CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 43
Kari woke to the sound of laughter.
She sat up in bed, dislodging Sienna from her covers. The kitten rolled upright, mewed, and waited for attention.
Kari smelled food. Then heard voices. Several of them.
She used the bathroom, dressed, slid open her bedroom doors, and demanded, “Why wasn’t I invited to the party?”
“It just sort of happened.” Ian was up and holding a chair. “Coffee?”
“I can get it.” She padded barefoot to the bar, coming to terms with all the smiling faces. Graham and Rafi and Danny and Arthur and Megan and Connor and Maxine. Beside the coffee maker stretched an array of breakfast items in chafing dishes. “What time is it?”
“Almost ten.” Ian waited until she had poured a mug and seated herself at the table to say, “We can move this crowd elsewhere if you like.”
“No. Stay.” The balcony doors were open, and the large parlor was awash in a tropical sea breeze. She was surprised by her own ease with these people. Crowds of any size normally sent her scurrying to another room. But here she was, not just seated at the table but now the center of attention. And comfortable with the fact.
“Would you like something to eat?” Ian asked her.
“Not just yet.” She patted the empty seat next to hers. When Ian retook his place, she said, “Thank you for helping me with the gala. So much.”
The smile diminished to just the faintest spark in his eyes. “I liked being there for you. So much.”
Despite the crowd, despite everything, she took his hand. “I mean it.”
“I know you do. And so do I. I like helping you. A lot.”
“I could never have spoken to Daddy like you did. Never, never, never.”
“You didn’t need to. That was my job.” He smiled across the table. “And only after the ladies made him listen.”
Kari set down her mug, reached across the table. Maxine’s hand was warm, strong, massive. “If there’s anything I can ever do for you, all you need is to just ask.”
“Well now.” Maxine pointed to the multitude of sketches adorning both side walls. “I wouldn’t mind one of these.”
“Take whichever you want,” Kari told her.
Rafi made round eyes. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Else I wouldn’t have said.”
“It’s just . . . you never show your sketches. Much less give them away.”
“Or let us sell them,” Graham added. “Which we could.”
Kari told Maxine, “Choose whichever you like. I’ll sign it for you and have it framed.”
“And here I thought this day couldn’t get any better.” Maxine rose to her feet and padded across the room. “As if singing in front of a thousand people doesn’t already have me floating.”
Connor groaned softly.
“More like double that number,” Arthur said. “According to the dragon lady.”
Connor groaned again.
“He means Kiki,” Ian said.
“Kiki is nice,” Kari said. “I like her.”
That silenced the table.
Megan said, “Obviously, we’re talking about two different people. Because the one I negotiated with breathed fire over the phone. My ear has blisters to prove it.”
“This is also the lady whose lawyers barred me from my own house,” Ian pointed out.
Kari shrugged. “I thought she was delightful.”
“In that case,” Megan said, “you can handle Ian’s next contract.”
“No thank you very much.” To Ian, she said, “What contract is this?”
“Kiki wants me back next year.” He shrugged. “I told her we needed to wait and see.”
“Which she took as a negotiating ploy,” Megan said. “Enter the fire and brimstone.”
Danny asked Maxine, “Where are your friends?”
“They decided to hang around the hall. Supposedly they’re helping Arthur’s team do the mike check. But really they’re just jazzing over where we’ll be playing.” She gently peeled a sketch off the wall. “Those girls, you wouldn’t believe how much complaining I had to put up with. Getting them up before noon, I needed sirens and a forklift. Then they walk into that concert hall and just go crazy. If I wanted crazy, I could have stayed in California.” She walked back over, holding one of Kari’s pages. “Can I have this one?”
“Of course. It’s my favorite.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“Not at all. These are going to become my next paintings. That sketch you hold is the key to the first one I’ll work on.”
Maxine held it out. “Take it. Mail it to me when you’re done.”
“No need.” Kari tapped her head. “The idea is already fixed in here.”
Ian asked Danny, “Are you sure a half hour is enough for the sound check?”
Arthur was the one who responded. “Danny’s guys are the best. Let them handle the preliminaries.”
Danny told Connor, “So is your band, by the way. Working with pros makes our jobs so much easier.”
Arthur went on, “Larry is setting up the piano for you, and Vanessa has a dab hand on the guitar. This afternoon we just need time to run through a couple of songs, check the voices, make sure it’s all in balance.”
Connor’s response was cut off by a plaintive mewling from the other room.
Ian told Kari, “I’ll get her. Have some breakfast.”
“She won’t come.” Kari rose and stepped to the bar. “This smells wonderful.”
Ian returned with a kitten purring in his arms. “Can she have a piece of bacon?”
“I don’t believe this.” Kari walked over, put her face within inches of the kitten. “You complain like a banshee when somebody comes to see me, but Ian can bring you into a crowd?”
“She’s a girl kitten,” Maxine said, smiling at Ian. “I’d let that man carry me anywhere.”
Connor remained as he was, elbow planted on the table, forehead in his hand. “Why did I agree to let you move us to the main hall?”
“You didn’t,” Ian replied. “It sort of happened.”
When Kari returned to her seat, the kitten padded her way across Ian’s thigh and settled into Kari’s lap. Ready to be fed.
It was only then Kari realized how tense Ian had become.
He pretended calm. But his focus was so intent, Kari doubted he had even noticed the kitten’s departure. He looked across the table at Connor and said, “I think we’re facing a choice here. A decision. We can spend the next hour or so hashing over your worries. And we will all do just that, if you really think it will help.”
“That’s pretty cold,” Connor said, lifting his head, staring across the table at Ian. “Hash through my worries.”
“I have a different suggestion. Because I think we should spend this time talking about a very big what-if. But to do that, you have to be willing to stop seeing tonight’s concert as this dark shadow looming over your world. Because it’s not. And I think maybe you’re ready to accept this. Hard as it may be.”
The room was so silent, Kari could hear the laughter and the crashing waves from far below. The only motion around the table was the kitten’s nuzzling her hand for another bite.
Ian went on, “Say we have a total smash hit tonight.”
Connor shook his head. “What a terrifying thought.”
“Say it happens. Say they bring us out after our encore. We can’t just stand there empty handed.”
Arthur said, “I’ve been wondering about that myself.”
Danny said, “Why are we hearing about this only now?”
“It’s not the place of the resident grump burger to go adding songs at the last minute.”
“Say they call us back,” Ian said, pressing. “The audience is on their feet. Shouting for us to give them something more.”
“A farewell fling,” Arthur said. “A tune designed to send them dancing out the exits.”
Danny asked, “You have something in mind?”
“Yes.” Ian named the song. And waited.