Xo

Edwin got a milkshake; the wound in his neck made chewing painful, he explained. “I love ’em. But I haven’t had one for months. Hey, if nothing else, you got me to lose that weight I’d been trying to for years.”
    “Wow, that bruise is something.”
    He lifted the chrome napkin holder and used it as a mirror. “I think it’s getting worse.”
    “Hurts a lot?”
    “Yeah. But the big problem is I have to sleep on my back, which is something I’ve never been able to do.” Their meals came and they ate and sipped. He asked, “How’s your house?”
    “I’ll need new carpets, have to replace a lot of floor and a wall. The big problem is the smoke damage. It got into everything. They’re talking about a hundred thousand dollars. Half my clothes have to go too. They stink.”
    “Sorry.”
    Then an awkward silence arose and it was clear Edwin didn’t want to talk about the terrible events of the past few days. Fine with her. Hestarted chatting about music and some of the founding women of the country scene. He talked about the records in his collection—he still listened to a lot of music on LPs and had invested in an expensive turntable. Kayleigh too thought that vinyl—analog recordings—produced the purest sound, better than the highest-quality digital.
    Edwin mentioned he’d just found some Kitty Wells singles in a used record shop in Seattle.
    “You like her?” Kayleigh asked, surprised. “She’s one of my favorites.”
    “Have almost all of her records. You know she had a Billboard hit when she was sixty?”
    “I did, yeah.”
    Wells, who started singing in the 1950s, was one of the first women inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
    They talked about country music back then—Nashville versus Texas versus Bakersfield. She laughed when Edwin quoted Loretta Lynn, who fought her way up through the male-dominated recording Industry: “A woman’s two cents’ worth is worth about two cents in the country music world.”
    In Edwin’s opinion country represented the best of commercial music, much better than pop and hip-hop. It was well crafted, used appealing tunes and incorporated themes about important issues in everybody’s lives like family, love, work, even politics. And the musicians were top craftspeople, unlike many folk, alternative, hip-hop and rock artists.
    On the broader issue of the music world, he wasn’t happy about the decline of the recording industry and thought that illegal downloads would continue to be a problem and erode the quality of performances. “If artists don’t get paid for what they do, then what’s the incentive to keep writing and making good music?”
    “I’ll drink to that.” Kayleigh tapped her iced tea glass to his milkshake.
    When they were through with lunch, Kayleigh gave Edwin his ticket. “Front and center. I’ll wave to you. Oh, and those picks are the best.”
    “Glad you liked them.”
    Her phone buzzed. A text from Tye Slocum: the Martin’s ready to go, how you doing?
    Curious. He rarely texted, much less about something as mundane as the status of an instrument.
    “Everything okay?”
    “Yeah, just …” She didn’t finish and put her phone away. She’d respond later.
    The bill came and Edwin insisted on paying. “Well, this is a real treat. I never thought I’d be in the front row at a Kayleigh Towne concert.”
    They walked into the parking lot. As they approached her Suburban, Edwin gave a laugh and pointed to his old red car, a few spaces down from hers. “‘Buick’ would be pretty tough to rhyme with. Good thing you picked ‘Cadillac.’”
    “‘Toyota’ would’ve been worse,” Kayleigh joked.
    “Hey, now that you know I’m not the crazy person you thought I was, how about dinner sometime? Maybe after the concert?”
    “I usually go out with the band.”
    “Oh, that’s right. Well, sometime, maybe … How ’bout Sunday? You don’t leave again for two weeks. The Vancouver show.”
    “Well … weren’t you leaving?”
    He pointed to his throat. “Taking those pain pills. You were right—they’re pretty heavy duty. Probably better if I don’t do any long-distance driving. I’m back in the rental for a few days.”
    “Oh, sure, you have to be careful.” They were at her SUV. “Okay, thank you again, Edwin. For everything you did. I’m sorry for what you’ve been through.”
    She nearly hugged him and kissed his cheek but decided not to.
    XO …
    “‘I’d Do It All Again,’” he