meet Sav’s, her irises like molten silver.
“What?”
Sav smirks. “I said hi. I love your outfit.”
“Oh. Um. Thanks. Yours is great, too.”
“Thanks.” She saunters past me and pulls a mineral water from the fridge, then turns and hands it to me. I take it and force a smile. “How are you hanging in there? I know this assignment is probably difficult.”
“It’s fine,” I lie, but my eyebrows slant and my nerves spike.
Does this mean she knows about last night? Is she jealous? Angry? I uncap my water and take a drink just so I have something to do. Having Sav’s scrutinizing gaze on me has me feeling more unsettled than usual.
“Is there anything we can do to make it easier?” Mabel asks. “You got any hobbies or something? Books? Instruments? We can get you something to kind of help you take your head off the job.”
“Some kind of creative escape could help ease the stress,” Sav adds.
I open my mouth to turn them down, but then I change my mind.
“Actually...” I say slowly, considering the question once more before finally putting it into the air between us. “Could you get me a keyboard?”
“You play keyboard...?”
I glance at Sav as her question trails off, and I find her watching me more intently now, her head cocked to the side just slightly. Scrutinizing. The same way she was looking at me at her house the other day. The same way she was looking at me in Torren’s studio too. Like I’m a puzzle, or a problem. Like she’s working hard to figure something out.
I look away from her and back at Mabel as I answer.
“Piano. But I figure keyboard is easier to tote around on a bus.”
“We can definitely get you a keyboard,” Mabel starts to say but then Sav blurts out two words I wasn’t expecting.
“Caveat Lover.”
My eyes go wide as I whip them toward her. Sav grins triumphantly. She’s solved the puzzle, it seems.
“I’m right, aren’t I? You were lead singer and keyboardist for Caveat Lover.”
My mouth drops open, then closes. I don’t know what to say, but she keeps talking.
“I saw you guys a couple of years ago when you played in that little venue outside of Chicago. You did a cover of ‘Dancing In The Dark’ that I couldn’t get out of my head for weeks. And you had that guitarist with the glittery pink Fender.”
“Rocky,” I supply absently. “That was Rocky.”
Sav marches over to the vanity and snatches her phone from a charger, then starts scrolling. She stops scrolling and grins, then snaps her fingers and points at me.
“Calla Lily Sunrise James. I fucking knew you looked familiar.” She glances back at her phone. “Keyboard and guitar. Mezzo-soprano. Rocky Hallstrom, lead guitar. Pike Hallstrom, rhythm guitar. Becket Walker, bass. Ezra Hawke, drums. Two EPs. Signed by Black Widow Records. Debut LP TBA.”
I jerk my head back in alarm, bouncing my eyes between Mabel and Sav.
Mabel laughs. “Sav keeps a spreadsheet of up-and-coming bands in her phone.”
Sav shrugs. “I like to pay attention to female-lead rock bands.”
“Because they’re competition?” I ask, narrowing my eyes in her direction.
Sav arches an eyebrow and sends Mabel an incredulous glance before looking back at me. “Because they interest me.”
I scoff, but I don’t argue. I’m not stupid. In fact, my band being on a list in her phone is another piece of evidence in my already over-flowing mental bucket of reasons why I can’t trust Sav Loveless. She’s the ringleader. The mastermind. She didn’t know me, but she sure knew my band. My nowdefunctband.
