As she took off the swimsuit, her heart felt like a yo-yo, going back and forth between enjoying her time here with Rob and feeling bad about her fight with Ezra, feeling like maybe she shouldn’t be here. It was as if she’d forgotten, for a moment, what had happened, what she and Ezra said to each other in New York, and in that moment of forgetting, happiness and joy snuck in, but then she’d remembered again and the space for joy disappeared.

The song she’d worked on during the plane ride morphed in her head:

There’s love in your heart

For everyone but me

You row across the water

While I drown in the sea

When I reach for you

You just don’t see

Because there’s love in your heart

For everyone but me

And they say you’re kind

And they say you’re good

And I know it’s true

Because they say the same

About me to you

When you look for me

Have I already flown?

When you want me there

Are you all on your own?

When you reach for me

Can I just not see?

Is there love in your heart

That is there for me?

“Hey,” Rob called from the other side of the door, “how are you going to wear your hair for the show?”

Emily hadn’t thought about that yet. “It’s a surprise,” she called back, as she buttoned her jeans. “I’ll show all y’all tonight.”

Rob’s laughter on the other side of the door made her smile. The yo-yo was still spinning, still flying up and down and up and down. She wondered if it would ever stop.

53

“You said it’s just two shows here?” Emily asked Rob as he unlocked the hotel’s private villa.

“That’s right,” he said, holding the door open for her. “Show tonight, show tomorrow night, then I’m off to Miami for three more shows after that. Then home for a couple of days to see my girls.”

Emily walked into the villa and looked around. “Wow,” she said, taking in the plush carpeting, the gauzy drapes, the view of the ocean, and the plunge pool just outside.

“Not bad for a kid who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Austin, huh?” Rob was looking around as if he still couldn’t quite believe it.

“Not bad for anyone,” Emily said seriously, pausing in front of the window leading out to the pool. “I hope you really understand what you made happen—with your music, with your talent.”

“With your inspiration,” Rob said, coming up behind her. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

Emily shook her head, embarrassed, and put her bag of new clothing down on the floor. “My inspiration was breaking your heart,” she said. “That doesn’t quite seem like something I deserve thanks for.”