Greg finished his set to raucous applause from our little group, then ran off, presumably to use the restroom. Tony made his way around to us, and Jeremy and I rose to greet him. Jeremy pulled him into a brief hug. “What are you doing here?”
Tony tipped his head toward me. “Sean and I were talking about security at the hotel today, and he told me you guys were going to be here tonight. Figured I’d stop by to see how you were doing.”
“I thought you would be back in Manhattan by now,” Jeremy said.
“Pop had some doctor’s appointments,” Tony replied with a shrug. “Mom wanted me to go with him because he always gives her a hard time when she goes with him.”
I held out my hand to him. “It’s good to finally meet you in person.”
I noticed Ryan and Isaiah looking on curiously and turned to introduce them. “This is my friend Ryan and his fiancé, Isaiah.”
Tony greeted the other two men, and we found him a chair so he could join us around the piano. Jeremy excused himself when he saw Greg come back from the restroom.
Tony turned to me and asked, “Did you hear anything more from that prissy asshole?”
“No,” I replied with a shake of my head. “But I like your idea of putting in security cameras for that, and in case Brian decides to resort to old-school vandalism.”
“That Whitaker guy pisses me off,” Tony growled. “He’s got more money than God, and he’s jonesing for your tiny hotel just because he got told no. What a prick.”
I snort-laughed. “Truth.”
Tony tipped his head toward Jeremy, who was having an animated conversation with Greg. “How’s he doing? He seems more relaxed. Happier, even.”
“Good. Really good.” I tried not to smile too much because it would have, no doubt, been a filthy one as I thought about all the things Jeremy was good at. I cleared my throat. “He seems to be less anxious about playing in front of people. He’s been playing in the dining room in front of the guests all week.”
Tony gave me the side-eye like he knew what I was thinking. “It’s good he has somebody looking out for him. You have his back. I like that.”
I looked over at Jeremy, who now seemed to be in a serious discussion with both Greg and Isaiah. Ryan was listening in, and he looked excited. God, Jeremy was gorgeous. I turned back to find Tony staring at me with a knowing look. “You like him,” he said with a smile.
I felt a funny tightening in my chest. “Yeah,” I said, my voice a little hoarse. “I like him a lot. He’s…I don’t know. There’s just something about him that draws me to him.”
“Yeah, he’s a good man,” Tony said emphatically. “He needs more good people in his life.”
I watched as Jeremy shook hands with Greg and Isaiah, and I hoped like hell I could be one of the good people in his life.
TWENTY-FOUR
JEREMY
“So, what do you think?” I asked Greg and Isaiah.
“I’m in,” Isaiah replied immediately.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Greg said.
I shook their hands. “Great. I’ll talk to Sean about setting up a rehearsal time.”
Greg looked nervous. “Do you think we’ll be able to pull it off in only a week?”
“Sure,” I replied confidently. I could tell Greg underestimated his own talent, so I decided to try a simple experiment. I sat on the right side of the piano bench and patted the left side. “Come sit.” His eyes went wide and he hesitated. “I don’t bite. I promise.”
Well,unless you’re Sean O’Neil.
I looked to where Sean was talking to Tony and noticed that two men and two women had joined the group. They seemed to be about the same age as Sean, so I assumed they were more of his high school friends. Greg finally took a seat next to me on the bench. I turned to him and asked, “Do you remember ‘Heart and Soul?’”
He looked confused for a moment, and then the lightbulb went on. “Oh yeah. It was one of the first pieces I learned to play.”
“Me too,” I said. I put my hands on the keys. “You take the bass line, and I’ll play the treble.”
