Letting Go 🤎

Five

"So. Nicky, tell me about yourself?"

Nick laughed as he sat across from Isabelle at a diner after ordering their drinks, "Nicky? You going to continue to do that?" He saw her smile for the first time since they left the lounge, her dark brown eyes softening a bit.

"I like it. You don't like it?"

He sighed, "it's growing on me. Um.. let me see. I have a younger sister that lives here in the city, Kate. She is married to a great guy, Paul. No kids yet. My parents still live here in New York, just outside the city. My best friend is Danny. Been friends since we were in high school. Not much to tell really."

She nodded, "and how old are you Nick?"

"Ugh, I'm 33. You?"

"I just turned 30. Bought the club a few years ago. I like to sing and I love being able to do it on my own terms, as much or as little as I want."

Nick smiled, "that's great. You're really an amazing musician and singer Isabelle." He leaned back as the waitress came to take their orders. He looked back at Isabelle after she left, "what about you? I know about Eddie and the obvious brother."

"Oh, um, yeah. I have an older brother, Stephen. He's the same age as you. His wife, Beth, she's my best friend. Been friends since we were kids." She shrugged, trying to command the tears that wanted to fall, "she fell in love with my brother and got upgraded to my sister. And our parents are gone. Mom died of breast cancer when we were kids. And our dad... well he died a few years after I graduated high school."

Nick nodded, seeing she obviously didn't want to talk about it. "Okay. Boyfriend?"

Isabelle laughed, wiping away a few stray tears, "no. You?"

Nick grinned, "no boyfriend, no." He smiled as she laughed again, her eyes slowly returning to the amber color he saw the first night he met her. "No girlfriend either, no."

She nodded, "fair enough. And the girl from the lounge the other night?"

Nick groaned, looking down at the table as he shook his head, "I'd rather not."

"Okay." She smiled at him as their food arrived. "Thanks for lunch Nick."

"Well you're my boss and you pay me, so really, you're the one paying for lunch."

She laughed again, this time letting out a small snort as she brought her hand to her mouth, turning red. "Sorry."

He laughed, "don't be. I think it's cute."

She groaned, shaking her head as she started to eat.

"So you want to do 3am tonight?"

Isabelle sighed, shaking her head as she took a drink of her water, "no. That was just for this morning. Thank you for singing it for me. I like your voice."

He shrugged, "yeah. Of course, have something in mind for tonight then?"

"Ugh. I don't know. Can you pick one? Whatever you choose I can probably learn before tonight."

"Sure." She watched him pull out his phone as she watched him scroll.

"I didn't mean right this second."

He laughed, shrugging, "that way we can practice when we get back to the lounge."

"Okay."

Nick smiled, sliding the phone to her, "this one."

She chuckled, "yeah?"

He shrugged, taking his phone back, "you know it?"

"I do."

"Good." He grinned, "play it for me and I'll sing it for you." He smiled as she blushed, looking down at her food.

✨

Nick smiled at Isabelle as she sat at the piano that night to play. He saw her hesitate, but start to play as he sang.

🎵 She is a window and she is an arrow
She is a line in the sand
She is the ocean, that breathless commotion
That carries you far from dry land
She is the sunlight, that wicked blue moonlight
The star to my wandering bark
And she is the melody to my sad symphony
She is the way through the dark
She'll tip you over and she'll drag you under
And she'll sing that love is a fire
She is a mystery, my heart's wounded history
And she is the hardest goodbye
She is a lesson that I learned the hard way
She's a long distance call
She is a casualty of my uncertainty
She's a brick wall
She's an obsession and she's an addiction
That I thought I had beat
She's a confession and she's a temptation
That walks by on the street
She is my skin holding my blood in
And covering my bones
She is my meaning, the crutch I've been leaning on
She is my own
She is a lifetime of strangers and friends
I know someday she'll stay by my side
She is a lifetime of strangers and friends
I know someday she'll stay by my side
She is a lifetime of strangers and friends
I know someday she'll stay by my side 🎵

Isabelle stood up with Nick at the applause before leaving him on the stage with the band to play together. She sat at the bar, ordering a drink. She grabbed her glass, turning back to the stage to see Nick watching her. She sighed, shaking her head as she turned back to the bartender. She pulled out some work from behind the bar and sat on a barstool doing work until the band stopped playing. She felt a hand on the small of her back, looking up to see Nick.

"Can I walk you home?"

She hesitated before putting the stuff back behind the bar, "sure. Thanks." She grabbed her coat as Nick helped her to put it on before she followed him outside. "Thanks Nick."

He grinned, "my pleasure Izzie." He followed her to her house in comfortable silence, following her to the porch. "I had a nice time at lunch with you today, talking."

She smiled, "me too Nick. I liked your song choice."

"I chose it for you. Seemed like you needed something a little less depressing."

She chuckled, "I did. Thank you."

He nodded, lingering as she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. He swallowed hard as he grabbed her hand, kissing her on the lips before she could pull all the way away. He brought his hands up to her cheeks, kissing her again as he felt her kiss him back.

She groaned, pulling away, "I can't. I'm sorry. I'm no good for you."

Nick laughed, "I beg to differ. And we can be no good for each other together."

Isabelle smiled, "I can't Nick. I'm sorry. Now is an awful time for me to be connected to anyone. Especially you." She left him standing on the porch alone before he could respond.