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I pick up the highway concept again and turn it slightly between my fingers. “You’ve thought about this.”

“Yeah. For a while.”

I run my thumb along the edge of one of the lyric sheets. “Album covers are different from tattoos. There are technical requirements, different formats, streaming thumbnails, vinyl if you’re doing vinyl, merch. Probably a dozen other things I’m forgetting.”

“We can handle the production requirements once there’s art. I’m asking you for the art.”

That shuts down another objection before I can make it. Zander reaches into the folder and pulls out a small flash drive.

“I’ve got demos of everything we’re seriously considering for the album. Some aren’t finished, and a couple probably won’t make the final track list.”

“You give unfinished songs to everyone now?”

His mouth curves. “Never, but evidently I’ve loosened my standards.”

He slides the lyric sheets toward me. They’re printed, but there are handwritten changes along the margins, crossed-out phrases, alternate lines, notes about arrangement and tempo. It feels more personal than I expected.

“These are yours?”

“Most of them. The others are marked.”

I turn over the first page. “And the demos?”

“I can send you a link. There are notes in here too. Stuff we’ve talked about as a band, things we liked from the tour, things we definitely don’t want.”

I flip through a few pages, already noticing certain words showing up again and again. Distance. Water. Home. Movement. Nothing obvious enough to call a theme yet, but enough to make my brain start arranging shapes before I’m ready.

I close the folder. “I’m not promising you a cover. I need to listen first. All of it, probably more than once.”

“I know. That’s why I asked you.” Zander leans back in the chair. “If you looked at this stuff for five minutes and told me you already knew exactly what the cover should be, I’d be worried. Take whatever time you need.”

“That’s reassuring.” I look down at the folder again. “And if I listen to everything and decide I’m not the right person?”

“Then you tell me.”

I study him for a second. “That simple?”

“Yeah. Ruby, if I didn’t trust your judgment, I wouldn’t be asking you to do this.”

He says it without hesitation, like trusting me with something this important is the obvious part. I’m not sure why I expected him to argue if I said no, but the fact that he won’t makes the whole thing feel more serious.

My next client will be here soon. I should be thinking about the stencil I still need to finish and whether the lower leaves need to move another quarter inch. Instead, I’m looking at Hollow North lyrics and wondering what color this album sounds like.

“All right. I’ll listen.”

Zander smiles, and I point a finger at him. “Don’t look so pleased. I said I’ll listen.”

“I heard the yes hiding underneath it.”

“There was no yes.”

“Not yet.”

I point toward the front of the shop. “You should probably leave before you talk me into something I haven’t agreed to.”

He stands, but for a second he stays where he is, close enough that I think he might kiss me. Instead, his fingers brush lightly against mine where my hand rests on the folder.

“Thanks.”