Chapter 15 #2
Afternoon light played over her silky, brown skin, the sun’s beats a softer version of the smith’s hammer on the anvil. Reyna raised her face to the warmth, eyes closed, seeming at peace with right where she was.
Cadenza’s heart ached, not knowing what that peace felt like. What life felt like without the constant push to hurry up and get somewhere, be someone. “What brought you home?” she asked. “I mean, back to Sonora?”
Reyna shrugged. “I never really left. When I was going to school, I’d commute so I could still work the iron in Columbia. Then when I bought the smithy, it was kind of a done deal that I’d stay.”
“Wow, you’ve never wanted to get out and go see things?” Cadenza pulled a sandwich out of her bag, then froze, realizing what she just said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound so bad. There’s nothing wrong with staying in one place if you’re happy there.”
“No worries. Believe me, there were plenty of days I wanted out. Mostly in school when certain other kids wouldn’t let me forget that the point five percent of Sonora’s Black population was pretty much all my family.”
“Idiots.”
“Completely.” Reyna took a bite of her pasta salad and gazed out over the valley.
“One time in high school, they had a talent show in the evening. My friends and I wandered for a bit during the show, just hanging out. We walked around the band building, you know where that dirt road went up to the aggie classes?”
Cadenza nodded, remembering the layout of her high school.
“Anyways, the aggie kids were back there, drunk off their cans.”
“There’s a surprise.” Cadenza snorted.
“Right?” Reyna shook her head. “They tried to pick a fight with one of my friends. Pulled a knife. We managed to get away without any violence, and when we went back to the talent show, I told the grade level coordinator that there were students drunk on his campus. Do you know what he said?” She paused, disbelief still in her voice, years after the incident.
“He said, and I quote, ‘Well then, don’t go back there.’”
Cadenza’s mouth dropped in outrage, but not surprise. So Tuolumne County.
“But,” Reyna said. “I had my reasons for staying.” She didn’t elaborate, and Cadenza didn’t want to push.
“So,” Reyna’s tone lightened. “Tell me what’s stressing you out so bad.”
“Oh,” Cadenza hedged. She needed this time.
Friend time. But Taran’s secrets weren’t hers to share, and if she told Reyna about the car bomb, it would lead to questions about who wanted her dead.
What was safe to share? “I’m stressing about getting the money for my plane ticket in time.
And I don’t know what to do about Canon.
He doesn’t seem to understand the word ‘no.’”
Reyna frowned. “I thought Canon was fixing the plane ticket problem.”
“Why do you think that?” Cadenza asked, confused. She was sure she hadn’t told Reyna about Canon’s proposal.
“He didn’t call you?” Reyna looked at her, equally confused.
“I got a call from him yesterday. He’s having a fundraiser—apparently he’s running for the State Legislature.
” She shrugged as if there was no understanding some people.
“But he said it was a formal event, and he wanted really classy entertainment. That’s you and me.
” She laughed and pretended to buff her fingernails on her shirt.
“Wait, Canon is hiring us to sing at his event?” Cadenza asked, still confused. He hadn’t said one word about it in the garage.
Reyna nodded. “Paying us each five thousand dollars. Said that should get you to Italy.”
Cadenza’s breath caught, but she waited for the other shoe to drop—there must be some catch, some loophole—but Reyna didn’t say anything else.
“That’s it?” Cadenza asked. “He didn’t say anything else about maybe something else he wanted in exchange?”
“Nope.” Reyna shook her head. “He just said he wants the best for his event and that’s us.”
“Five thousand dollars? For one gig?” Cadenza's voice was barely a whisper. All of Italy covered. Just like that. The tangle of anxiety in her gut loosened, and she drew in a ragged breath. But why hadn’t Canon told her himself?
She would have thought he’d tell her himself in the hope it would help his case.
Yes, she realized. I would have thought that. But he hadn’t used it to bolster his case. He’d just done it. Because she needed it.
And I asked him why he couldn’t be normal. Shame burned her cheeks.
“Yeah. I think that’s pretty generous of him. Especially since he’s paying me that much too, and I’m not going to Italy. He seems like kind of an amazing guy,” Reyna said, a blush creeping up her cheeks.
Cadenza narrowed her eyes, a smile forming. “Wait a sec. Do you have a thing for Canon?”
“I’m just saying that with the money from this gig, I might like to put a down payment on a new car or something, and”—she stretched out the word—“I may need to go into Norroway’s and check out the imports.
That’s all. As far as Canon goes, I know he has a thing for you right now, but you’re with Taran, so you won’t mind if I try to convince him otherwise, right? ”
Cadenza sobered. The last thing she wanted was for Reyna to get hurt because Canon was too stubborn to know when an amazing woman was interested in him. “I’d be thrilled for Canon to find someone wonderful, as long as she’s fully aware of the situation and there’s no weirdness between friends.”
Reyna bumped shoulders with her in a shower of strings. “No weirdness. And one thing at a time of course. I’m just saying he’s generous, and he’s hot, and I may need to come into Norroway’s to check him out again.” She winked.
Cadenza laughed. “I thought you said you wanted to check out the imports.”
“Is Canon from Sonora?”
“No, he moved up from Hayward.”
Reyna arched an eyebrow, smirking. “That’s imported enough for me.”
“But what, exactly, have you tried?” Cadenza took Taran’s hand on the way to the back field that evening. Bodhran rhythm rolled up her arm and timpani boomed in her stomach, but his heartbeat kept her steady.
“Oh, the usual. Eye of newt, lizard tongue.” He leapt onto a log at the edge of the dirt road and lifted her up after him. “They were quite nasty though.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m being serious.”
“So am I.” He made a face, walking backwards on the log. “They tasted awful.”
She laughed and swatted his shoulder. “You are so full of it. I need to know how you’ve already tried to break the curse, so I know what not to waste time on.”
A dark shape swooped out of the trees, and he pointed to it.
“Oh, look at that. It’s the owl again,” he said.
Cadenza set her hands on her hips. “Stop changing the subject.”
Taran hopped off the end of the log. “You’re beautiful when you’re stubborn, did you know that?”
She lifted her chin and sniffed. “I prefer determined.”
Drumsong surged as he scooped her off the fallen tree, swung her in a circle and caught her in his arms. “Stubborn or determined, you’re still beautiful. And I’m still more stubborn than you are. We have a more pressing problem we should be addressing.”
She threw a hand up in exasperation. “What is more pressing than making sure you can see the sun again?”
He made a show of thinking. “Well, there is that small matter of someone trying to kill you.”
“All the more reason to break your curse.” She poked a finger to his chest for emphasis.
“You’d be a full time Guardian again and awake all day, so no one could get to me.
” Not even Canon, if I didn’t want to talk to him.
At least, not salesman-Canon, she thought.
Real-person-Canon, the Canon that hired her and Reyna, that Canon she was happy to be friends with. There were so many sides to him though.
She remembered his eavesdropping confession and frowned.
Taran set her on her feet and brushed her lip with his thumb. “Hmm. I might not be much of a guard if I can’t even keep a frown at bay. What’s wrong?”
“I forgot until now. Canon talked to me this morning.”
Taran’s face darkened. “What did he say?”
“He heard us,” she said, voice small. “The other night when you told me about the curse, he overheard it all. He knows.”
Taran blew out a breath and rocked back on his heels. “Well, that’s a bugger, isn’t it?”
“What do we do about it?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Nothing for now, I’d say.
Canon’s just become a public figure with his bid for a life in politics, hasn’t he?
He’s not going to screw that up by spouting some tale about a cursed Ferrari and having people think he’s daft.
It’s my life, and even I think it sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.
” He shook his head. “We should let my father know, but I don’t think we need to worry just yet.
If anything, it seems like something he’d use to back up his offer to you,” he said, lip curled.
She ducked her chin, embarrassed, and reached down to pluck a handful of dry grass to braid as they walked. “Yeah, he did try that actually.”
Taran made a disgusted noise. “Figures.”
“But,” she said, the grass prickling pan pipes over her fingers. “He is also hiring Reyna and me to sing at his next fundraiser, and for more than enough to cover my trip.”
Taran stilled, the barest hint of a quiver around his lips, but then he cupped her cheek with one hand and smiled.
“That is brilliant news. Tell him I said thank you.” He pulled back and kept walking, voice lighter.
“Even so, I’d wager he’d happily sneak into the garage and kick the Ferrari just for spite. ”
“You might be right there.” She laughed. “If Canon knowing isn’t a problem, let’s go back to the other topic.” She tied the braided grass around Taran’s wrist and planted a quick kiss on his nose. “What have you already tried?”
He tossed his head back and groaned. “I take it back, maybe you are more stubborn than I am.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the middle of the field. “Come on, Father’ll be out here soon for your first lesson.”
“Great. You can tell me while we wait for him.”