“Ah, very good. You paid attention. But that’s a story for another time. Tell me about your story. How did you go from Scottsdale to the international stage?” I asked, adroitly shifting the conversation toward him.
“Well, you saw the pictures last night, so you have a good idea of how I grew up.”
I nodded and asked, “Do you have siblings?” shifting in my chair while I put sunscreen on my legs.
“Just one. An older sister, Carmen. She’s 3 years older than me, so we didn’t hang out with the same crowd. She got married to a good guy and they live in Tucson. They have two daughters, one of whom, as you know, is a huge Bluey fan.” He smiled at the thought of his nieces. “They are really great kids. I try to go see them at least a couple of times a year. I love sending them presents and stuff, but I wish I could be there to watch them grow up. They just sprout like crazy when I’m not around.”
“You’re lucky to have them in your life,” I said with a smile. “It sounds like you adore them.”
“I do,” he replied quickly. “What about you? Any nieces? Nephews? Kids of your own?”
I snorted a laugh, coming very closing to inhaling the sunscreen I was spreading on my nose. “Uh, no. I’m an only child, so no nieces or nephews. And definitely no kids! I’m single, so that wouldn’t work out well.”
“So, no Mr. Lambert in the rear-view mirror?”
“No. I’ve never been married.” I needed to shut down that line of questioning quickly. “So where did you go to school? You said you got a scholarship.”
“Very nice, Eve. You paid attention, too.”
My cheeks warmed a bit, and it had nothing to do with the sun. Yes, I’d done nothing but pay attention to him since I’d sat down next to him on the plane. Everything about him, his soft curls, his large, dark eyes, his smooth voice, and his arms (ok, I was a bit fixated on those arms), all conspired to capture and hold my attention.
He splayed his hands wide and said, as though admitting something embarrassing, “I got a scholarship to Julliard.”
“What? Julliard? Holy cow, Jack, that’s amazing! How did that happen?”
“Well, as long I can remember, I’ve always loved music and wanted to play the piano. Mrs. Lopez, you met her at the memorial, she lived down the block from us and let me come play her piano as long as I followed the rules. 1- Clean hands, and 2- No banging. She’d let me plunk away, then she’d play for me. I loved how she could turn dots and lines on paper into beautiful tunes, and so I asked her to show me how to do that. She taught me to read music and how to play. I’d practice wherever I could get my hands on a piano. One year, for my birthday, my whole family pitched in to buy me an electric keyboard. I was the happiest little kid.”
I smiled at his enthusiasm. “You must have been an adorable kid. I wish I could have seen it.”
“I don’t know about adorable, but I sure got away with some stuff. But I always put music first.” He paused and looked down at his hands. “When my dad died…he got hit by a drunk driver when I was a sophomore…things got pretty tough. But Mrs. Lopez kept teaching me and my mom was always encouraging me. It was Mrs. Lopez’s idea to apply to Julliard. She did demo tapes of me playing and helped me fill in the forms. I was shocked when they accepted me and offered me a scholarship.”
“Yet,” I said gently, “you were willing to throw it away for Valentina.”
“Nick was the jock, the sports star, and I was kind of a music geek. All the girls loved him and barely even looked at me. That’s why I was so blown away by Valentina. There was this gorgeous girl, and she pickedme.Or at least, I thought she did. I didn’t know she was keeping her options open.”
I nodded, knowing the end of that sordid tale. “So does Julliard teach how to be a pop star?”
He laughed and shook his head. “I was training to be a classical pianist. I spent tons of time on technique, music theory, and other technical aspects of being a pianist. I thought being a concert pianist was what I wanted to do with my life. But at school I started hanging out with some friends who played other instruments. One of them was my drummer, he was my roommate, and one was my guitar player. We started playing just for fun and I loved it.
“I’d always loved music, but I’d never had the idea that it could be…just fun. That was a revelation for me. So, by the end of my sophomore year, I figured I’d gotten what I needed from school and set out to have some fun making music. That was the nucleus of PRTY. Just music students messing around, having fun.”
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but my phone alarm chimed.
“Oh, that was to keep me on track for dinner tonight. I’m going to take a quick dip, then go get ready.”
“Are you a good swimmer?” he asked with a sly grin.
“I’m a fair swimmer. Why?”
“I’ll race you up and back in the pool. Winner gets to…” He paused, tapping his lips with his finger. “Winner gets a favor from the loser.”
“Jack, that is way too open-ended!” I protested, fairly sure I knew who the winner would be. And I didn’t want any of Jack’s ridiculous shenanigans to interfere with my business deal. “How about the winner can’t collect till after this week?”
He considered, the corner of his lip curling up. “Deal. Now get into the pool so I can humiliate you and get my favor.”
“You’re awfully cocky for a piano player. How do you know I wasn’t captain of the swim team? A runner up for the Olympic team?” I replied with a smirk of my own, as I walked to the edge of the pool.
“Well, for one thing, you don’t have the build for it.” His eyes slid over my body and made me shiver a bit under his gaze. “And for another, your hair doesn’t look like it spends much time in chlorine. You have gorgeous hair, and if you were a swimmer, it would be green.”
