The Liar's Wife (Adam Levine Dark Romance)

Chapter 23: Someone Like You (Part 1)

“Do you take requests?”

Amy looked up in surprise. She was seated at the piano in a darkened corner of the bar. She’d been playing covers for the past half hour, but she could have sworn none of the patrons in the overcrowded room were even aware of her existence.

“What’s your pleasure?” she asked, trying her best to cast a flirtatious smile at the man in the business suit.

“Do you know any Adele?”

Amy chuckled. It didn’t come as a surprise, that request. Adele had been the big winner at the Grammy’s the night before. It was a shame that she could never hear the name without it bringing to mind someone else entirely.

Amy had been glued to the TV for the whole Grammy Awards telecast, of course. Rumor had it that Adam Levine would be in attendance this year, and he hadn’t disappointed. There he was on the red carpet – smiling his Hollywood smile, with his beloved Jane on his arm. The story had come out by now, how his wife had been in a coma. If she’d been a media darling before, now she was practically royalty. Everyone loved a good miracle. Everyone loved a happy ending.

Amy had cracked open a bottle of red wine and sat sipping it as she watched Adam laugh and twirl his wife in a graceful pirouette, before catching her in his arms and kissing her. 

“Do you know any Adele?“ the man had asked. “Sure,” she thought, “I know a few Adeles too many.” Of course she didn’t say that. She wasn’t that drunk. Not yet.

“Sure,” she said instead. “I know a song or two.”

He nodded and moved away, and she took a moment to think through the track list of the Adele albums she had listened to once in Adam’s library. It felt like a lifetime ago – but in reality, it had only been a few months. Adam had taken those CDs and hidden them away in his bedside table after that day she’d first stumbled upon them. Those songs were never meant for her.

The man had made a request though, and it was her job to give him what he wanted. Anyway, she only needed to hear a song once before she could produce a reasonably accurate facsimile. She hadn’t realized it was such a rare skill, but it had impressed the hell out of the bar owner. She closed her eyes for a moment, silently running through the song she had in mind to make sure she could recall most of the words and all of the chord changes. 

Then she took a swig of liquid courage from the bottle she had propped up on top of the piano, and she began to play the accompaniment to Someone Like You.

I heard that you're settled down,
That you found a girl,
And you're married now.
I heard that your dreams came true...

***

Adam pressed his foot on the accelerator, willing the car to move faster as he sped toward his house in Beverly Hills. All the while, in his mind, he went over and over the last conversation he’d had with Jane before he left for the studio that morning.

“Are you feeling OK?” he had asked her. She’d been lingering in bed all morning, snoozing off and on, and he’d touched her shoulder gently to rouse her as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Just peachy.” She’d swatted his hand away in irritation and rolled onto her side, curling herself into the fetal position.

He’d sat and watched her for a moment, wondering if he should postpone his studio session and stay home with her and Adele instead.

“Go,” she growled at him without opening her eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Are you?” he asked. He hoped it was true. That she was fine. That they were fine.  Of course, they were putting on a good show of it in public. They were all smiles and laughter on the Grammy red carpet last night. But the cameras hadn’t shown how they’d left half way through the ceremony. The cameras had missed the exhaustion on Jane’s face during the car ride home, and the way she’d limped so badly he had to prop her up by the elbow when they finally made their way inside.