“Sure.” He snickered and glanced at his phone. “I’m going to check my time-lapse. And you two”—his index finger bounced between Isabella and me—“behave. Don’t break any hearts while left unsupervised.”
“Can’t make any promises!” Isabella hollered. “It’s not every day you meet a girl with a bondage-ready chair.”
Laughing, I watched Levi disappear inside.
“He seems very tense.” She shared her thoughts on my partner.
“It’s all the Red Bull he drinks.”
“That explains it.”
I wasn’t sure what else to say or where to even start. I had too many things on my mind right now. But I felt that I was more responsible than anyone for Frank’s behavior. Had I tried hard enough with him? Had I done everything I could?
“I’m sorry about today, Isabella.”
She gazed up at me with her big, stormy eyes, which were full of defeat. “Why? It’s not your fault.”
“It is. I told you I’d make this happen for you.”
“It’s not the end of the world that a two-time Grammy winner doesn’t want to collaborate with some chick from the San Jose ghetto. I’ve been lowballed all my life, so I’ll get over it.”
“People suck,” I offered her my theory.
She took a deep breath and pondered something for a few seconds. “If this is what fame does to people, I don’t think I want it.” I heard the tremor in her voice. “Look at me.” She jerked up her chin. “I’ll never get up from this chair. I’ll never have another dance. I’ll never have another walk on the beach. But I will sing because that’s what gives me freedom. That’s what makes me who I am. Nothing or no one is going to stop me.”
I felt her rebellion against her circumstances with every single cell in my body. Tears welled in my eyes, but my gut told me to hold them in, to wait until no one could see me.
“You’re a beautiful young woman,” I said. “You have your whole life ahead of you. You’ll sell millions of records and you’ll tour the world. And if Frank isn’t part of it, that’s okay. His loss.”
I had no idea if she was going to sell that many records in the world of streaming, but I needed to tell her that because I truly believed she had something others didn’t.
“You shouldn’t take the blame for his shortcomings. You can’t change a person if a person doesn’t welcome the change.”
Isabella sounded a lot like my mother, and I wondered how a nineteen-year-old disabled girl had this much wisdom when a thirty-eight-year-old man with everything one could dream of didn’t have enough guts to stand up to his weakness.
“I wish it wasn’t so complicated, Isabella.”
“It doesn’t have to be. We tend to create our own demons when we could be doing something else instead of self-pitying.”
I let out a ragged sigh. My heart was a fresh wound, and Isabella’s words hit me hard. “I wish he could see that.”
“It must be difficult.” Her eyes remained locked on mine. “Being with someone like him.”
I kept silent.
“I’m crippled, not blind.” She shook her head. “You really think I can’t tell you’re an item? Have been for a while now.”
For some reason, a smile touched my lips. As much as I hated Frank at the moment, one mention of us stirred me up and warmed my shivering heart. Even at his lowest, he was like an eclipse, shadowing everything else, drawing all attention. And I hated him for that.
“You look at him the way Ayala used to look at me—like I was her whole world.” A pensive expression crossed Isabella’s face. “Then one night when we were at a party, she got too drunk and I was too soft to stop her. Now I can’t walk and she’s somewhere in college in Alabama. In a few years, her record will be expunged and I’m still going to be in a wheelchair.”
I needed a second to process.
“Sometimes people we care about don’t care enough in return.” Isabella broke our eye contact and looked up to the dark sky. Her voice was a deep rasp after hours of singing. “Sometimes letting go is the best thing we can do because we’re risking everything for that one person when that one person can’t be saved. There’s no point in dying while trying.”
“How do you know when to let go?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know. If I did, I wouldn’t be in a wheelchair.”
It was a profound exploration of human relationships that came from someone who hadn’t been an adult long enough to lose so much.
“You know what?” I kneeled and grabbed her hands. “We don’t need anyone, Isabella. When Levi and I decided to do this, it was your story and it should stay your story and no one else’s.”
“You’re very kind to me. Most people wouldn’t care to do what you and Levi are doing.”
“There’s enough hate and ignorance. I see so much of it every day online, and I wonder how we’re still a civilized society. If we’re not kind and if we continue to be selfish, the world may end sooner than we expect.”
“It’s too bad you’re straight, Cassy. Because I would totally ask you out right now.” She grinned.
“I might switch camps if Frank and I don’t work out. I’m about to give up on men.”
“Men are headaches. I’m in a band with three and they drive me nuts. I’d ditch them all if the fuckers weren’t so goddamn talented and I didn’t love them to death.”
“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” I agreed.
“You know what they say?” She grinned. “Fight fire with fire. If shit doesn’t work out, go find yourself another man…or a woman. Whatever you’re into.”
“You think that helps?”
“Hell yes, it does. That’s the first thing I did after my break-up. Went out on a date.”
“Was it fun?”
“Definitely better than sitting home and crying. At the very least, you’re getting a free dinner out of it.”
“I’ll
