I’ll Become the Sea by Rebecca Rogers Maher Page B

the songs that were his, and told him which ones she liked best and why. They talked about some of the bands they were both obsessed with and compared notes about concerts they’d been to. As a teenager in Maryland, and in college, she’d seen a lot of shows. She had some songs on her laptop from those days that he only owned on cassette. The copies were ragged or nearly destroyed, he said, and he missed them, but hadn’t gotten around to replacing them.
    “You should come by and borrow them.” It was out of her mouth before she could think.
    “That would be great.” He paused for a minute. “Actually, I have my truck here. You don’t have to burn me CDs tonight, but I could drive you home if you like.”
    “No. That’s okay. I took a cab. I can call one to get home. You don’t need to go out of your way.”
    “It’s on my way. Only a little past home to drop you in Belmar. Let me give you a lift. Save you some cab fare.”
    Jane looked at him, considering. It would be easier, she thought.
    “Okay.” She smiled. “That would be nice, thank you.”
    They were nearly finished with their beer.
    “Do you want to go? It’s past twelve.”
    “Oh, I had no idea. Sure, we can go, I’m ready.” She hesitated. “You must be tired after working all day and then doing the show.”
    “No, I’m fine. Had some coffee earlier. I’m wide awake. I’ve barely talked to the rest of the band, though. Do you mind if I go say goodnight?”
    “Of course not, go ahead. I’ll wait here.”
    “Why don’t you come with me and meet them?”
    Jane hesitated, but she agreed. They walked across the bar to a table in the far corner where the bassist and the singer sat, legs pressed close to each other, deep in conversation with the drummer and a woman who appeared to be his girlfriend.
    “Hey guys. I’m heading out. Sorry I didn’t come by sooner.” He placed his hand on Jane’s arm. “This is my friend Jane. Jane, this is Patty, Scott, John and Sylvie.”
    “Hi,” Jane said. “It’s nice to meet you. The show was great.”
    “Thanks.” Patty looked Jane over thoroughly, not bothering to hide the effort to assess her. “Thanks for coming.”
    David exchanged a few words with Scott and John, congratulating them on a good show. They discussed the time of their next rehearsal while Jane and Patty chatted.
    “So how do you know Dave?”
    “I referred one of my students to his afterschool program about a month ago.”
    “Oh, you’re the teacher.” Patty’s face lit up. “Dave told me about you.”
    “Oh, yeah? Um, I guess Raymond made an impression.”
    “Who?”
    “The student I referred. Raymond.”
    “Oh, Raymond. Yeah, something like that.” She grinned at Jane. “Well, I’m glad you could come to the show.”
    David turned to them, ready to go.
    “It was nice meeting you. Goodnight.” Jane smiled and turned with David to leave.
    Outside, the rain was coming down hard. David led a long dash from the door of the bar to his truck, parked a hundred yards away. He opened the passenger door and Jane climbed in while he ran around to the driver’s side. Rain pounded the windshield; a fierce side wind beat more rain against the doors. They were both soaked. David laughed, apologizing.
    “I should have met you at the door, I’m sorry.” He grinned. Water dripped down from his hair and into his eyes. He ran a hand over his face to wipe it away, over his forehead, his cheek, down across his mouth and throat. She followed his hand with her eyes.
    “No. It was fun. Haven’t had a good run in a while.”
    “Well, let me turn on the heat at least.”
    Jane looked out at the drenched road outside the parking lot. She could hardly see past the windshield. “It’s raining pretty hard. Want to just sit here a while and see if it lets up?”
    He was looking at her face, into her eyes under their wet lashes.
    “Yeah, maybe we should. You wouldn’t mind?”
    “No, no, that’s fine. You won’t be able to