“Surprise, surprise.”
He tilts his head at me. “He knows you’re up here, right?”
“More or less. That video call we had a few months ago? When he reintroduced you to the family? That’s when my dad and brothers told me I was moving to Brookhaven. Although I’m still not totally sure why they included Peter. He hasn’t been part of any of these conversations.”
“And why exactly did you move here?”
I roll my eyes. “Because Tristan is suing me for defamation of character.”
Ryder sets his jaw, fire in his eyes. “Telling the truth isn’t the same as defaming his character.”
I’m a little surprised by his reaction. Most people think Tristan is God’s gift to Hollywood, or at least he was. “I know.And there might be some changes to the lawsuit. My cousin Bethany—she’s one of my lawyers—called yesterday and said Tristan has disappeared, so they might be done with the lawsuit and I can come out again. We have a private consultant and they’re deciding when it’ll be the best time for me to finally end this”—I wave my hand around—“situation.”
Ryder nods, his expression softening a little. “Well, I hope you get to leave soon.”
I swallow my ambivalent feelings about being let out of here and don’t reply.
“And you’re okay up here?” he asks, filling my silence.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I blurt. “It’s…fine. Agatha is really good to me, and I get to FaceTime with my family a lot. I’m busy taking online classes.” I shrug. “The only thing I miss the most is a piano.”
“A piano,” he repeats, then gestures over to the closet. “Wasn’t there a piano in there?”
I roll my eyes and grin. “Thathas no right to be called a piano. It’s a keyboard.”
He studies me for a moment, then breaks into a grin. “So you kept playing?”
“Kept?” I repeat.
“Yeah. I remember one time Peter had to come home for your piano recital. You must have been…I don’t know, thirteen? I had just turned eighteen, Peter was twenty-one, and we were supposed to—” He cuts himself off with a cough. “Anyway, he had to leave early so he could get to your piano recital.”
“Sounds about right,” I reply. “Well, he hasn’t been to any of my recitals since Mom died. Not that I’ve had any in the last year and a half. Peter’s been completely out of the picture since then.”
Ryder doesn’t look surprised by this information. It was disappointing when Peter first disappeared, rushing offto one exotic location after another, ignoring our phone calls and pleas for him to come visit. But now that it’s been a few years, we’re all used to him being gone.
“So, no piano here?” Ryder asks.
“Agatha says the tower can’t take the weight.”
“Hence the paper piano,” he supplies.
I nod my head once, heat rushing to my cheeks.
“I guess I don’t blame you. If I were stuck alone for a year and a half, I’d do some crazy things, too.”
I feel the urge to defend myself. Whether it’s the use of the word “crazy,” or because I’ve been alone with my thoughts for so long and now I finally have the chance to speak to someone outside of my family, or I’m so embarrassed over this afternoon. Whatever the reason, I can’t stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth.
“It’s not just being alone,” I say. “The piano is like an extension of my body. It’s the way I get my feelings out without having to say anything. I’m not…there hasn’t been…” Tears fill my eyes, a wave of emotion coming over me that I’ve been holding inside for six months.
Ryder takes a step toward me, and I put my hands up defensively. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” Ever so slowly, as if testing a boundary, he wraps his arms around me and gives me a hug.
A hug.
The only people who have hugged me in the last six months are Agatha, Luna, and Henry. All family members, or almost family. This is the first hug I’ve gotten from anyone else, let alone a handsome man who stirs up all those fluttery feelings I’ve kept dormant for a year and a half.
At first, I tense up, holding my arms stiff to my sides. But Ryder doesn’t let go. He just keeps holdingme, slowly thawing my body, and I melt against him, resting my cheek against his chest.
