Chapter 6
six
“OH NO,” MIKE said, coming up to where I was seated in the back of the rig checking inventory the next day.
“What’s wrong?”
He scrunched up his nose. “You’ve got that butt-ugly grin on your face again.”
“Screw off.” I rolled my eyes and went back to my checklist.
“This have something to do with why you stood me and Deb up last night? You get a better offer?” he teased.
“Look, no offense, because you know I love you guys, but I can think of about a million different things I’d rather be doing instead of getting set up.”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
“I’m not.”
“Dude. You are. Who’s the cause of you lookin’ way too happy this morning?”
“Why does it have to be a who? Maybe I finally got some damn sleep. It was my day off.”
Mike snorted. “I guaran-fucking-tee sleep is one thing you did not get.”
“You’re a perv.”
“And you’re holding out on me.”
I knew Mike well enough to know he wouldn’t stop poking until the truth came out. Served me right, because when the shoe was on the other foot, I’d do the same.
Lowering the clipboard, I said, “If I tell you, you have to promise not to go all big deal about it.”
“Sooo, it’s a big deal but you don’t want me to act like it is? Got it.”
“That’s not—” Sighing, I shook my head and then proceeded to give him the condensed version of how Reid and I had run into each other and become friendly over the last couple of days. I hadn’t even gotten through the part about dinner tonight when he interrupted me.
“Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec. You’re seeing him again? Tonight?”
Oh, here we go. “We’re just gonna go down to Fisherman’s Grill—”
“Shut the hell up,” Mike said, then whooped loud enough that one of our coworkers stuck her head inside to see what the commotion was about. Mike was oblivious as he pointed at me. “Yo, that’s a date.”
“It’s not a date.”
“It is a date.”
“It’s dinner.”
“Yeah, a dinner date.”
I threw the clipboard at him, and he caught it, laughing. “You got the rest of this?” I asked.
“Why? Do you need to get ready for your date?”
Shaking my head, I jumped down out of the rig and ignored Mike’s simulated sex noises behind me. Jesus. Couldn’t take that guy anywhere.
Before I could get out of the garage, Mike decided it would be a good idea to wake up the whole building, because his voice boomed off the walls as he shouted, “Hey, Ollie! Make sure you put out on a first date.” When I turned to look at him in horror, he winked at me. “Guys like that.”
I really needed someone to remind me why I was friends with that guy.
With my middle fingers aimed his way, I left the room with the sound of his laughter following me down the hall.
“OKAY, I DON’T know if I’ve ever been there to say this before, but that was hands down the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life.” Reid rubbed his stomach appreciatively as I held the door that led out of Fisherman’s Grill open.
As the door shut behind us, I chuckled and wrapped my scarf around my neck to ward off the chill in the air. “I don’t think I’ve seen anyone eat that many crab legs before. I’m glad you liked it.”
“Like is not a strong enough word,” he said, stopping halfway down the pier to look down at something in the dark lake. “You think they get their fish out of here?”
“Probably some of it.”
“Ugh, I can’t think about more food,” he said, pushing off the rail. “You don’t mind rolling me down the street, do you? I may not make it to the car.”
“I’d carry you, but the fifty pounds of crab meat in your stomach may slow us down.”
Reid glanced back at me, his eyes gleaming under the streetlamp. “That’s a pretty nice offer.”
“It would be if I meant it.” I pushed my hands into my jacket pockets so I wouldn’t be tempted to do something stupid, like grab his hand, and then nudged him as I passed. “Come on, slowpoke.”
“I’m not slow. I’m full.”
I chuckled as he pretended to shuffle along behind me, and I slowed down enough for him to catch up.
“Have you been down here lately?” I asked, nodding toward Broad Street.
Translation: Do you remember downtown Floyd Hills at all?
When he shook his head, I looked out at all the tiny white lights strung around the trees lining the streets, giving downtown a festive glow for what was sometimes a dreary February. “Care to take a look around?”
Reid smiled. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
We walked along the sidewalk, and I pointed out each of the stops, restaurants, and bars we passed, many of which would be closing soon. Reid listened avidly, asking questions or cracking jokes while we peered inside the storefront windows.
When we came up to Newton’s Music, Reid stopped and squinted up at the signage before looking at the store window and back again.
“I know this place,” he murmured, stepping up to the window to peer inside.
“You’ve been here before?”
“I-I think so.” He scanned over the various instruments, guitars, and a drum set, but when his eyes landed on the baby grand piano, his hand came up to the glass.
“What is it?” When he continued to stare, I checked the shop hours. Still open. “Do you want to go inside?”
“I think I do.” Pushing off the doorframe, he entered the small shop like he was in a trance, and I could only imagine what was going through his mind right now.
Was something coming back to him? Would this be the beginning, the incident that triggered his memories flooding the dark spaces in his mind?
The door shut behind us, and a woman who looked to be in her mid- to late sixties came out from the back of the shop and greeted us warmly before getting a good look at Reid.
“Oh heavens, I didn’t know you’d be stopping by! It’s so good to see you. You better come here.” She took a hold of Reid’s shoulders and pulled him in for a big hug while he looked over at me as if to ask who the hell the woman was.
When she pulled back, Reid gave her a hesitant smile and said, “Do you know who I am?”
“Why, how could I ever forget such a gifted performer as you, Reid Valentine,” the woman said. “Besides, you know very well you’ve always been my favorite. It’s been so long since you’ve come by, though. What can I do for you?”
Reid stared at the woman as if trying to place exactly how he knew her, and when he didn’t respond after a few beats, I gave him a subtle nudge. He blinked, shaking his head. “Oh, uh… I don’t suppose you’d mind if I…” Reid looked toward the baby grand piano, and the woman gasped.
“Reid, I’d be delighted. Yes, please,” she said, gesturing for him to go ahead.
I followed behind him as he ran a hand reverently over the top of the piano.
“You play?” I asked.
“Yes,” he whispered, and then he sat down on the bench, his back straight and his fingers hovering over the keys.
He certainly looked the part of a pianist, but it wasn’t until his hands moved smoothly across the keys, as if getting familiar with them, that I realized he didn’t just look the part—he was the part.
A soft, mournful melody filled the shop, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the woman leaning against the back counter, her hands clasped over her chest, beaming.
I rounded the piano and sat next to Reid on the bench as he continued to play, his movements no longer tentative, but masterful. “That’s beautiful.”
“Thank you,” he said, without missing a note.
The way his hands glided so gracefully over the keys was mesmerizing, and I knew without a doubt that I could watch him play for hours.
I wanted to ask him where he’d learned to play.
I wanted to ask him so many things, but for now, I was content to listen.
“Someone came to visit me today,” he said quietly.
“Oh?”
“She said we dated for several years.”
I ignored the sting in my chest. “You don’t remember her?”
“Not really. Natasha was her name. She was nice, though. Beautiful. I can see why I’d be attracted to her.”
The way he spoke so nonchalantly about his past love—a woman—only served as a reminder that Reid wouldn’t ever be an option for me.
It slapped me dead in the face, as if to say, Wake up, stupid, and I couldn’t help but flinch.
It wasn’t as though I’d forgotten Reid was straight.
No, it was more like the thought hadn’t occurred to me to even matter.
We were just getting to know each other, but faced with the knowledge of a woman in his past…
Well, shit. That was painful, even though it shouldn’t be.
“She helped me piece together a few things,” Reid said, as his long, elegant fingers danced across the keys.
“I had wondered why I’d gone into teaching when all I ever wanted to do when I was younger was tour the world playing music.
Turns out”—his hand drifted down to the end of the keys, and a twinkling flutter of notes rang out—“I did.”
My brows lifted. “You toured? Playing the piano?”
“Mhmm. Natasha had a scrapbook of photos she’d kept of me at different venues all over the country. Small venues, of course, nothing major, but still. I was doing it.”
“Did she”—I swallowed—“mention your relationship at all? Why you broke up?”
“This is gonna sound strange, but…I didn’t know what to say to her.
I’ve asked you, someone I barely knew in my other life, a hundred questions, yet this person I supposedly spent two years of my life with, nothing.
” The melody changed then, swirling to a heated rumble of low notes.
“She showed me the photos of us together, traveling, spending holidays with my family. It felt like I was looking at someone else’s life.
I don’t understand it. I just get so…angry.
There’s all these blank spaces, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing, or who I am, or how to get my life back.
” He battered the keys as his emotions poured out.
“Or even if I want that life back. From what I’ve seen, I can’t say that I do.
Like… I want to start over. Fresh slate, new start, but I don’t even know how to do that—” He choked on his words and jerked his hands back.