Part 153 (2/2)

heart.

Why it's Bev, she realized all at once. He was singing about Bev. To

Bev. Emma's eyes widened as her gaze fixed on Brian. Why hadn't she

seen it before? Why hadn't she understood?

He was still in love. Not resentful or angry, but miserably in love.

She didn't think, but only felt, as she did what he had asked and added

her voice to his, She didn't realize that Johnno had backed off, leaving

her and her

father alone. It wasn't a planned gesture when she reached out to take

his hand. She wasn't aware that tears had spilled over to cling to her

lashes. Her voice melded with his as her heart did.

”My life is shadows without you / Without you / Dreaming of the light I

wake to darkness / I lost the sun.”

As the music swelled and faded, she lifted his hand to her cheek. ”I

love you, Dad.”

He brushed his lips over hers, fighting the need to let his own tears

go. ”Let's hear the playback,” he called out.

It was nearly one before the session musicians began to file out. The

best part of another hour pa.s.sed before Brian was satisfied with the

overdubbing. Emma watched her father pour a tumbler full of Chivas

Regal and drink it like water over a technical discussion with an

engineer. She didn't want to be upset by it, not now, not when she was

beginning to understand some of his pain. But neither could she sit

calmly and watch while he doused that pain with whiskey.

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