I didn’t break eye contact. “Almost definitely.” Then I grinned, leaning into the performance. “Unless you’ve got ghosts, of course. Then it’s fifty-fifty.”
Theo let out a breath that was half laugh, half sigh, and some of the tightness left his shoulders. “Good to know.”
I took a sip of coffee, and we stood there for a moment, neither of us smiling but no longer drowning either. The air felt easier to breathe. The quality of the silence had altered. Now it felt more like the space between two people learning each other’s rhythm.
And I want to learn his.
I glanced at my sketchbook on the coffee table. “So… when we first met, you were all about the music. Gary used to say you always carried a notebook with you, one lined with staves for writing music.”
“Harmony made sense when nothing else did.” Theo smiled. “While other kids played outside on bikes or on their PlayStations, I was the kind of kid who sat alone in his room layering vocal tracks into GarageBand.” I frowned, and Theo chuckled. “It’s software for creating music. Dad gave me his old Mac when I was thirteen, and I got Mum to download it for me.” His brow furrowed. “Dad wassopissed off when he found out.”
“Is it true you got into trouble in high school for writing music in the middle of a maths lesson?”
Theo grinned, and his eyes lit up. “Oh, comeon. It was a really boring lesson. I had to do something.”
That grin eased the tightness in my chest.
Thank God.Maybe we could get through the next two weeks after all.
I could listen to Theo’s lilting accent all day. “He said you were born in Edinburgh. How come you ended up in Manchester?”
“My parents moved there when I was twelve. Dad opened up a new firm of lawyers.” He grimaced. “We lived in Mere. I don’t think that counts as Manchester, more like Cheshire.”
I widened my eyes. “That’s a pretty swanky area. Isn’t that where all the rich footballers live nowadays? I went to a wedding there once at the Country Club.”
“I know it well.” Theo snorted. “Mum spends most of her time there.”
“So how come you ended up working in IT?” I bit back a smile. “That’s streets away from composing.”
“Music was what I always wanted to do, but my dad believed it wasn’t a career, only a hobby. While I was studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, we didn’t talk much, but once I graduated and chose to study IT, that seemed to bridge the gap.” He pulled a face. “That was close enough to ‘respectable’ for him.”
“That’s bleak.” I paused. “But kind of brave, too.”
Theo appeared faintly amused. “Brave?”
“You still sing. You still make the thing you wanted, even if you had to sneak up on it sideways.”
Theo studied me for a moment. “You have a strange way of looking at things.”
“Art school,” I said, tapping my temple. “It comes with the degree.”
Something eased in Theo’s face, just a fraction. It gave me the courage to keep going. “Were your parents strict?” That was the impression I’d gotten from Gary.
Theo lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I’d say structured.”
“Which is code for strict.”
“They liked order.” Theo’s lips twitched. “My mum liked image even more. My dad preferred silence to confrontation. Between them, I learned to stay quiet and look tidy.”
“I bet that was fun.” My heart ached for him.
Another shrug. “It was… efficient.”
I smiled at the understatement. “When did you finally escape from their clutches?”
Theo laughed. “Yeah, thatwashow it felt. College. That was the first time I didn’t have to ask permission for my own life.”
I paused again before asking in a soft tone, “Did they know? About you?” I didn’t need to elaborate.