I jump off my bed in excitement. “Are you kidding? Of course I want to come with you.”
“I knew you’d be excited,” he says, laughing. “I know how much you love to visit, and I promise to make it a fun trip. I have meetings during the day, but afterwards I’m all yours. Do you think it will be a problem to take off the time at the studio?”
“Problem or not, I won’t pass up a free trip to NYC.” He gives me the dates and I quickly send messages to Lucy and my students that I will be away for those few days. Thankfully, it’s several weeks before the recital, so it won’t interfere with our rehearsals.
I can’t seem to settle down tonight. I read some more from Grandma’s journal. I can tell that the momentum of her writing tapered off for a while. She mentions things going well with her radio shows and there is mention of another few friends but nothing really that interesting. As I lie in bed, I think about my relationship with Kyle. I know he still wants an answer to his big question. Truthfully, as much as I love him, I’m just not ready to move in with him. I don’t want to hurt his feelings but I need to be honest. I will just wait until he asks about it. I’m in no hurry to bring up that topic again any time soon.
“Maris, that was a beautiful performance,” a voice says from behind me. Suddenly, I’m at the studio and the spotlight is on me. I turn around to see who’s there, but with the bright light I can’t see who it is.
“Who’s there?” I ask. I hold my hand above my eyes to shield the bright light. There’s no answer.
“Hello?”
‘That was a beautiful performance.” The voice repeats. I know I recognize that voice from somewhere.
“Who’s there?”
I sit up and find myself still in my bed and realize I was dreaming again. I rub my eyes and lie back down and try to fall asleep but unfortunately I’m suddenly wide-awake.
I turn on my bedside lamp and find Grandma’s journal still sitting there. I figure I may as well read since I’m awake.
June 15, 1948
I’m afraid I haven’t been very consistent with this journal writing. I do believe I have good reason. My radio shows have been so glorious and my supervisor told me that my ratings are one of the best at the station. How superb.
I have been dating Charles, who is such a gentleman. He took me on a picnic in Central Park and it was lovely.
I was supposed to meet Beatrice for tea today but she cancelled again. I wish I knew what was wrong?
I turn the page and read on to learn more, but her next several few entries have no mention of Beatrice at all. As my eyes get heavy again, I fall asleep wondering what really happened between Grandma and Beatrice.
Chapter 7
“I don’t understand why we’re doing another group performance?” Ash says as she stirs her coffee. “Don’t you think we should freshen things up?”
Lucy called another early morning meeting requesting an update of rehearsals. Ash has been extra-opinionated at this meeting, even more so than usual. It’s way too early in the morning for her nonsense. Sophie looks at me and rolls her eyes.
“We’ve been doing a group performance at every recital since I opened this studio,” Lucy states. I can tell that she’s also annoyed by Ash’s comments, which is a nice change from her embracing her as the teacher’s pet.
“Oh, I know and I think it’s been great.” She agrees. I let out a very big sigh and lean my head back against the chair. She’s such a fake; I just hope that Lucy can see through her act. I know she gets on her nerves, but I also know that she enjoys Ash kissing up to her.
“I was just thinking that maybe we could try something new this year,” she says innocently.
Of course she wants to try something new . . . she does this every year. Last year, she wanted to do some weird futuristic theme. Thankfully, it wasn’t well received despite her pushing. I give her credit though, when she feels strongly about something she will give it her all.
I tune out the conversation between Ash and Lucy and start to daydream. I’m already mentally packing for my trip to New York with Kyle. I’ve made a list of places I have to go, and I may wander into a few studios. If I was to ever make a decision to move, I’m not completely naïve to think I will walk off the street right into a starring roll. I know I will need to find a job and a place to live and the list goes on. Anytime I think about all this, my head starts to spin. There’s so much to think about.
“Maris, what do you think?” Lucy asks me. I come back to reality and realize everyone’s staring at me.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“She’s not even listening,” Ash says rudely. “Really, what’s more important than this? Maris, where’s your dedication? Where’s your heart?”
My dedication? My heart? Who does she think she is questioning how much I care? I try my best to ignore her.
“Lucy, you know I will do whatever is best for the studio and the recital. As always, I support your decisions.” I stop and glance at Ash. “I don’t need to prove my dedication to this school or my teaching ability, especially to her.”
Ash shoots me a dirty look; actually, I’m sure I would be dead if looks could kill. I can tell that Lucy is struggling to make a decision. She firmly believes that the workplace should be serene and happy. She thinks that we should all be best friends and frolic around the campfire holding hands. Well, not literally of course, but something like that. She and Cassie should really get together.
“Okay, Ash, thank you for your input.” She reaches over and squeezes her hand. “I’m going to take all suggestions into consideration because this recital has to be the greatest show we’ve ever had. You know that I’ve done things a certain way for a long time and it’s never failed me. That being said, each of you has an important roll in this and I am willing to listen to all of your ideas.”
I look at Ash’s reaction. The smug look on her face tells me that she thinks she’s won. Crap! I wish I wasn’t daydreaming. I have to ask Sophie to give me a rundown of what I missed.
I’m notorious for daydreaming during these meetings. About a year ago, while I wasn’t listening, I agreed to take on a difficult student and it turned out to be a complete nightmare. Ever since then I’ve tried my best to never agree to anything without hearing the full story and thinking it through.
Ash has always had an issue with me, I’m pretty sure it comes from Mimi choosing me as her instructor. Her parents had her rehearse with each of us before choosing whom she preferred. When they chose me, Ash was very upset and ever since then she’s tried to discredit me with Lucy. At first, I went out of my way to be nice to her but then I finally gave up trying, and I wasn’t going to let her affect my career.
“Wait,” I interrupt. “I actually think we need to continue to do the group performance after all. It’s tradition and it shows unity and when our students come together,” I pause and close my eyes, “there’s no greater way to represent Do-Re-Mi Studios. I’m sure the families are expecting and looking forward to it and I know the students are.”
When I finish talking, I wait for a response from my co-workers or for Ash to throw her coffee mug at me. Lucy immediately agrees with me and quickly tells Ash that we will be keeping the group performance. To her credit, though, she tells Ash that she would be happy to hear any other ideas she may have.
Following our meeting, I head to my office (actually, it’s more like a closet, and not the spacious walk-in kind). Ash follows me in.
“I don’t appreciate what you did in there, and I know you did it on purpose.” She folds her arms and tries to give me a stare down.
“Did what?” I return her stare. “I really enjoy the group performance and I want to keep it. Despite what you think, the world doesn’t revolve around you. I’m sorry to break the news to you.” I give her the most sweet and innocent smile I can just to piss her off even more. Later I may regret pushing her buttons, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
Ash is about to say some
thing but instead she storms off. A few minutes later, Sophie runs into my closet-office.
“Have I told you lately that you’re my hero.” She shuts the door behind her. “How amazing was that? I wish I recorded it.”
I laugh. ”Well, as fun as it was to put Ash in her place, I meant what I said; I really do love the group performance. I have a feeling that we haven’t heard the last about this though.”
I finally kick her out so I can get some work done or at least get some more vacation planning done. I’ve been a little frustrated with Kyle because he hasn’t really expressed any interest in making plans during our trip. He keeps telling me that we can do whatever I want to do. I know he doesn’t like the city, but I wish he would at least pretend a little for me.
The last trip we went on together was fishing on the Chesapeake with Kyle’s cousin, which was miserable for me because I get seasick and I hate fishing. I was trying to do what all good girlfriends do and embrace my man’s interests—yeah, that backfired pretty bad on me especially when I spent most of the time praying to the porcelain god below deck. That was the first and last time I went on one of his fishing trips. Needless to say, I’m hoping for a better experience in New York.
I’m happily searching the best restaurants in New York when I start to think about my lunch with Beatrice. I’ve been meaning to call her to finalize plans. Despite the unfortunate surprise that Trevor is her grandson, I really enjoyed hanging out with her.
As I’m playing on my computer, I type “Trevor Ericson” in the Facebook search box. I don’t consider it stalking if I’m just looking at his profile page. It’s not like I’m looking through his pictures or anything. I come across his information and I realize that I know nothing about Trevor. During both of my run-ins with him, we’ve only talked about me, which was not intentional.
I read his profile: Trevor Ericson—Graduate of NYU, Pi Kappa Alpha, Harvard Law—Lover of Chocolate, Golf, and Cartoons. That is probably the most ideal profile for a guy; some might say almost too good to be true. So, Trevor must be a lawyer or at least he went to law school, and for some reason that doesn’t surprise me. His profile also says that he’s in a relationship with Giselle Le Bon. Ugh, that just figures—I mean, how cool is her name? I wonder if she’s related to Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran? I know that’s pretty unlikely, but you never know. Before I know it, I’ve wasted forty-five minutes on social media or, in other words, a typical morning at the office.
An hour and a half later, I’m finishing up with Mimi’s lesson.
“Miss Maris, I’ve made a decision for the recital,” Mimi interrupts. “I would prefer not to sing with the other students. I really feel like this is my chance to show my own talents and I shouldn’t have to sing with a bunch of kids.” She folds her arms in a very teenager-like manner.
I bite my lip, mostly in an effort to keep from screaming at her since I’ve been down that road before.
“Mimi, that’s really disappointing,” I say sadly. “You know how much the other students look up you. They’ll be very upset.”
She pretends not to hear me because, despite being the typical teenager, I know she really cares about the younger students.
“Sometimes I wonder if you really care about my career,” she says. “All these group performances don’t really show our talents individually.”
I don’t know when this all came up but it’s obvious that Ash has somehow talked to Mimi and planted some ideas in her head about the recital. I knew that she had issues with me but I didn’t think she would stoop so low to bring in one of our students to do her dirty work.
“I’m not sure why you think that, but I can promise you that’s not true.”
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “I gotta go.”
She grabs her Michael Kors bag and walks out without a good-bye.
I sigh. Maybe I should just pass her off to Ash and let her deal with the nightmare teenage bad attitude. I know I probably should talk to Lucy and have her contact Mimi’s mom because this has the potential to turn into a bigger deal than it has to be.
I make my way to Lucy’s office. Our studio is a really cool space; the main room/lobby is bright and open with leather furniture. The individual studios surround the main room. Our offices (actually, Lucy’s office and our closets) are down a hallway near the entrance. Lucy’s door is cracked open and I knock softly.
“Come in,” she calls.
I sit down and explain what just happened with Mimi. Lucy listens intently and I can tell that she’s frustrated and has come to the same conclusion that I did.
“I’m not saying that Ash talked to her. It’s just very coincidental that Mimi doesn’t want to do the group performance right after Ash told us that she didn’t want it in the show.”
Lucy glances out her window. “It’s so unfortunate that you and Ash dislike one another. You could do some amazing work by coming together.”
Ha! That would never happen in a million years. Ash has never liked me since she came to the studio.
“I don’t dislike her at all,” I insist. “You know she has never gotten over the fact that Mimi chose to take lessons with me and I think she’s taking another shot at it. It’s no secret that Mimi is one of the most talented, if not the most talented, student we have here. She has a great future ahead of her and you know that Ash wants to be a part of that future.”
Lucy listens intently. She agrees to talk to Ash and ask her to back off. I won’t hold my breath since I don’t really think that Lucy minds her boldness. In fact, I think there is a part of her that enjoys it and in this case that may be a problem for me. I really respect and admire Lucy; however, I will never kiss up to her to further my career. Ever.
Chapter 8
When I get home from the studio, I tell Georgie about my day and my never-ending situation with Ash. This isn’t the first night I have come home complaining about work and probably won’t be the last. I don’t feel too bad though considering Georgie has spent many hours giving me the play-by-plays at General Hospital.
“I still don’t know how you put up with her. I can’t believe that she’s trying so hard to ruin things for you,” Georgie says.
“There isn’t much else that I can do. The fact is that Ash is fantastic with her students and she doesn’t seem to have much of an issue with the other instructors. Only me.”
“Do you think Lucy will end up giving in to her?” she asks, taking a big spoonful of her Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. We may not keep our fridge stocked but we always have ice cream.
I shrug my shoulders. “You never know. It seems to be an ongoing problem and the only way it would go away would be for one of us to leave,” I say thoughtfully. “Anyway, that won’t be happening, so I guess we just have to continue to coexist.” Unless I leave, I think to myself.
“I still don’t get why her students love her so much,” she says, interrupting my thoughts. “Every time I’ve been around her she seems like a miserable person. You would think the students would need someone upbeat and fun.”
I totally agree with everything she’s saying, but when she’s with her students, she becomes a different person. It’s almost like that’s the only thing that makes her happy. It’s kind of sad actually.
“So, when’s the big New York trip?” Georgie asks through her mouthful of ice cream.
As soon as she asks I feel the excitement wash over me. “We go in two weeks, which seems like forever away.”
“It will be so romantic,” she says excitedly. “New York is such a magical place, and you and Kyle will fall in love all over again on top of the Empire State Building. Then you can take a carriage ride through Central Park and share Frrrozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity.” She closes her eyes; no doubt she’s imagining some love scene coming to life. “I can’t wait to go to New York with Dr. Scott.” Georgie is such a romantic at heart. She loves all those sappy romantic comedies.
I force a smile. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Wh
at do you mean maybe? You mean you aren’t planning on doing any of that while you are there?” She sounds completely devastated.
I don’t want to disappoint her, so I tell her that we have lots of plans. I’m careful not to go into details about Kyle’s lack of enthusiasm about our trip. I’m hopeful that once we are there Kyle will embrace the city and we will fall in love all over again. Who knows, maybe on top of the Empire State Building?
After I reassure Georgie over and over again, I go to my room and pull out Grandma’s journal. I haven’t been faithfully reading as much as I want to so I skip ahead a bit.
September 27, 1948
I’m so upset right now. I thought friends are supposed to love and support you. Is there such a thing as a real and true friend?
How cryptic. I wonder if she’s talking about Beatrice. I skip ahead but there’s no more mention about this friend. She only writes about the radio station and her work experiences. It seems as if her career is taking over her life. I have to meet up with Beatrice again.
See You Soon Broadway (Broadway Series Book 1) Page 6