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Later that afternoon after lunch, Annie, Brian, and Nick went down to the studio. “I hope you don’t mind that I invited Nick,” Brian told Annie. “He’s actually a genius with a soundboard, and I thought he could help us out a little.”

 

Annie shrugged. “Fine by me.” She sat down at the blue lacquer piano bench and separated the pages of sheet music Brian had placed there the night before, while Brian stood beside her and Nick plopped down into a nearby chair. She studied the first page and began to hum the melody. Then she placed her hands over the piano keys and played the first few bars. “This is beautiful, Brian. Did you write this?”

 

Brian beamed. “Yeah. Most of it. I had a little help from Todd Smith.”

 

“Todd Smith? From Selah?”

 

“Mmm hmm.”

 

“Wow. I love them.” She fingered the pages of sheet music in front of her. “You know, I’ve never really done any writing. I’ve tried, and it’s not that I’m not musically inclined enough to do it, I just....I don’t know. I guess I’ve never really had the inspiration.” Brian cocked his head to the side and looked at her, confused.

 

“It’s tough,” Nick remarked. “It really is. I mean, look how long it took us to start writing our own stuff, and even now, it’s only a few songs per album that we had a hand in.”

 

“Actually, Annie, I’d say you have a lot of inspiration,” Brian told her seriously. “I mean, I hope I’m not getting too personal, but think about what happened to your husband--- whatever it was. Obviously, you had to have had pretty big faith to not turn away from God after something like that.” Nick’s ears seemed to literally perk up at the mention of her husband. Was he dead? He couldn’t help but lean forward a little in his chair and study her. When he noticed the pain in her eyes, be felt this overwhelming sense of guilt. All he could think about was how horrible he must be to have had such dirty thoughts about an obviously grieving woman.

 

Annie tensed. “Brian, I....” She hesitated. “Let’s just say that after Andrew....it took a long time. A really long time.”

 

“It couldn’t have taken that long. I mean, Drew’s what? Fifteen, sixteen months? So, it couldn’t have been any more than a year or two ago, right? And god, please don’t tell me it’s been almost two years. The thought of you being left pregnant and alone.... It- it just seems unusually cruel.”

 

Annie struggled with what to say to him. “No. No, Brian, I wasn’t pregnant.”

 

“So.....”

 

“Brian-” Nick wanted to stop him. Annie was becoming more visibly upset by the second. But it was too late.

 

“So, it was pretty recent then, right?”

 

“No.”

 

“”Annie, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

 

Annie seemed to suddenly snap. “You say I must have this huge faith because I picked myself up and kept my faith in God after I lost my husband, right?” Her eyes flashed towards Nick. “You lost Lauren, though figuratively rather than literally, and you were drunk for a few hours, I was drunk for a month! And as far as my faith in God, I completely turned my back on him for two years! Do you think I’m inspirational now!?”

 

Nick watched on in horror as Brian tried to put the pieces of the jumbled puzzle together in his head. Annie hastily wiped away a few angry tears from her red cheeks and Brian placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. She immediately shrugged it away. “Annie, I’m sorry, but I’m confused. I never meant for it to get this personal, Annie. I didn’t want to upset you. You don’t have to keep talking about it. I’m happy to just stay confused.”

 

Annie squeezed her eyes shut and turned her back to the two concerned men staring at her. She slumped her shoulders and ran her fingers through her hair, then looked down at her lap. “It was five years ago,” she whispered.

 

“What?” Brian mouthed to Nick. Nick shrugged helplessly. “I’m sorry, Annie. What was that?” he asked her gently.

 

She turned to face him with tears glistening in her eyes. “It was five years ago, Brian. It was five years ago, and I’m still wearing my damn wedding band.”

 

Nick watched her look down at her left hand and start twirling the silver-colored band around her ring finger with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. He wanted to stay quiet, but he couldn’t help it. She looked like she needed to let it out. “What happened, Annie?” he asked quietly.