If she’d gotten arrested last night, she was sure she wouldn’t have been interrogated like this.
“We’ve met a couple more times since the concert. Last night we had dinner to discuss the music program, and things moved on from there.” Heat burned her cheeks as her mother watched her closely. “Can we drop it now please?”
“For now,” Kaitlin answered. “But I’ll have more questions when Ma’s not around.”
Jade’s mother dropped her head in her hands. “I thought I raised good Catholic girls.”
“We are, Ma.” Their mother lifted her head and gave Kaitlin a skeptical look. “There’s just a little devil on our shoulder that lets us have fun now and then.”
This pulled a laugh from her. “This devil of yours must take after your father. Oh, that reminds me, he sent you a package. Probably for your birthday.” She stood and headed out of the room.
“My birthday was a month ago,” Jade said to her sister. Whenever her father was mentioned, an ache pressed against her chest.
“You’re lucky, I waited two months for mine.”
Their mother walked back into the room and handed Jade the package. Jade put it on the table.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” her mother asked.
“I will when I get home.”
Jade rose from the chair, gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, and tucked the package in her bag. “I’ll see you next week.” Then she gave a little wave to Kaitlin.
“I’ll call you later. I’m dying to find out more about your new music teacher. I want to know if he’s gorgeous and sexy.” Her sister wiggled her eyebrows and laughed.
God help her. Nate was both of those things, and after getting a taste of him, how was she ever going to control herself around him now?
* * * *
Later that evening, Nate sat on the couch in his rented house with sheet music scattered around him. Trying to find a song basic enough to teach young kids but one not so simple that it would put them to sleep.
Toby sat on a chair opposite him, eating chips from a bowl and watching the Flaming Stars football team play on TV. “Dammit, Lever dropped the ball!” he yelled. “That’s the third time he’s done that. Take him off!”
Being away so long, Nate didn’t have much time to follow the local team and had no idea who Lever was. So he made the appropriate noises he thought Toby would want to hear.
As he narrowed his song choices down to five, his phone rang and he looked at the caller ID. It was his drummer Mike.
“Hey, man,” he said as he answered the Facetime call and saw Mike’s tired face. “It must be around five or six o’clock in the morning in New York. What are you doing up so early?”
“It’s five, and I haven’t gone to bed yet. Been at a gig with the boys and just rolled home.”
“A gig?” They were on a break.
“Yeah, man, the boys were getting bored and itchin’ to play, so we’ve gone to a couple of bars to jam. We’ve had Jimmy from Sonic Sound sing vocals. He just left his band and has been mucking around with us.”
“Sounds like fun. He’s got a good following. How’s the response?”
“It’s been good. Not as good as if you were playin’ with us,” Mike quickly added as if Nate might get offended that Jimmy was doing a better job. “When are you coming back? I know tour doesn’t start for a few weeks, but I’ve got ideas for new songs I’d like to bounce off you.”
A tightness clenched his stomach, and he ran his fingers through his hair. He wasn’t ready. Not yet.
Nate had new songs of his own he’d like to work on, but he doubted Mike would want to add them to the band’s playlist. “I have things I need to take care of here. I won’t be back until maybe a week before we get back on the road.” He glanced over at Toby who wasn’t watching the football anymore but staring at him. “We’ll have to work on them then.”
Mike looked disappointed but said nothing more about it. “No worries. I’ll email you what I’ve got so far. Check them out when you get time.”
“Will do. Talk to you later.” Nate ended the call.
Toby put the bowl of chips on the table. “You’ve only been on a break less than a week and they’ve replaced you? If you need to go back, I’m sure Jade will understand you can’t do the music lessons.”
