“Go on in, Sweetheart,” Roy Chasez says as he motions to the screened back door of the house from his spot on the back deck. “He’s still in the living room practicing.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chasez,” Kyra replies happily as she quickly rushes up the deck stairs and pulls open the screen door that leads into the kitchen. As she toes off her shoes she hears the sound of a power saw whirring to life outside mixing with the familiar strains of a piano being played in the living room inside.
Although this has been the usual routine for the last four years, she’s never lost the sense of awe at listening to him practice. Every other morning during summer school break always had either one of them show up at the other’s house early in the morning ready for the day’s adventures, but Saturday's always began with piano practice.
“Try to stick to the melody on the sheet music, Josh, “ Karen says softly as she points to the sheet music resting on the stand in front of them. “Good,” she nods as he complies and her finger follows the notes.
As usual, Kyra quietly takes a seat on the corner of the couch waiting patiently for the lesson to end. She looks around the familiar living room and notices a new picture frame on the mantle near her. In it she sees a recent picture of the Chasez kids along with her, crowded around a picnic table at their annual end of school year BBQ. She grins at the memory just as Karen turns from her perch on the piano bench and smiles at Kyra.
“Hi, Honey,” she says as she stands. “How about I go make you two a snack?”
Kyra smiles back and nods while JC turns on the bench. “Hey! I didn’t hear you come in.”
She giggles and quickly hops up from her spot on the couch to climb onto the piano bench to sit next to him. “You never do, that’s why I’m so good at hide and seek.”
He laughs softly and reaches forward to gather the sheet music together in one stack.
“Teach me something,” she says as she scoots closer to the keyboard and presses her fingers down onto the smooth keys tentatively.
He smiles and plays a little melody quickly with his own fingers and she grins. “Is that what’s on there?” She asks pointing to the top of the sheet music stack in front of them.
He shakes his head. “Nah, I just made it up. I like doing that more than following the sheet music. I think it sounds better.”
“You can just make it up in your head? How do you know what sounds good together?”
He shrugs self-consciously. “I dunno, I just do. How do you know what to write when you write me a story?”
It’s her turn to shrug. “I just do.”
Both of them stay quiet for a moment until he starts tapping out another melody and teaches her how to duplicate it. They giggle when she messes up and she quickly loses patience just before Karen comes back into the room carrying two small plates with celery sticks filled with cheese wiz.
As she hands them each a plate, making sure to hand over the one with sliced olives to Kyra, she says, “How about you go out and eat this on the deck? Dad should be almost done with the new ladder on the treehouse.”
Not having to tell them twice, both kids quickly hop off the piano bench clutching their snack and head toward the back door echoing thank yous on the way.
*
JC flipped open the fallboard with a rusty complaint from its hinges. He examined the keys carefully, pleased to see that they seemed to have fared rather well in their protective encasement beneath the fallboard. He gingerly pressed down on one of the keys using his forefinger and winced at the sound.
He’d been rooting around downstairs to find the last of the tiles they were using to redo the kitchen and dining room floor when he’d stumbled onto a large object covered with a drop cloth. With a swish of fabric and a cloud of choking dust he’d discovered a well worn, and apparently very out of tune, upright piano. He’d run his hand over the carved wood before pulling out the bench nestled beneath it. He’d momentarily been worried when the bench creaked under his weight, but the age of the piece didn’t betray the strength of the hardwood used in older times.
He stood up to push open the top cover and propped it open with another squeak of hinges. He peered down and examined the hammers and strings revelling in the old fashioned handywork. Everything seemed intact, only severely out of tune and in need of some TLC. Just as he was about to lean down and examine the foot petal underneath, he heard Kyra yell from the top of the stairs.
“You get lost?”
He wiped his hands on his already dirty jeans and closed the top cover followed by the fallboard as he called back. “No. I’ll be right up.”
After covering his find with the earlier discarded drop cloth he quickly grabbed the last two boxes of tiles and hurried back up the basement stairs with an idea swimming through his mind.
*
“What do you know about the piano in the basement?” JC asked as he sat on the one of the stools in front of the newly installed kitchen island.
“What piano?” She asked from behind the fridge door.
He looked up from his task of building his sandwich with the items spread out in front of him to glance at her: he knew she was lying by the tone of her voice.
“The piano under the drop cloth in the basement.”
She closed the fridge door and walked over to the island, setting the mustard bottle down amongst the spread. “Oh, is that what was under that?” She said as she took a seat on the stool facing him to start building her own sandwich.
He watched her quietly with an amused look on his face until she looked up and met his eye with a dramatic “What?”
He shrugged and chuckled. “Other than the fact that you’re still a terrible liar and I know that face from a million miles away, I wonder why of all things you’d lie about something like that.”
She sighed again, also somewhat dramatically, as she piled on another three slices of deli turkey onto her sandwich. “Fine. I figured that’s what it was but I didn’t want to look, okay?”
He quirked a brow as he picked up his sandwich. “Why not?”
He wasn’t prepared for the answer and he paused with his sandwich halfway to his mouth when she replied. “ ‘Cause what else would me having a piano in my house be useful for, other than to remind me every day that I don’t have you anymore?”
He gulped and set his sandwich back down onto his napkin. He rested his hands on the counter uncomfortably. “Oh. I uh-”
She shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes as they quietly ate their sandwiches until JC couldn’t stand the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach anymore.
“So you still like a lot of meat between your buns huh?” He teased with a smirk as he finally looked up at her again, trying to break the tension.
She laughed looking at her sandwich, which really was rather thick with more meat and less toppings, but got his double-entendre either way. She looked back at him challengingly and smirked back. “Well not everyone uses as little meat as you do…”
JC clutched his chest and let out a wounded howl before they both started laughing. When finally the laughter softly died out, he reached over and slid his hand across the counter to link his fingers to hers, squeezing them gently.
Nothing more needed to be said.
*
