I turn my attention to Marcus’s girlfriend, Addie. She worked here for a week a few months back, but I knew her before that because she had to retrieve her drunk dad off my barstool more than once. “How’s Bruce?”
I’m glad when a small smile quirks her mouth. She wouldn’t have smiled at that question even a few months ago. “Good. He’s got a job and he’s dating my aunt.”
I feel my eyes widen. “Becky?”
Her smile grows into a grin. “That’s the one.”
“Wow, that’s…great…?” My eyes tighten in a question. “Right?”
She nods. “I think so.”
I take their drink order and head back to the bar just as Lilah finishes her set and lays her guitar aside.
“How long have you been playing?” I ask, as I pour Marcus a Bud.
“Since I was five.” She runs a finger lovingly along the neck of the guitar. “This was my grandma’s. She taught me to play and gave it to me when she got sick.”
“Sick?” I ask, working on the rest of Marcus’s order.
She nods. “Cancer. She died five years ago.”
It makes me think of Grandpa and my 1970 Ford Torino—my most cherished possession. It’s the only thing other than my family I truly care about, and that’s because it’s basically a member of my family too. That’s how Lilah treats her guitar.
I get the tray for Marcus’s table ready. When Carol comes by I give it to her and turn to Lilah. “Your grandmother would be happy you’ve taken good care of it.”
She barks out a sardonic laugh. “The only reason it’s not a pile of ashes right now is because I abused it.”
I look a question at her.
She takes a deep breath and holds it before blowing it out. “My parents were tweakers. They blew up our house in San Francisco cooking meth. It burned to the ground along with the neighbors’ houses on either side. We lost everything—” She lifts her guitar. “—but this. The day before the fire, I was trying to write something that wasn’t coming out. I yanked on a string and it broke. A friend of mine was restringing it when our house burnt.”
“You write your own music?”
She nods. “Don’t play it much, though. It’s not what people want to hear, so doesn’t work out great for tips.”
“Play me one of yours.”
She gives me a sultry half smile. “I’m on break.”
God, that smile, that voice. She’s all sex. To take my mind off how much I want to fuck her, I turn the subject back to something less sensual. “Everyone got out of the house before it burned?”
She nods. “I guess the cops had been watching our house for a while. They hauled my parents off to jail as soon as they arrived.”
I feel my eyes widen. “How old were you?”
“Fourteen,” she says, then looks at me like she’s expecting a reaction.
“That must have been rough.”
Her gaze sharpens to a point as she scowls at me. “Like I said, I’ve been taking care of myself for years.”
I suppose that explains some of the strength I sense in her. When she came back into the bar last night because of Poser, she wasn’t particularly frightened. She just figured she’s wait the asshole out, like it was a matter of better safe than sorry. She’s sharp and smart with an edge of toughness about her that makes her fucking irresistible.
When I realize how hard I’m getting, I ask, “Are your parents still in jail?”
It’s a little scary that talking about her parents blowing up the family home and going to prison barely helps to curb my raging boner.
She nods, her expression stone cold. “Three more years.”
“Sorry.”
Her laugh is bitter. “Why? I’m not. They got what they deserved.”
There’s obviously no love lost between she and her parents. I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not curious, but I want her to want to tell me. When she’s ready.
“Were you close with your grandmother?” I ask instead, with a nod toward her guitar.
Her face softens and right there I have my answer. “When Destiny and I were little, Grandma would come pick us up in the city when school got out and we’d spend the summers at her place. It was on the ocean near Mendocino and there were these amazing tide pools we’d hike down the cliff to. My best friend Lo came with us most summers because she doesn’t have any family. I wanted Grandma to come live with us when she got too sick to stay at home. I wanted to take care of her.” Her face hardens and becomes sad. “But my mom said she was too much to handle and they put her in a nursing home.”
“That’s when she taught you to play?” I ask, hoping to lighten the suddenly dark mood hanging over her. “When you were at her house for the summer?”
“Me and Lo both. She tried to teach Destiny, but all she cared about was the boy next door. Pretty sure she lost her virginity to him the last summer we spent at grandma’s.” Her eyes snap to me and she cringes when she realizes what she said. “That was probably too much information. Destiny really doesn’t sleep around.”