UNPLANNED

extra: fine line blurb

Jane was asleep in the backseat, her head tilted side to side in her carseat, her fluttering eyelashes visible in the tiny mirror strapped to the headrest.

You let out a sigh, relaxed into the passenger seat when Harry accelerated onto the freeway.

"Good?"

"Tired," you admitted, pinching the bridge of your nose. Jane had been good at Jeff and Glenne's party, learning how to walk had her yawning and rubbing her eyes by the time the sun went down.

"I know she's the one learning to walk, but I feel just as tired as she seems," Harry commented, distracted by his attempt to change lanes.

"Tell me about it," you said, crossing your arms over your chest as you thought back over the evening.

Not a huge gathering, a dinner party with friends and glasses of wine sipped in the kitchen as Glenne let Jane grab her fingers and toddle around the house.

But she'd accidentally planted a seed in your head that now–in the quiet cabin of Harry's Tesla–had begun to sprout roots.

You've had quite the year, Jeff had clapped Harry on the back. Glenne agreed, smiled with Jane on her hip earlier that evening. Plenty of things to write songs about!

You stole a glance in his direction, felt nervous but curious with a sprinkle of flattered. "So–I know Jeff and Glenne were kind of teasing you, but, have you started writing for a new album?"

He glanced in the rearview mirror, either to check on a sleeping Jane or to get a glimpse of the sedan behind you.

"Yeah," he said casually. "A bit."

"A bit?" You smiled.

"A bit," he nodded, offered a challenging smirk when he looked over at you quickly.

You nodded, unsure if you wanted to press him harder.

Silence for a second, but he could tell the wheels were turning.

He kept his eyes on the road, but spoke slowly when he decided to see what buttons he could push. "You're asking if I'm writing, but it sounds like you're curious about what I'm writing."

You looked out the window, shrugged to play it cool. "Not really."

"Not really?" He looked at you now, amused by how willing you were to be dishonest.

"No," you turned and looked at him, trying to fight the smile that threatened to expose you.

"Hmm," he nodded, looked back to the freeway and let it go.

You waited a beat, shifted in the passenger seat before asking: "but if I were asking what you were writing about, would you tell me?"

"If you were asking?"

You nodded.

"I might tell you some," he shrugged. "M'actually surprised it's taken you this long to get nosy."

"Get nosy?" You held a hand to your chest, voice still quiet to not disturb Jane.

"Uh, yeah," he let out a laugh. "As if I didn't notice last year when you hummed along to the album despite saying you didn't want to hear it before it came out."

You rolled your eyes. Whatever, fine–you told him a long time ago that you had snuck a CD, listened with Glenne and Lexi and tried to dissect the lyrics.

"I was just curious," you defended.

"Right," he smiled. "Only because I told you that one of them was about you."

Another eye roll, you let out a sigh this time but laughed. He'd never really addressed it like this, never really said that pieces of you were threaded into his latest project.

"I think it's fair to get nosy when someone says they wrote a song about you!"

He eyed you with arched eyebrows.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "Kind of shocked you're able to sit here with me and not cringe."

"About the song?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, a smile still on his face.

"So it is about me?"

"You're ridiculous," he laughed.

"That's not an answer."

"You didn't pry it out of Jeff or Glenne?"

"I did, but hearing it from you feels different."

He reached over and grabbed your hand, pulled it up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "It's about both of you."

You looked over your shoulder, Jane's chest rose and fell as she slept, perfectly unaware of the song that tugged at your heartstrings no matter how many times you heard it.