A Song for the Season

Breaking the Ice

The next morning, Dad and Tenney meet Logan and Zane in the diner downstairs for breakfast. Tenney’s stomach growls like a stray cat until her waffles and bacon arrive. Zane lays out the plan for their next gig, a performance that morning in the lobby of Knoxville’s main library, part of an annual holiday music series meant to bring the community together. Logan sounds uneasy about playing at a library, wondering if they’re expected to play quietly. Zane promises there will be a real stage, speakers, and seating.

Still rattled by the audio meltdown at their Franklin show, Dad wants to settle on which songs to cut if they run short again. Logan wrinkles his nose, stabs a sausage patty with his fork, and mutters that he doubts they’ll have more problems. Tenney insists they need a backup plan. Zane agrees, sending Logan and Tenney off to draft a shorter set list while he makes calls and Dad handles the gear.

Settled on the lobby couches, Tenney works through the list, but Logan barely participates. Buried in his hoodie, headphones on, eyes on his phone, he agrees to cut whichever songs she names without a fight, texting between questions. It unsettles her, since the Logan she knows always has an opinion about their music. When she asks if he’s even listening, he snaps back a quick “Yes” without looking up.

Tenney can’t shake the feeling that something between them has shifted. When they first started writing and performing together, they balanced each other out, trading ideas back and forth easily. Lately, Logan has seemed buried under band rehearsals and songwriting responsibilities at home, growing quieter and more distant by the week, distant enough that he briefly quit the band earlier in the year. Looking around the nearly empty lobby, save for a few travelers scrolling their phones, Tenney feels a pang of homesickness for her friends, Jaya and Holliday, and wonders what fun they’re having without her.

Tenney fires off a photo of the lobby to her friends, captioning it as their Knoxville hotel. No reply comes. Restless, Tenney decides they need a break and drags Logan up to explore the hotel. They find a pair of automatic massage chairs. Tenney cranks the vibration up until it feels like bumpy carrots kneading her back. Her voice rattles as she belts out a line of their song “Reach the Sky.” Logan cracks up, teasing that she sounds like a robot, and admits, smiling for the first time all morning, that she’s succeeded in getting him off the couch.

The moment doesn’t last. Logan checks his watch and reports that the van is packed and they need to hurry, hopping up eagerly. As they head for the exit, Tenney tries once more to reach him, bringing up how quiet he’d been the night before and apologizing for not having more time to talk. Logan mumbles that it’s fine, his cheeks reddening, and looks away. Tenney presses, asking directly if everything is okay, and he looks up as though he might finally answer. Before he can say a word, Dad rounds the corner, out of breath, calling their names. It’s time to get going. They’ve got a show to play!