Her Love Came Too Late novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The One Condition

They met on a Wednesday in a diner in Squirrel Hill, at a table in the back.

Hannah sat three booths away, reading a menu she did not need.

Marin came in alone, with her hair tucked under a cap.

She sat down across from Elliott and put her hands in her lap.

"Thank you for coming."

"Hannah's here," he said. "In case you're wondering."

"I'd have brought a lawyer, if I were you."

"Do you want coffee?"

"I'd like it the way you make it."

He raised an eyebrow, and she almost smiled.

The waitress poured two cups and left.

"I have one condition," Elliott said.

"Anything."

"You say it yourself. On that stage, in your own words, with nothing written down and nobody cutting the power."

"And you?"

"I say nothing. I'm not in your show. I'm not a guest who gets applauded."

He turned his cup on the saucer.

"I'm in the wings with my coat on."

"You won't come out?"

"Not unless I decide to."

"That's fair."

"It isn't about fair. If I walk out there, it's a duet, and then it's about the two of us again."

Marin looked at her hands.

"I'll do it alone," she said.

She hesitated.

"I wrote a new song for the second half, after the single. It doesn't have a chorus."

"What's it called?"

"The Count."

He did not ask what was in it.

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