“Yes.” I nod, pushing my phone back into the pocket of my shorts.
“What you doing out here alone?” he asks.
Looking away, I shrug. “Just taking in the scenery.”
“It is beautiful.”
When I turn back to him, I find his eyes on me.
“Come with me,” he says, standing. “I’ve got something I want to show you.”
Jake pushes open the door to the library and leads me through.
In the centre of the room I see a piano. A stunningly beautiful black piano.
“Is that a Bösendorfer?” I ask, taking a tentative step toward it.
Owning a Bösendorfer was my ultimate dream when I used to play. Jake knew that.
“It’s a 290 Imperial,” he says softly from behind me.
“Wow, it’s beautiful.” I run my fingertips over the casing.
“It’s yours.”
I step back, away from the piano.
“I thought you could start playing again.”
“No…I, um…” I shake my head. “I haven’t played in a really long time, Jake.”
“Your dad said you stopped playing right after I left.”
He did?
“My dad talks too much.”
“Why, Tru?”
“I dunno.” I shrug. “He just does.”
“No.” Jake smiles, coming over to me. “Not why does your dad talk too much. Why did you stop playing after I left?”
I feel a flood of emotion rush through me, all that bottled-up pain I’ve carried around for all these years hitting the surface, causing my skin to prickle and my mouth to work of its own accord.
“Because your leaving broke my heart, Jake, and when you cut off all contact, what was left of my heart shattered. Music was always our thing, and it just hurt too much to play without you. And then one day, not long after you were gone, I just couldn’t bring myself to touch the keys. When you left…I guess the music left with you.”
Jake wraps his arms around me, crushing me to his chest. “Fuck, Tru,” he chokes out. “I’m so sorry I left you.”
“You were fourteen, it’s not like you could have stayed.”
I’m seriously fighting back tears here. One wrong word from him, and I’m envisioning a teenage-style sobbing session.
“No, but I could have kept in touch. I should have kept in touch. I was such a stupid, selfish fucker back then, so fucking angry, and I couldn’t see past my own pain at losing you. I never thought how cutting you off would affect you. I should have come back to you the moment I turned old enough to leave home, and all those years since.”
“If you had, then the world would have missed out on the Mighty Storm. Everything happens for a reason, Jake.”
“I just wish that reason hadn’t meant twelve years without you. I fuckin’ hate that you stopped playing the piano because of me. I want you to have this back, Tru. I want you to start playing again.”
“I don’t know.” I shake my head, moving from his tight embrace. “It’s been so long since I last played, I might have forgotten how.”
“You couldn’t forget. You’ll be rusty, but it’ll still be there. You are an amazing player, Tru. Natural talent like yours doesn’t just disappear.”
I gaze up at his face.
“Try, for me? Please.”
How can I say no to him? Especially when he’s giving me the puppy-dog eyes.
“Okay,” I concede.
The smile he gives me nearly cracks me wide open.
I take the seat at the piano and let my rusty fingers hover over the keys.
“I don’t know what to play,” I say, feeling self-conscious, pulling back my hands.
“I bought you some sheet music,” Jake says, retrieving some music books off a shelf. “You know, just in case you needed them,” he adds, handing the books to me.
“Any of yours in here?” I tilt my head toward the books.
“No.” He grins, leaning against the piano. “I made sure they were clean before I bought them.”
“What if I wanted to play one of yours?”
“Then I’ll teach you. First, play me something from one of these.”
I sift through the books and opt for the modern music one.
Opening up the pages, I flick through to the first song and almost laugh. My Adele ringtone.
I wonder if he knew that was in here.
Setting the book up on the piano, I read over the music, refreshing my memory with the notes. I surprise myself at how easily I can read the music.
Jake was right when he said I wouldn’t have forgotten.
I position my left hand over the keys, reading to play a C minor for four beats, then G minor with my right for two beats, then shifting to B-flat and G minor.
Okay, deep breath…here we go.
Crap, I’m playing and…it feels surprisingly good. Great, in fact.
I close my eyes briefly, just feeling the keys beneath my fingers, and in that brief moment, Jake starts to sing quietly along, and I’m transported back to a whole other time and place.
Opening my eyes, I see him smiling at me. He’s wearing the kind of happiness I haven’t seen on his face for twelve long years. Seeing him looking at me this way makes me fall into the music even more, and then it’s like I never stopped playing.
“I’m going to have a bath,” I holler down the long hall to Jake, who is in the living room.
“You want some dinner ready when you’re done?” comes back his reply.
“You gonna cook?”
“I’ll order in, smart-ass.”