Crazy in Love by Cynthia Blair Read Free Book Online Page B

wearing his baggy jeans again, and a different plaid flannel shirt. His guitar was slung over his shoulder in a canvas case, as if he were some modern-day troubadour.
    “Terrific.” No. I vowed right then and there never again to use that word in the presence of a male. “Fine. Come on in.”
    “Sallie, I think I heard someone at the front door....” Jenny wandered in from the kitchen, where she and a couple of her friends were baking cookies for some school thing. She wore a look of complete innocence. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had company,”
    “Hello, Jenny.” Saul beamed at my sister, then extended his hand. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
    Jenny shot me a triumphant look as she shook his hand. “So, you’re a songwriter, too, huh? You know Sallie writes songs all the time.”
    I waited for her to say something cutting and little sisterish. Instead, she surprised me by coming out with, “My sister is a musical genius. And she tells me you’re pretty good, too, I’m expecting great things from you two.” I took that little speech to mean that she approved of Saul.
    “We’ll try not to disappoint you,” Saul assured her. “Any particular themes that are favorites of yours? We can write according to specification, I’m sure.”
    “Hmm.” Jenny frowned pensively. I could tell she was really enjoying all this attention. I think that when you’re a younger sister, you must end up feeling slighted a lot of the time, especially by your older sister’s friends. “Love songs are always nice.” I wasn’t sure, but I thought I saw her wink at me.
    “Okay, we’ll try. But first let me ask you one thing.”
    “What?”
    Saul leaned over until he was at eye level with Jenny. “Why is it your sister has red hair, and yours is blond?” He tugged gently on one of the pigtails she had braided her hair into after lunch.
    “Because blonds have more fun,” Jenny answered smugly. She grinned at Saul, then turned on her heel and disappeared back into the kitchen.
    “I think you just made my sister fall in love with you, you heartbreaker,” I teased as I led him down the hall. “Is it okay if we work in my room? It’s probably the quietest spot in the house.”
    “Fine with me.”
    We settled into my room, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
    “Well,” I began, “you’ve already heard just about every song I’ve ever written, so you know all about the kind of stuff I write.”
    “The same goes for me. I think we should start by deciding what kind of song we’ll write. You know: fast or slow, romantic or something else, optimistic or sad.”
    I thought for a minute. “Maybe we should take Jenny’s advice and go with a love song.”
    I was kind of disappointed that Saul was so eager to get down to business. If all we ever did was talk about music, I’d never get to know him better. It was true that my main purpose in getting together with him was to advance my musical career, but I figured that a little socializing never hurt.
    “That’s a good place to start,” he agreed. “Let’s see, a love song. Hmm. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of really depressing songs about love affairs that have failed. You know, all those sad lyrics about being lonely and sitting by the phone and broken hearts. I’d like to try for something more upbeat, something hopeful.”
    “Yeah, I know what you mean. Although those songs about how great somebody else is can get to sound the same, too. How about a theme of a love affair that’s just getting started, so everybody’s hopeful, but there are enough complications that the couple has to overcome some obstacles?”
    “That sounds perfect. Then we could make it kind of fast. Not heavy rock, but something that moves along.” Saul picked up his guitar and took it out of its canvas case. “Something like this, maybe.” He plucked out a few chords, using a beat that was zippy, but not too zippy.
    “I love it. That’s the mood we should