They're playing our song

So I'm in the middle of writing a new novella, which means a new hero, a new guy to fall in love with. But I'm having this problem.

I'm not over Jesse.

I fell hard for Jesse when writing Slow Burn, and the last hero I write about always sticks with me until the next one I write. Like how you don't completely get over one boyfriend until you have another. The problem this time is that Jesse was inspired by the musician Ryan Bingham:









and I listened to his music throughout the entire writing process. I imagined Jesse singing songs like his, so now every time I hear one of RB's songs--usually when I'm driving, my thoughts drifting along--I start reminiscing about Jesse. I miss him. I have this nostalgia about him like he's a lost love, as if we were really together and something came between us, leaving me with this bittersweet longing.


I don't listen to his music round the clock like I used to. Just an album every now and then, or the occasional song when my iPod is in shuffle mode. I listen and let that pleasurable ache bloom, and think of how things were until the song fades into the next one.