“Uh-huh, I can’t wait to see this masterpiece. Just try not to make it so beautiful our son’s girlfriend faints.”
“No problem. We’ll revive her.”
He went into the living room and looked at the old upright piano. He’d once desperately wanted Ian to learn music. He’d hired tutors, bought this very piano, but his son was completely tone-deaf. After years of suffering, Ian had finally begged him:
“Dad, I’ll join five different sports teams, just please, no more music! I can’t stand it, and I really hate this piano.”
Andrew had been disappointed. Deeply. He had hoped to one day hear that melody again, the one Carina had written for him. He couldn’t even hum it, but he knew with absolute certainty that if he ever heard it again, he would recognize it instantly.
It was ten years after Eleanor had torn them apart that he finally learned the truth. Carina had been sent away to live with Eleanor’s sister in a small, forgotten town in the Appalachians. A kind of exile. A year later, after Andrew had already left town, she was allowed to come back, but she refused. She was proud. And then, out there, with her aunt, she caught pneumonia and died. The news had nearly driven him mad, but he was already married to Nina by then. He held himself together. He never went to see Eleanor or visited that town.
“So, is everything ready?”
He and Nina stood looking at the set table. The delicious smell of roasting meat wafted from the kitchen.
“Yep, looks great.”
Nina glanced at him and smiled.
“Imagine if we don’t like Ian’s choice?”
Andrew laughed.
“Not a chance. First, I trust Ian’s judgment—he wouldn’t fall for a bad person. Second, we’re not the ones who have to live with her. So, chin up, sweetheart. Our son is all grown up.”
“Andrew.”
“What?”
“What are you standing there for?”
Comments are closed.