Free A Sound Like Hope (Fallen Tuesday #3) by Karolyn James

on the floor, matching the
beat of the song.
    The song continued to build as Mack
came back in and Luke strummed a few chords behind everyone else. Then he
started to sing and it was like life had suddenly become perfect again. Trent
knew life wasn ’ t just about
music, but damn, it would be great if it could be.
    Fallen Tuesday ran through three
songs, two old, one new, and then stopped to take a break. Trent was smiling so
hard, it actually hurt.
    “ Let ’ s try to piece some new stuff
together, ” Trent said. “ I don ’ t want this to end. ”
    “ That ’ s a good idea, ” Mack said.
    “ Hey,
Mack, Gray, come upstairs for a minute, ” Luke said. “ See if there ’ s anything else we can use from
that music room. ”
    The three guys hurried to leave the
room and, once again, Jake and Trent were purposely alone again.
    “ I
guess we ’ re either here to
write or to work out our differences, ” Jake said.
    “ Yeah,
right, ” Trent said. “ Stick to the music. ”
    Trent traded his acoustic bass for
a guitar. Jake showed him a concept for another song. It was a basic four chord
song, but Jake played variations of the chords to give more sound. Trent
accented Jake ’ s playing by
thickening the sound, even giving it an echoing, reverb kind of sound.
    “ Now,
hold up, ” Jake said. “ That ’ s the main part for me. I have something for the
chorus. I ’ m still piecing
it together. ”
    “ Show
me, ” Trent said.
    He watched as Jake struggled to
come up with the right concept and sound. He would strum a few times and then
stutter step his way up the guitar neck, lost. Trent watched and tried to hear
what sound Jake wanted. When it came to him, he followed Jake as he started to
play the chorus again. When Jake broke off, Trent kept going. Jake looked at
him, his eyes wide.
    “ Damn,
that ’ s it, ” Jake said. “ That ’ s what I wanted. ”
    “ We
still got it I guess, ” Trent said.
    “ Yeah,
we do. ”
    The room became quiet and even more
uncomfortable.
    “ I
hope you don ’ t blame me for
what you ’ re doing, ” Jake said.
    “ Should
I blame you? ”
    “ No.
I don ’ t know what you were
thinking, man. ”
    “ Thinking
things I shouldn ’ t, ” Trent said. “ Letting it all get to me. ”
    “ I ’ m not getting involved with her, ” Jake said. “ If that ’ s what you ’ re
worried about. I ’ ve been
down that road, so have you. I can ’ t
do it again. But I can ’ t
just turn my head when she comes around. You know what I mean? There ’ s so much history there …”
    “ For
all of us, ” Trent said. “ I don ’ t know, maybe this will be good. I ’ ve had so much bottled up inside
me. The only thing that ’ s
ever worked out in my life is this band. And there were times, Jake, when I
should have maybe walked away. I should have stuck up for myself when it came
to you and Chloe, but I held back. For the band. And it exploded in my face,
over and over. ”
    “ I
hope we can get through this, ” Jake said. “ You and me. ”
    “ I
just need to do what ’ s
asked of me right now. I need to mentor this kid and show everyone that I ’ m not some drunken rockstar. I
agree that once the new album is done, all this will become another piece of
our past. ”
    “ We
can only hope, ” Jake said.
    That was the extent of the
conversation and as deep as Trent was willing to go right then with Jake.
Whatever the guys expected from the two of them, they wouldn ’ t get. Trent wouldn ’ t hug Jake. He wouldn ’ t laugh with Jake. Their respect
came from the band and the music.
    The band convened upstairs and
while they didn ’ t play
anymore music, they stood in Mack ’ s
music room and talked for hours. There was a fresh energy between everyone, an
energy that excited Trent but also disappointed him. He did want to help out
this kid, but he didn ’ t
want to leave the band.
    Mack left the room and returned
gripping the skinny necks of five beers. He handed them