Chapter 3 #3
Lyla recognized that tone. “So, should I stop packing now that you think I’m crazy?
I take it you’re retracting the job offer?
” That was fine. She’d only considered it a trial deal, anyway.
Only a few months tops. Definitely not a permanent career change and most certainly not a permanent move to Scotland.
She shrugged. “I understand. No hard feelings. I have enjoyed visiting with you, though.” At least meeting Keeva had enabled her to show Jana the exit without nearly as much angst. Her agent—correction: former agent—had easily accepted that while Lyla lived in Scotland for a couple of months, she was no longer Jana’s responsibility or client.
“I dinna think ye are crazy.”
“That is not what your face or your tone says.”
“What my face and tone should be saying is that the better I know ye, the more I believe ye belong in Scotland.” Keeva made a sweeping motion with her hand, one that encompassed the entire room.
“Ye’re a woman gifted with a magical talent for creating music that touches the soul.
This place, all this asphalt and concrete is smothering yer abilities.
” She gave a firm nod. “That was probably Scotland ye heard speaking to ye. It often calls out for its own, ye ken?”
“Don’t placate me just because I told you I’d work at Seven Cairns for room, board, and travel expenses.
” Forfeiting a salary, at least for the first couple of months, had felt like something Lyla needed to do because she wasn’t a certified music therapist and also not really certain about all that the job entailed.
She knew what her own music therapy had consisted of, but that had been for a physical issue—not a mental or emotional one.
Music therapy to heal a troubled soul wasn’t something she knew anything about.
“I totally get how crazy I just sounded, and I don’t hold you to anything we already agreed on.
” She held up both hands again, totally surrendering the issue. “It’s all good. No harm. No foul.”
“I dinna ken what that means exactly.” Keeva eyed her.
“It means I understand. Really, I do, and I’m still glad we met. You’re the breath of fresh air I needed.”
“Well, we need ye at Seven Cairns,” Keeva said. She jutted her chin to a defiant angle. “And I dinna intend to let ye off the hook or forget what ye promised. I hold ye to everything we agreed upon.”
Lyla laughed. “Do you now? And what do you intend to do if I refuse?”
“Refuse?” Keeva looked pained as well as confused. Finally, she squared her shoulders and stamped her foot. “I dinna ken, but Mairwen and I will do something, and ye will not like it. I grant ye that.”
“Who is Mairwen?”
“My business partner at Seven Cairns. Remember? I told ye about her.”
“You told me you had a partner, but I don’t recall you ever telling me her name.
” Lyla rubbed her forehead, trying to remember.
Life had been somewhat of a whirlwind since meeting Keeva.
“Maybe you did. Maybe I just forgot.” She hated second-guessing herself.
“Are you sure you still want me there? I heard that person more than once that night, and ever since, I’ve heard the same voice in my dreams.” Funny thing was, he didn’t frighten her.
He made her feel—anxious, expectant. Like she was about to find something she’d been missing for a very long time. She shook her head. How crazy was that?
“Interesting.” Keeva seemed more intrigued than worried about Lyla being a little unstable. “Sounds to me like a sure sign ye’re to be bound for Scotland straight away. Ye need it as much as it needs ye.”
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”
“’Tis the only way to look at it.” Keeva took a seat at the piano and started plunking the keys, making Lyla cringe.
After a sideways glance at Lyla, Keeva grinned and plunked harder.
“See? Ye dinna like the harshness of disrespect to the instrument because it disturbs yer magic, insults it.” With greater care and while chewing on her bottom lip, she managed a bearable rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb, then gave Lyla a proud smile.
“And that didn’t nettle ye nearly as much as when I hit the thing like a cat walking across the keyboard.
” She rose from the bench and stepped away.
“But nothing eases ye like knowing yer wee piano is fully safe from those who shouldn’t touch it.
” Shaking a finger at Lyla, she smiled. “Yer magic cares about music and that which brings it to fruition. Music is a part of ye. It’s in yer blood, as is the magic that makes yer soul sing. ”
“I just wish it could make my voice sing again.”
Keeva gave her a sympathetic shrug. “Everything happens for a reason, lass. Always remember that, ye ken?”
A knock on the door interrupted them. A glance at the treble clef-shaped clock on the wall above the piano made Lyla smile. “That’ll be Jake. It’s Tuesday.”
“Jake?”
“You’ll see. Hopefully, he remembered to bring Sara with him.
I texted him this morning, but you know kids.
” Lyla went to the door and opened it. “Right on time, Jake. Come in.” She smiled at the leery young woman standing beside him.
“Hi, Sara. Thanks for coming with him today. I needed to talk with you.”
“Am I in trouble?” the worried eleven-year-old asked.
“I promise I’ve been practicing.” He held out the portable, second-hand keyboard that Lyla had sent home with him when she’d first started giving him piano lessons.
“See the keys?” Balancing the small instrument across his skinny arm, he ran his fingers across the yellowed plastic keys.
“I’ve worn the color off some of them. See? ”
“You’re not in trouble, silly.” She tousled his brown mop of unevenly cut hair, loving the kid even more than she already did. She’d miss Jake. His weekly piano lessons had made her second-guess making the trip to Scotland.
“If it’s the rent,” his mother whispered after casting a nervous glance at Keeva, “I’ll have it soon. I promise. They cut my benefits when I started waitressing and reported my tips. But I’ll have enough to cover the rent soon and hopefully, some of the utilities.”
Lyla's heart went out to the proud, rail-thin single mother whom the system had never helped. She’d found Sara and Jake living in a cardboard box in the alley next to the building she owned when the overcrowded shelter had been forced to turn them away.
All the system had offered them was foster care for Jake and nothing for Sara.
Luckily, an apartment in Lyla's building had just become available. It was small, but clean and safe and just one floor up from her own place, so Jake could safely walk downstairs for his piano lessons whenever Lyla was in town. Once she’d lost her voice, she’d been in town a lot, and needed the lessons with Jake more than he did.
The musically gifted kid had kept her from slipping into an abyss of hopelessness.
She gently ushered Sara deeper into the room. “It’s not the rent or the utilities. I have a proposition for you.” She started the metronome ticking and patted Jake on the shoulder. He already sat at the piano, itching to get started. “Warm her up, Jakey while I talk to your mom, okay?”
He gave her a thumbs-up and started playing Debussy’s soothing Clair de Lune.
“Perfect,” she told him, then motioned for Sara and Keeva to join her out on the balcony that overlooked the community garden taken care of by the tenants in the building.
“He has been practicing,” the nervous mother repeated as she took a seat at the patio table, selecting the chair that strategically placed her back against the wall.
Poor Sara had never quite recovered from all the mistreatment in her life or nearly losing her son to social services.
“He loves music more than video games or television. I have to force him to stop practicing just so he’ll get his schoolwork done. ”
Seating herself at the table and nodding for Keeva to join them, Lyla pulled a business card from her back pocket but didn’t hand it over just yet.
“Jake is extraordinarily talented, and I’m not just saying that because I’m his teacher.
” She tipped a nod at Keeva. “By the way, this is my friend and newest employer. Keeva from Scotland.” She turned to Keeva and said, “This is Sara, Jake’s mom, and with any luck, the person who will take a load of worry off my mind while I’m gone. ”
Keeva beamed at Sara with her usual bright friendliness. “’Tis a pleasure to meet ye, and I am so glad Lyla has a person like ye that she can trust.”
“Trust?” Sara caught her bottom lip between her teeth and nervously chewed on it as she glanced back and forth between Keeva and Lyla.