“That might not even be the worst of it.” Ari put down the glass and buried his face in his hands. “It turned into a fucking war. Jax and Maman taking jabs at each other.” He pulled his face out of his hands and looked at her. “There was blowjob innuendo in the veiled barbs.”
Afra’s eyes just about popped out of her head. “Fromwhom?”
“Both of them,” Ari groaned. “It was fucking awful, and I couldn’t stop it from happening.” Ari’s laugh turned bitter. “Which I guess was too big a failing for Jax.”
Afra’s eyes, her whole body, softened with compassion. “Oh, Ari.”
“Why can’t I make them stay? Why can’t I make them want to?” Maybe he was being overly dramatic, but Ari had been sosurethis time. And he was heartbroken, and his big sister always knew how to fix things.
She wrapped him up in another hug.
When he pulled away again, she gave him her best no-nonsense face and told him to go shower and shave. “We’ll both feel better for it.”
He didn’t have the energy to argue, and he had to admit that he did feel marginally better once he was clean. The clean clothes helped too.
He found Afra standing by his piano, looking at the sheet music. “Looks like lots of writing.”
“Another six pieces, I think. I’ll have to take a look at them, record something and send it to Noella, but they’re pretty much done.”
“Six songs in two days?” she asked, her eyebrows high.
“Told you it was good for productivity.”
She looked down at the sheet music. “These are gonna make me cry, aren’t they?”
He shrugged. “Probably.”
“All right, well….” She held up her phone. “I’m gonna call Noella and give her an update, because she’ll tear you a new one for having your phone off.” Ari took that to mean Afra would be giving at least some details of why Ari had been in a hole without cell service. He winced. “When will you be ready to record? Not just demos, I mean. Noella’s going to want you in the studio ASAP.”
Most of the pieces were as polished as they could be without the help of professional musicians who played instruments other than piano and violin. “A week, probably?” That would give him time to practice, pack… clean up the mountain of takeout containers that had accumulated….
“Great. Meanwhile….” She surveyed him critically. “I’m going to open a window. It reeks in here. And then when I’m off the phone with Noella, we’re going for a walk, because you haven’t been outside since Sunday and that’s horrifying. Deal?”
Ari glanced out the window. “But there’s snow out there.”
Afra gave him a flat look. “It’s London in November. That doesn’t mean we pretend outside doesn’t exist. Go find your boots.”
Chapter Nineteen
IN THEweeks following the breakup, Jax was grateful he worked late six nights a week. And as November ticked over into December, six became seven again, with the bar rented out for holiday parties.
On the plus side, this meant Jax had plenty to occupy him at work, a boosted income, and an excuse to sleep late. On the downside, if he had to sing one more Christmas carol, he was going to snap. At least Murph flat-out banned them from non-private events until the week of Christmas itself.
On this particular Friday night, Naomi picked a request out of the jar, raised an eyebrow, and handed it to Jax. “You up for this one?”
He’d seen a lot more of her over the past two weeks, which was kind of impressive, considering they worked together several nights a week and she spent the rest of the time studying for her last set of music-therapy finals. Well, the rest of the time she wasn’t spending naked with Hobbes, which Jax was endeavoring not to think about.
He took the paper. “I Will Survive.” Jax gave Naomi a look.
“What?” she protested. “I just want to make sure it’s not too soon.”
“As if,” Jax said with more conviction than he felt. “It’s never too soon for Gloria Gaynor.”
Truthfully, Gloria should have been a pretty good distraction. The Rock in general should have been a good distraction. But half the time when Jax turned around, he expected to see Ari—in the audience, sitting at the bar with a shy smile, asking for a Sparkling Conversation, standing across the stage from him, lifting his bow as he prepared to accompany Jax on “Señorita.”
Eventually Murph called last call and Jax went home.
The nice thing about Naomi and Hobbes dating was that she didn’t mind giving him a ride, so Jax didn’t have to choose between his bike—which he’d managed to convince a friend to pick up for him so he didn’t have to go back for his helmet—or a Lyft. The less nice thing, obviously, being that he’d never get to share that easy closeness with Ari again, and now he had it in his face multiple nights a week.