“I’m not joking with you, Jonah. How did you know?”
“Is Paris this secretive town no one knows about? I’m here for the music just like you.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”
He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“Who are you stealing from us?”
“You’re paranoid.”
“No, I’m not an idiot. Who?”
“Not that it’s not any of your business, but I just convinced All the Pretty Girls to visit Jason next week.”
“Son of a-”
“Come on, Tom,” January said, tugging at my arm to get me away from Jonah. “We’ll still win,” she whispered to me.
o;This is going to be a problem, I can tell,” I teased him.
“It is?”
“Yes, because you keep forgetting what an incredible musician you are and how talented you are at your job. How everyone in this business calls Seven, desperate to contact you so they can steal you away. You’re a rock star, yet you’re oblivious to it because you’re always on the road. It’s stupid, but it is what it is. Trust me, Thomas Eriksson, I play in the minors and you’re the hypothetical starting pitcher for a team who won the World Series five years consecutive. You’re so big league it makes my head spin.”
He grinned at me. “That’s utter bullshit but I love you for saying it.”
I opened my mouth to argue with him but he stopped me by pressing his lips to mine and I forgot my own name let alone whatever argument I had.
The English countryside held enough charms to distract us from conversation. We fell into a comfortable silence save for our shared earbuds. We listened to the entire Aim and Ignite album. The only contact we made was physical. Tom lined my palms with his index finger over and over, making me sleepier than my medicine was.
When we entered France, he nudged me in the ribs. “All the graffiti’s in French.”
“Imagine that,” I teased him.
It got quiet again as we examined the new countryside.
“Talk to me,” I told him, breaking the silence.
“What do you want to know?”
“About your family.”
“Which one?” He smiled, and the sun gleamed brightly over his white smile.
“The one you grew up with.”
“Well, my parents have lived in New York City for most of their lives. They met in a Greenwich Village shop where they’d go to get coffee every morning before work. They married six months later but couldn’t conceive right away.”
“That’s sad. Were they trying?”
“Yeah, they said they just went with it though and were surprised with the news they were pregnant with my sister Christina five years into their marriage. They didn’t think it was possible. Then I came along three months after Christina was born.”
“Oh, dear. You were a surprise, then.”
“You could say that,” he told me, grinning.
He took his soda from the chair back in front of him, uncapped it and took a swig. The movement of his throat swallowing made me want to instantly become something edible and sweet so I could slide down his body in an ultimate connection. My fingers tightened on the arms of my chair and I shivered the thought away as I watched him place it back.