Broken Serenade

by Dorina Stanciu

  “I’m sorry,” the cop sighed.

  “She was my best friend back there. She helped me take Tiffany from the daycare, and she lent me money so many times after I ran away from The Amazons. We kept in touch. They killed her because of me, I’m sure of it. God, how am I going to live with that?” the young woman sobbed uncontrollably.

  “Now, you shouldn’t jump to conclusions and blame yourself,” the police officer told her softly. “You did what you needed to do for the safety of your child. But maybe you should think a little harder. Give me more names, tell me everything you know regarding this organization,” he encouraged her. “As unimportant as a piece of information could appear to you, it’s good to mention it. Rather let me be the judge of that.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Timothy Leigh was the only customer in the flower shop at the moment. A woman of his age, but with a waist size double than his, gave him the most welcoming smile.

  “Good afternoon,” she greeted warmly. “What can I do for you?”

  “I would like a bouquet of yellow roses; something small, delicate… artistically created… something that would impress a talented and sophisticated woman.” He struggled to explain what he had in mind looking around him for helpful hints.

  Willing to please and likely accustomed to clients more difficult than him, the woman at the counter took her time and showed him the flowers, greens, ribbons, and lace that she intended to use. Satisfied, Timothy Leigh accepted with a nod.

  “So you won’t get bored while I work on your bouquet, you could check out the cards,” she pointed toward the left corner of the window. “There are some beautiful ones with yellow roses,” she suggested.

  Docile, Timothy retired to the cards’ aisle. Even though he knew that he would not buy any. He did find a few particularly funny ones that easily put a smile on his freshly shaved face. However, he could not stop the amalgam of unleashed thoughts that galloped wildly in his mind. The profoundly unsettling dilemma was that, for the first time in his life, he found himself strongly attracted to two women at the same time. That afternoon, the unexpected appearance of Vivien had created chaos into the perfect calm of his love life. Now he almost wished that the piano teacher would be old, wrinkled, and mean. And hopefully she possesses a huge, hooked nose, he prayed. That would have simplified the problem considerably.

  What he had felt for Vivien that afternoon had been unique: that raw, almost painful desire to touch her, to enter her and her soul forcefully, if there were no other possible way. He could have made love to her madly without even knowing her name. That was definitely against his rules and practice! He had been an inch from raping her, and that scared him the most. Only her eyes had stopped him. Fifteen years back, holding the same tearful image, it was those eyes that had caused his broken heart to flutter with joy for an eternal instant. In those gorgeous eyes, he had seen love for the first time in his life. It had come to him in the form of the unconditional, pure, sincere, and deep affection of an eight-year-old girl scandalously and inappropriately in love with a twenty-one-year-old man. Did she come now to take her revenge for the fact that I refused her childish marriage proposal then? The mere thought made him laugh inwardly. Strange, but he had not seen a shadow of hate in those superb blue eyes earlier that afternoon. Moreover, they seemed to have the same confusing expression now, as if the years had passed in vain, unable to change her feelings for him. Is she still in love with me? It was too much to entertain such a daring but equally delightful thought. A single thing intrigued him. What the hell drove her to write me such dirty emails? The vulgarity of those messages was not fit for her. She was so fine, so delicate. She was so beautiful and sexy that he ached for her right that moment.

  Timothy arrived five minutes earlier and parked behind the piano teacher’s Lexus. As the distance between his forefinger and her doorbell diminished, he was tempted to give up. He would rather call his secretary and try to locate Vivien as soon as possible. That very instant he realized that, actually, it didn’t matter how the piano teacher looked like. That little Vee evolved into a woman had suddenly captured his interest, his heart. But as he took a step backwards, ready to leave, the door opened, and Vivien appeared before him like coming out of his daydream. The shock paralyzed him. He stood there speechless, as his eyes savored her sweet, delicate features and the diaphanous smile that fainted too fast. Fortunately, she seemed as surprised as he was. However, she recovered before him.

  “You? Again?” She frowned and slammed the door in his face. “God, you’re hard to get rid of!”

  “Vivien,” he called her through the closed door, awkwardly holding the flower bouquet. “Let me in, and let’s have a civilized discussion. For God’s sake, we are two adults now!”

  “Only two hours ago, you tried to rape me. What makes you think that you’ll ever have the chance to cross my doorstep?”

  “Firstly, I wasn’t going to rape you. I was going to make love to you. And I thought you liked it. I still do.”

  “Please don’t!”

  “Second, I don’t need to rape women. They consider me very attractive, believe me…”

  “I got it! Modesty has nothing to do with you!”

  “And third, if you let me in, I promise, I swear to God that I will not as much as touch you. Even though, a welcoming hug would not hurt anyone…”

  Her tone grew patronizing.

  “I want you to leave immediately, and please don’t make a scene here if you have an inch of respect for me. I have no time for jokes or useless excuses. I’m expecting a piano student. He could be here any minute now.”

  “I am your student, Vee. Although, I can teach you a few things too. Things that have nothing to do with piano, or cooking…” He leaned on the doorframe and moaned erotically. “Anyway, I am the one who left the envelope by your door last night, right after you burned the cinnamon rolls,” he said smiling. “And I’m not here to apologize for anything. I liked our meeting. I loved it! I don’t remember ever enjoying something so much! You can burn me on a stake, pull my fingernails out, torture me Spanish Inquisition style, and yet, I would not take it back. I don’t regret a second of it, Vee.”

  Vivien cracked open the door and addressed him, maintaining her initial belligerent attitude.

  “Are you saying that, last night, you stepped on my property without my permission? What would you say if I have welcomed you the way you’ve done it with me?”

  The instant she finished the last sentence she realized that she had not chosen the right words and her remark would ricochet. Whatever she had had in her blurred mind had come out wrong. His reply was frustratingly predictable.

  “Oh, my dear Vee,” he said beaming. “There is nothing I want more. If you desire to sexually assault me, you have my utmost support.”

  Exasperated, Vivien groaned in vexation and attempted to retire again inside the house. Timothy caught the door handle.

  “Vee,” he spoke seriously now, “I only want to talk to you. Let’s discuss your… your business, for example. I’m not kidding now. I need you to give me one hour from your time dedicated to piano lessons. I just want to sit on a chair in the same room with you and listen to you as you play the piano. Tell me how much you charge per hour, and I will pay you ten times… or a hundred times that amount! Even more if necessary! Seeing how much you seem to dislike me, I understand the effort and sacrifice on your part, and I’m open to negotiation.”

  Vivien turned to him. She fixed him with her big blue eyes that had steel brightness at that moment. She seemed to consider his business proposal.

  “After what happened at your house this afternoon, how could I ever trust you?”

  He held up his right hand the way he would have done it in front of a judiciary court.

  “I give you my word of honor. I swear I won’t even touch you…” He paused for a couple of seconds and then finished his thought: “…against your will, that is.”

  “Very well,” she said, all-business
, even though he sensed warm liquid-joy behind the magic frost of her blue gaze. “You have one hour every day from 4PM to 5PM. If you’re late, it’s from your time. Present the payment at the end of every week. Thirty-five dollars per hour, not a penny more, not a penny less. You may choose whatever you want me to play for you.”

  He gave his approval with a quick node and an almost obscenely satisfied smile.

  “May I come in now?”

  Vivien pondered the answer. His soulful gaze pleaded with her.

  “If you behave…”

  She opened the door widely and invited him into the living room where she had the piano. As he stepped inside, he handed her the bouquet.

  “If I knew you were the piano teacher, the roses would have been undoubtedly red. A very intense red…”

  “Thank you. Timeo danaos et dona ferentes,” she whispered taking the flowers.

  “Roman poet Virgil, Aeneid. I fear the Greeks, even those bearing gifts,” he translated. “You shouldn’t fear me, Vee. Ever,” he said, in a romantic tone.

  Vivien did not comment on his reply. She only treated him with a suspicious look. Yellow roses, yellow scarf, she thought, confused, as she entered her kitchen. Timothy’s presence was a threat to her defenses. She felt like floating, unsure of her own reflexes. His stare burned her skin; her face seemed on fire, and her heart beat like a drum.

  Still holding the bouquet, Vivien returned to the living room with a porcelain vase. She put the vase on the piano and proceeded to arrange the roses in it. He remained by her side.

  “I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that you and the piano teacher are one and the same person,” Timothy confessed, hugging every curve of her body with his hungry eyes. “Wow! You’re a wonderful hostess, Vee. I believe these are for me,” he said, noticing the sophisticated cookies on a delicate glass plate on the piano. A couple of edible pansy flowers and a few mint leaves gave them an artistic presentation.

  “If I knew you were the piano student, I would’ve powdered them with hot chili pepper.”

  He chuckled.

  “Better than cyanide! Still, may I?”

  “By all means! After all, you are my first piano student, and you deserve the treat.”

  It was her favorite recipe. She made the cookies once a month and stuck them in the freezer to have them at hand for unexpected guests.

  “Hmmm,” he moaned ecstatically, chewing the mouthwatering cookie. “These are the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten. And the fact that you touched them makes them divinely tasty. Hmmm…Vee…Hmmm…”

  She was elated by his indirect compliment, but she chose to hide her joy and not tell him that she had done a lot more than touching those cookies.

  “Is that it? Then enjoy your culinary orgasm,” she snapped sarcastically. “That’s all the pleasure you’ll get in this house.”

  Timothy almost chocked on it. He burst out laughing.

  “Vivien, darling, I’m sure you can use your little sharp tongue for far more delightful things than caustic remarks. You’re too beautiful to act so spitefully. Although it’s very entertaining, I don’t want to fight with you.”

  “You’ve started the fight! You wouldn’t let me leave your house,” she blamed him.

  “Now, picture this: I come home, I walk into my bedroom, and I find a strange woman in there. Don’t you think that I’m entitled to ask her a few questions?”

  “Well… you did a lot more than that. You did things that you should be ashamed of,” she mumbled in a pouting manner.

  “Vivien, darling, I don’t know what planet you come from, but here, on Terra, civilized people like you and I tend to announce their visits. We don’t just pop up into other people’s bedrooms without taking some risks. God forbid, if I were a frail, overly sensitive man, I could’ve suffered a heart attack,” he said theatrically.

  “Yes, but fortunately for you, frailness and over sensitivity are as strange to you as carnal pleasures to a monk. However, thanks to your beastly treatment, I could’ve been the victim of a heart attack.”

  “I would’ve saved you, Vee. I’m CPR trained and an expert in bouch à bouch resuscitation.”

  Vivien grimaced and rolled her eyes again.

  “I’m sure you’ve done your number of very successful resuscitation of that particular type in your life. Your reputation speaks volumes.”

  “Don’t believe everything you hear, Vee. Malice luxuriates in some people.”

  “Well, it’s always good to know both sides of the story.”

  “Speaking of which, what if I had a live-in paranoid, crazy girlfriend, and you would’ve walked in on her?”

  “Do you have a… crazy girlfriend?”

  “Not momentarily, but I’m working on it.” He stole a glimpse at his wristwatch. “By the end of this hour, I’ll close the deal,” he said, self-assured.

  Vivien rolled her eyes at him.

  “So, you’re interested in piano lessons…Or are you?” she asked matter-of-factly.

  “I’m interested in you,” he admitted openly. “The moment I saw you, I was going to offer you my friendship and my…”

  Vivien scoffed.

  “Your friendship? You were going to rape me the moment you saw me!” she pointed out infuriated by his confident grin.”So you can take that sort of friendship and…” She stopped and took a deep breath.

  “…and shove it up my ass,” he continued her thought laughing contagiously. “Correct?”

  She chose not to answer. Easy girl, don’t let him make a fool of yourself!

  “Qui tacet consentire videtur,” he pronounced slowly, in Latin.

  She bit her lower lip to contain the laughter that suddenly effervesced inside her chest.

  “Yes, Tee. You’re perfectly right. Silence gives consent,” she managed to voice the English interpretation of that Latin phrase.

  “Well, in your particular case, the truth is that a man will most likely lie if he tells you that… he wants to be only a friend to you. Unless, of course, he is one hundred percent homosexual, a eunuch, or he is over eighty years old. You might even want to question the over-eighty-years-old category.”

  “Which makes you a liar!” Vivien concluded fast.

  “Not quite. Nulla regula sine exceptione. There is no rule without exception.”

  “And you’re the exception?” Vivien asked incredulously. “You want me to believe that you intend to be only a good friend to me?”

  “I never said that. I never said ONLY.”

  “There we go again!”

  “Look, Vee, if friendship won’t do it, then what about love?”

  “What about it?” She held his stare for what seemed an eternal moment, then she returned to her task. He looked at her trembling hands as they struggled with the floral arrangement.

  “Do you still hate me because I refused to marry you when you were eight years old? Are you still in love with me, Vee?” he asked presumptuously, glancing at her gold ankle bracelet.

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” she snapped, still angry with him.

  “Do you?” he insisted.

  “No,” she lied and hopped he would not notice.

  “Too bad, because I am in love with you,” he revealed very seriously.

  “Then I pity you,” she replied, trying to keep her composure, though her knees were brusquely threatening to give up on her.

  “I don’t need your pity, Vee. Love is not a disease. They would’ve made a pill that cured it by now if it were.”

  “And would you take it?” she asked with her heart in her throat.

  “The pill that cured my love for you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Not in a million years!” he declared categorically.

  Her heart rejoiced.

  “Love is a beautiful thing, Vee,” he went on. “It is God’s special gift. It would be such a pity to ‘cure’ a felling like this. Even when it hurts, it hurts… good. Love is the right kind of pain, Vee.”

>   Watch out! He’s playing games with you, her mind warned her.

  “In our particular situation, you’re confusing love with lust,” Vivien retorted, making efforts to act coldly.

  “I can’t lie to you, Vee. You’re too damn sexy and desirable for a platonic relationship. Yes, it’s love and lust. The perfect combination of both.”

  “Holy crickets, Tee!” she broke into a short, childish giggle. “You know me as the grown-up Vee, for how long? A little more than a couple of hours? As a piano player, you’ve listened to my interpretations for the last month… maybe. You’re very charming when you don’t want to rape me, but profoundly confused for a guy of your age and intelligence. Practically, you don’t know what you want from me. In only ten minutes, you’ve already mentioned piano lessons, friendship, love, and lust. You can’t even make up your mind.”

  “Well, you’re definitely wrong here. If you would allow me to make up my mind, I would know the color of your underwear in an instant.”

  “What makes you think I wear any?” she asked boldly. A second later, she regretted the playful touch of her answer.

  “You’re playing games with me, Vee,” he growled. “Dangerous games… And I love it! I have an idea,” he said excited. “Let’s play this game: you close your eyes for one minute and imagine you’re making love to me, and I’ll watch your face. Then we switch, I’ll think of making love to you – although I’m already doing it – and you’ll watch my face.”

  “You’re wicked, and your game is scandalous,” Vivien exclaimed, acting outraged. But, secretly, she was playing the game nonetheless.

  “Come on, Vee! Give it a try! It’s only make-believe…”

  “Let’s get back to business, the reason you are allowed in my house actually,” she said abruptly, in an icy tone of voice, determined to discourage any new attempt on his part to build intimacy or engage in flirting with her.

  She started to look through a score. Timothy interrupted her.

  “I would rather like us to talk today,” he announced calmly.

  Vivien erupted nervously.