I shook my head, trying not to laugh at her deliberately snarky tone. “That’s wonderful. So, you just need me to help you get back into practice?”
Kelly shrugged. “I suppose so … you said you’d teach me ‘All Too Well.’”
Glancing down at her T-shirt, I tried not to smile too hard. “I’m a big fan too.” When I didn’t get a response to that, I explained as I placed my right hand on the keys, “Thumb on middle C, pinkie on G. So, it’s C, G, and then we move down for an A minor chord, thumb on A, middle on C, pinkie on E.” I did it a few times and then gestured for Kelly to try.
She did it with such ease, I sped up a little as we moved through the opening verse.
Growing more comfortable as I saw Kelly enjoying herself, I started to sing the lyrics to help her find the right melody. After a clean run-through of the first two verses, Kelly turned to look at me speculatively.
My lips twitched at her comically surprised expression. “What?”
“You have a really nice voice.”
Pleased, I nudged her with my shoulder. “Hey, thanks.”
“You and Dad’s voices would probably complement each other.” As she said it, she frowned down at the keys.
I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.
“Nothing bad happened,” she suddenly said before I could speak.
“Nothing bad?”
Kelly looked up, her gaze darting from mine to out the window. “I know Dad and Nana are worried that maybe something bad happened to me at Mu—at Jill’s.”
I didn’t comment on the fact that she’d called her mother deliberately by her name. If that’s what she needed to do, then she should.
“The police asked me questions like that.” Kelly shrugged, her lips twisting as pain strained her features. “But one, I never trusted Mum not to let something like that happen, so I used to barricade my bedroom door all the time. And two, one of theguys who was always hanging around Dorian used to really creep me out.”
“Creep you out how?” My heart picked up speed.
Kelly’s expression tightened with remembered fear. “His name was Connor. He used to try to talk to me all the time and even Dorian told him to back off me one day because he kept touching my hair and my arm. If I saw him coming, I’d run to my room and barricade myself in. The night I called Dad, it was him who was trying to break in. It was Connor.”
I felt sick to my stomach. “Do you know his full name?”
Kelly shook her head as she met my gaze. “I know you know what it’s like to have a parent not care about you …” Her lips trembled as she continued, “But you don’t know what it’s like to have a mum who doesn’t just not care about you but couldn’t care less if someone hurt you. I’ve heard and seen things I wished I’d never seen.”
My heart thundered in my chest with anger and empathy. “What things?” I asked, not to torment her but to give her a space to purge it.
“I saw them snorting and injecting drugs … I saw and heard s-sexual stuff.” Kelly shrugged almost violently. “Like, I grew up on an island with farm animals. It’s not like I didn’t know some stuff. I’m fourteen. Some kids in my class have already had sex. So I know some stuff. Connor would say things that I didn’t understand but I knew,felt, werewrong. And … him, Dorian, the other guys that were around, they treated Mum and the other women like … like that’s all they were to them. Objects to have sex with instead of human beings. It was … it was totallydegrading,” she spat as her tears finally spilled over. “Who lets their daughter see and hear that? Like, what is wrong with her? Why does she hate me?”
At her final sob, I wrapped my arms around her, my tears leaking free at the way her harsh cries caused her body toshudder and jerk against mine. Kelly clung onto me, her nails digging into my back, but I didn’t care. I just held on for as long as she needed.
As she calmed a little, I stroked her hair and bent my head to whisper, “I can’t answer those questions, sweetheart. But I can tell you that for every day you’ve felt unloved by her, your father, your grandmother, this entire village, has loved you beyond imagining. You are so loved, Kelly. So deeply, deeply loved. And I know it can’t soothe the hurt your mom has caused, but I need you to know you are never alone. Your dad loves you more than life itself. And you have me. I will always be here for you,” I vowed, because I would. No matter what happened with me and her father, I would keep this promise.
Kelly nodded, sniffling as she finally eased away. She wiped frantically at her tears and laughed sadly when I tucked strands of hair that had gotten stuck on her wet cheeks behind her ears. She drew her forearm over her nose, looking so much younger than her years in that moment, and I couldn’t help but feel heartbroken for her.
For all my parents’ neglect, Tierney and I had avoided the crowd at school who were into destroying their own innocence early. I hadn’t been subjected to extremely adult things too young. I knew girls who had, though. I knew how cynical and hard they’d become because of it. And I’d never wish what Kelly had gone through and was going through on my worst enemy, let alone this beautiful girl. I didn’t want to see it change her.
“Sorry.” Her shoulders slumped as she sniffed several times. “Didn’t mean to break down on you.”
I stroked her cheek. “I think you needed to let it out. You can break down on me anytime.”
To my relief, Kelly giggled. “Okay.” She exhaled. “Can we learn the pre-chorus and the chorus now?”
The way she looked up at me, with a renewed light in her eyes, made me feel a hundred feet tall. It made me feel … useful. Like I’d done something right and good for once.
Somewhat overcome, I nodded. “Of course.” I leaned over to press a kiss to her temple and caught movement in my periphery. As I pulled back, I looked over at the doorway and saw Murray standing there, eyes bright with emotion. He lowered his chin, expression filled with gratitude, and I gave him a tremulous smile before I turned back to the piano and my lesson with Kelly.
