28. Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-eight
Callie waited until she and Danny had put their instruments away before breaking the news.
“Hey, Danny, we need to talk.”
“Okay,” he answered. He stopped rubbing Roscoe’s belly and looked up at her. Roscoe nudged Danny’s hand to get him started again. No human conversation could possibly be as important as Roscoe’s belly rub.
“You know that I’m going back to Nashville on Monday, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And I’ve got that performance tomorrow at Lucy’s.”
“Yeah.”
“So I was thinking that today should be our last lesson together.”
“What? Why?” Danny jumped to his feet. Roscoe followed suit, only a lot more slowly.
“Well, I need to rehearse tomorrow morning. For the show.”
Now he looked like she had stomped on his heart.
“But you promised that we could play together every morning, whenever you’re here. And you’re still here.” His accusation hit home. She winced.
“True.” Callie hadn’t anticipated this particular argument. She could picture her father laughing at her for making a promise to a kid and then trying to weasel out of it.
“Besides,” Danny argued, “you asked me if I wanted to play in your show, and I’ve decided that I do.” He crossed his arms, his expression daring her to object. Roscoe sat right beside him and gave her an equally challenging look.
“What?”
Callie hadn’t been serious when she had asked Danny if he wanted to perform. She had intended to plant a seed for the future, maybe next summer.
“I want to play. I’m ready.” He seemed insulted at her surprise.
"Of—of course!" she said. “Sometimes I get distracted by the fact that you’re only eight. But if you feel ready, then you’re ready. Are you sure?”
“Yes. And I’m almost nine. My birthday is in July.”
“Well, okay then.” She admitted defeat. He had totally outmaneuvered her.
“So I think we should play together tomorrow morning,” said Danny, circling back to win the argument. “We need to rehearse.”
“Yes, we do,” Callie conceded. “And we should discuss this with your uncle.” Ready or not! “He doesn’t like surprises.”
“No.” Danny thought about that for a minute, then giggled. “No surprises for Uncle Adam.”
Adam was clearly surprised to see Callie trailing Danny through the kitchen door. Had he expected her to slink away, never to be seen again? If he had any regrets, he hid them well behind a polite mask. She didn’t even have to worry about awkward moments because Danny filled the room with excited chatter about tomorrow’s performance. Adam got the gist of it, despite Danny’s scattered explanation. Danny wanted to perform his song—the one that had clobbered Adam—as part of Callie’s show tomorrow.
She couldn’t tell if he liked the idea or not. In fact, she couldn’t tell if he felt anything at all, and that started to piss her off. If she had to walk around with gaping wounds in her heart, then he could at least give her the courtesy of a small outward sign of his inner pain. One chip in his sculpted granite exterior would be enough to soothe her, but he gave away nothing.
She wanted to poke around, hunting for evidence of heartbreak, but first they needed to make a decision about tomorrow.
“Danny,” said Callie, “the crowd at Lucy’s tomorrow will be bigger than usual. It’s Memorial Day weekend, and she’s been putting up posters all over town. I’d love for you to play with me, but honey, I don’t want to freak you out.”
“I won’t be freaked out,” he pleaded. “I promise.”
He bounced around the kitchen like a popcorn kernel ready to explode.
Adam picked up the thread of her argument. “I know it doesn’t seem scary now,” he said, “but sometimes, in front of a crowd, the nerves can sneak up on you.”
“They won’t get me,” he insisted.
Callie met Adam’s eyes across the kitchen. Now, with Danny’s happiness on the line, he displayed some cracks in his cool facade. He looked even more concerned than she felt, and—to be honest—she could understand that. She had learned over the years that normal people do not find performing for an audience to be a comfortable experience. For her, it was magical, but normal people just want to throw up.
“How about this,” said Callie. “When I’m done with the show, but before I play an encore, I’ll look over at you. If you want to go for it, then you give me a thumbs up and start to take out your instrument. We’ll have it all tuned up and ready to go. But if you change your mind, you shake your head and we’ll skip it. Nobody will even know. What do you think?”
Danny stopped bouncing long enough to consider her proposal, then nodded.
“That sounds good. I know that I’m going to do it, but you’re not sure, and that’s okay. Playing at the end will be perfect.”
Adam nodded his agreement. Callie squeezed Danny’s shoulders, then let go so he could start bouncing again.
“Okay then,” she said. “Danny, I’ll see you tomorrow morning to rehearse. Adam, you be sure to get there early so that you can snag a table by the front. In fact, I’ll give Lucy a heads up and see if she would be willing to reserve one.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Adam.
“Yessssss,” said Danny, doing a victory elbow-pump.
“Hey, Danny,” said Callie. “You mind if I talk to your uncle in private for a minute?”
Danny hefted his guitar and grinned at her before heading toward his room. “He’s all yours,” he drawled.
She shook her head, smiling. Danny was going to be fine.
She, on the other hand, was not. But for her own peace of mind, she was going to give Adam a piece of her mind, whether he wanted it or not.
She motioned for Adam to follow her outside. Not only did she want some distance from Danny, she wanted to be as far from Adam’s bedroom as possible.
“What’s up?” he asked curtly.
“This sucks,” she threw back.
“And?”
“I think you should reconsider your concept of the perfect family.”
Adam crossed his arms, not looking particularly receptive to an alternative worldview. Fine. She would say her piece and walk away, knowing that she had done everything she could.
“It’s like this.” She took a step toward him, stopping just over the edge of his personal space. “There is no perfect family. You have this vision of a mom and a dad living together in perfect harmony and raising Danny, maybe having a few kids of their own, and that’s beautiful. But it’s not real. Maybe you could find that with someone else, someday.” Saying the words out loud made her feel sick. “Maybe that only exists on TV. But it’s not your only option.”
She took another step toward him, her breasts now so close to his tightly crossed arms that she could feel his body heat.
“You and me? This is real. Me and Danny? Real. Just because I won’t be around every second of every day doesn’t make me any less real. It means that we need to make our time together count for something. And I think it does.” Callie fought the tears. She needed to finish this. “I think that what we have is worth fighting for. If you want to throw this away,” she choked, “then that’s your choice. Your mistake. But let me be clear. I’m not the one giving up on us. You are. And I think you’re wrong.”
Callie meant to walk away. The moment called for a dignified exit, but she couldn’t do it. She reached for him, caressing the stubble on his cheeks and pulling him closer for one last kiss. If this was it—if they were really over—she wanted to make it memorable.
She sank into him, pressing herself against his crossed arms, and savored every last second. His lips tasted like coffee. When she nipped at his lower lip he groaned, finally opening his arms and pulling her close, devouring her right there in the open air, one hand sliding into her hair and the other tracing her spine from top to bottom and pulling her hips tight against his.
A sudden breeze chilled the back of Callie’s neck, rousing her enough so that she could pull away. Adam held on for a moment longer, but then let his arms drop to his sides.
“Don’t give up on us,” whispered Callie. Then she made her escape.
Kat cleared her throat before answering her cell phone. She didn’t want to advertise the fact that the phone had woken her up, especially not to Adam. She wondered what would prompt a call on a Saturday morning.
“Good morning.”
There was nothing but silence on the other end of the phone. Had he pocket-dialed her? Did they have a bad connection?
“Hello? Adam?”
Still silence, and then finally a voice.
“Is this Kat?”
“Yes.” Her brain clicked on and she realized who was on the other end of the line. “Is this Danny?” Kat kept any hint of shock out of her voice, although she was scrambling out of bed and pulling on a robe.
“Yes.”
“Is everything okay, Danny?”
“Yes.”
She waited for him to tell her why he was calling, but silence filled the line. She rolled her eyes. Great. This was going to be a challenging conversation.
“So…where’s your uncle?”
“He’s outside.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
“What’s he doing?” This was like pulling teeth.
“Kissing with Callie. ”
Oh, of course. Wonderful. Very discreet.
“Was there something you wanted to tell me, Danny?”
“Yes.”
She waited. Nothing.
“What did you want to tell me?”
She heard the sigh on the other end of the phone and reminded herself that this was a big deal. Danny had picked up the phone and found the guts to call her. She needed to find the patience to hear him out.
“Take your time.” While she waited, she slid her feet into her slippers and padded into the kitchen. She switched on the coffee maker, which was prepped and ready, and found a bagel in the fridge. By the time she popped the bagel into the toaster, Danny had found his voice.
“I know what I want. I want to stay with Uncle Adam.”
“Oh.” His answer, abrupt and direct after all that delay, startled her. “That’s great. Do you think you’ll be able to tell the judge how you feel?”
“Yes.”
“Great. I know it can be scary to speak up, but when you do, people listen.”
“I wish Callie could stay, too,” he whispered.
Kat ignored the heart-clench.
“Did you tell her that?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did she say?”
She was not prying into Adam’s personal life. She was looking out for Danny. Big difference.
“She said she had to go, but that we could play music together whenever she came back to visit.”
Kat breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe that made her a bad person, but she didn’t care.
“You spoke up for what you wanted, and that’s all you can do. She has to live her own life, even if it doesn’t fit together with yours.”
“I know.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. She’s going to let me play with her at Lucy’s tomorrow, so that will be cool.”
Kat digested this news, not sure she had understood him.
“Are you saying you’re going to play music with her during her performance at Lucy’s? In front of all those people?”
“At the end. I’m going to be her encore.”
“Oh. Wow. You don’t think you’ll be nervous?”
“Maybe a little, but I really want to do it.”
“That’s….” Unbelievable. Amazing. Scary. “…cool. Mind if I come watch?”
“You totally should. But come early, because I heard that it’s going to be really crowded.”
“Right. Of course. I’ll be early. Maybe I’ll bring some friends.”
“Good idea,” chirped Danny. “Make sure you stay all the way until the end. I don’t play until the end.”
“I know.”
“Good. See you tomorrow.”
“See you—“
Danny had already hung up. Kat stared thoughtfully at her phone. What an odd conversation. Hard to believe he had gone nearly a year without talking. But it gave her an idea.