Playing the Maestro

by Aubrie Dionne

  Streetlamps cast a golden glow on the recently paved sidewalk. A light rain had begun to fall, beading on the pavement. Storm clouds moved on the western horizon, and the air fizzled with electricity.

  Melody needed time to think. Easthampton stifled her with all its small-town gossip and who-knew-who politics. Maybe what she needed was a clean break like she’d told Wolf about on the way to the symphony: move somewhere where no one knew her, where she could start over. Sure, she’d have to wait tables while she practiced and took auditions, but maybe the anonymity and an orchestra where she wouldn’t have to stare her broken heart right in the face would be worth it.

  She got into her car and put her pedal to the metal.

  …

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, one dance is all I’m good for tonight.” Wolf kissed the back of the older woman’s hand and spun around in search of Melody. The crowded room blurred and he pressed his hands against his forehead. Wolf closed his eyes and rubbed his temples to clear his mind of all the chatter around him. I have to find her.

  “Did you just say no to the vice president of the board?” Blake stood before him with a look of dismay on his face.

  “I’m done playing your political games, Blake.” Wolf growled as he pushed past him.

  He checked the women’s bathroom first, eliciting a shriek from a young woman redoing her hair in the mirror.

  “My apologies, ma’am.” Wolf covered his eyes with his arm. “Is there anyone else in here?”

  “No,” the woman huffed. “If you’ll excuse yourself…”

  “Certainly.” Wolf closed the door behind him and scanned the top balcony, seeing only a few young kids running back and forth around busts of bearded men.

  Melody’s absence meant one thing: she hadn’t believed him. Alda had succeeded in ruining the most important part of his new life. He clenched his fists as anger blotched red blossoms underneath his eyelids. He shouldn’t waste another second on Alda. Right now, he needed to find Melody.

  Wolf slipped out the back entrance just as Blake called his name from across the room. To hell with the fund-raiser.

  A storm had unfolded in the distance, sending rumbles of thunder through his gut and lifting the hairs on the back of his neck with static electricity. Wolf undid his bow tie, feeling like it choked him, and scratched at his neck. If Blake got his way, he could be packing his bags tomorrow.

  But he still had tonight.

  Wolf searched for Melody’s Fiat as he shuffled down the front steps of the art museum.

  “She’s gone,” a plaintive voice called from above.

  Wolf looked up. Carly perched on the top step, sipping champagne. “How do you know?” he asked.

  She gestured toward her own car. “She parked behind me.”

  “Oh.” Wolf’s shoulders slumped. He’d lost her.

  “Listen.” Carly stood, pressing the creases out of her floral skirt. She took a few careful steps toward him. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but whatever it is, she’s pretty upset.”

  “I know.” Wolf ran his hand through his hair. “And it’s not what you think.”

  Carly shrugged as if she wasn’t one to judge, although he did spot a skeptical twinkle in her eyes. “Just set things right. Melody worked hard for this position. I don’t want to see her quit the orchestra because of some misunderstanding.”

  Wolf nodded, feeling like he’d ruined both their careers. Determination hardened inside of him. “I’ll find her.”

  Just then, Blake burst through the front doors. Carly waved Wolf back behind a column and whispered, “Go!”

  Before he could respond, the oboe player jumped up, two steps at a time, and called out, “Blake, I have someone looking for you.”

  Wolf took one look over his shoulder and saw Carly had already wrapped her arm around the personnel manager, leading him back inside. Gratitude overflowing, Wolf dug for his keys and pressed the door lock button. His car called to him with a cheerful beep from across the street.

  If only I could be that optimistic.

  Even if he found Melody, he didn’t know if he could convince her that he’d broken up with Alda before he left for the States. But he had to try.

  Wolf turned onto the street and headed for Melody’s apartment, the only place he knew where to look. He parked in the same spot he’d chosen last night, got out, and looked up to her dark window. Not a promising sign.

  Wolf pressed the button for her apartment number. Silence. He tried again, noticing her car wasn’t parked outside. Clearly, she wasn’t there. So where would Melody go? Would she put herself in danger again? Guilt spread inside him. If anything happened to her, it would be his fault.

  Rain started to fall, pelting through the leaves of the maple trees lining even intervals down Melody’s block. Wolf slipped back into his car as it turned to a full-fledged downpour. He couldn’t help but think of Melody alone somewhere in an alley, in the pouring rain.

  Calm down and think.

  Obviously, Carly didn’t know where Melody was, or she would have gone after her. Who else did Melody know? He thought back to meeting her sister in the grocery store. Laini. What was her last name? It had been something simple, English…Smith? No. It started with a T. Thomas! That’s it.

  Wolf dialed information and asked for Laini Thomas in Easthampton. It was a shot in the dark, but he had nothing else to go on. The phone redialed, connecting him to Laini Thomas’s house. He closed his eyes, hoping it was the right one.

  “Hello?” A little girl shouted into the phone so loudly, he had to separate the speaker from his ear.

  “May I please speak with Laini?”

  “Mom! Some man wants to talk to you on the phone.”

  Wolf winced, thinking he’d be deaf as Beethoven if he kept listening. A crack rattled the other end and he wondered if the line disconnected. If so, he’d call back, because surely that was the spunky Violet, who’d sat in the front row of his demonstration.

  A woman’s voice echoed from the background. “What are you doing answering the phone? You should have gone to bed an hour ago, young lady.”

  “But the phone!”

  “I’ll get it.” She muttered under her breath, “This better not be a telemarketer or I’ll give them hell calling at this time of night.” The woman sighed. “Yes?”

  “Hello, Laini. This is Wolf. We met the other day in the supermarket.”

  Silence fell as she processed his words. “Oh yeah. I remember. How are you?”

  “Unfortunately, I could be better.” Wolf took a deep breath, wondering how he was going to tell her he’d just broken her sister’s heart. “You haven’t seen Melody tonight, have you?”

  “No.” Her voice turned anxious. “Should I have?”

  “She left the fund-raiser in a hustle because of me, and I’m worried about her.”

  Laini’s voice had a hard edge. “What happened?”

  Wolf’s throat constricted as he thought of Alda’s grand entrance. “My ex-girlfriend decided to crash the event. She showed up telling everyone we were engaged.”

  “Oh my goodness.”

  “I tried to explain the truth to her, but my ex made quite a spectacle, and Melody didn’t believe me. I’ve checked her apartment and she isn’t there. She wouldn’t do anything crazy, would she?”

  Laini exhaled as if he’d dropped a bomb on her. “I’m not sure. She’s a pretty sensible girl, but she does get impulsive when her emotions run high. She stole our parents’ car once when they had a fight and drove it into a tree.”

  That did not help Wolf’s racing heart. “Do you have any idea where she might go?”

  “Maybe.”

  He had to tell Laini the truth if she was ever going to trust him. He’d never been so open with anyone before. “I broke her heart, Laini. I didn’t mean to, but the way things went down…I have to fix it. She’s the best thing that’s happened since I got to the States.”

  Laini clicked her tongue against th
e top of her mouth. Then silence. Silence so deep, it broke Wolf’s heart. Either she’s not going to tell me, or she really doesn’t know.

  He was about to give up and thank her when Laini spoke in a hushed tone. “Listen, Wolf. I believe you, even if Melody doesn’t, and I know how much you mean to her. Even though she hasn’t said anything to me, I can see it in her eyes. You’re the first person to really make her care about someone other than her family and her flute.”

  “Thank you.” Wolf didn’t know what to say. Knowing how much Melody cared made the night hurt a thousand times worse, because now he knew how much he’d lost. How much Alda had taken from him.

  Violet whined in the background, “Mommy, read me Charlotte’s Web.”

  “Just give me one more sec, hon.”

  The phone shuffled around as if she’d moved to another room. “I know where she’d go.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Headlights

  Melody stepped on the gas as she turned onto the ramp to I-90 East. Emotions raging, she reminded herself to concentrate on the road. She’d only driven to Laini’s beach house in the dark once before. After hitting a tree and totaling their parents’ car a few years back, she had no urge to repeat her reckless college days.

  They’d argued about her future, insisting she choose a “useful” major, or a degree in something that helped people, like Laini and her work at Make-A-Dream. But Melody couldn’t imagine doing anything else with her life. She could just picture herself sitting behind a desk, always wondering if she could have made it as a flutist. She tried reassuring her parents she was choosing the right career, but they’d worried she’d struggle so much she’d have to live at home.

  I’ve proven them wrong so far.

  Melody winced as she sped toward the coast. If she quit the orchestra, she would have to move back in with them until she found another job, proving them right. Melody felt trapped either way: sitting in that orchestra with Blake and Wolf, or sitting at home with her I-told-you-so parents. She couldn’t decide what was worse.

  Or I could move far away and forget everything that happened here.

  She didn’t want that, even if she craved starting over from time to time. She wanted to be a part of Violet’s and Laini’s lives and she wanted her dream of being a professional flutist. All her contacts were in Boston and the surrounding area. It would take years to build up name recognition in another big city. Melody sickened with the thought of reestablishing herself student by student.

  Two hours later, Melody’s thoughts still chased themselves in circles. Hoping the rhythmic tug of the Atlantic’s waves would bring some clarity to the situation, Melody took the exit for Laini’s beach house. Make-A-Dream had a big ice-cream social planned for some of its clients this week. Laini would be busy working until Sunday, so Melody knew the home lay vacant.

  Her sister did say she was welcome anytime, even if Laini liked to keep everything in its place. Melody was surprised her sister had forgiven her after she had crashed the car into Laini’s front yard maple and the entire tree, dead roots and all, had to be exhumed from the ground. As she passed the familiar bend in the road, she spotted the bed of marigolds Laini had planted in place of the tree. The heads drooped under the heavy rains like sad little sentinels.

  Melody tightened her fingers on the wheel. I’m much more in control now than I was then. Or was she? Since Wolf arrived, her life had spiraled out of whack, and all she could do was hold on by her teeth. Her work had suffered, her practicing had deteriorated, and the concerto competition loomed like judgment day.

  Stupid. Stupid. Why did I ever think I could date another musician?

  Frustrated with everything, she parked by the stone wall where Laini had left the spare key. The rain had passed, heading out to sea, and now only a light drizzle persisted. Waves crashed on the horizon and the smell of drying seaweed and brine brought back memories of happier times. This was the perfect refuge. No one except Laini could find her here.

  Melody counted the rocks in the wall, then turned over a slate-gray stone looking no different than the rest. Underneath lay a small golden key.

  The wooden steps of the porch creaked under her weight as she carried her flute bag, her music stand, and a stack of sheet music. She wouldn’t be able to practice that night, but she was determined to regain control over her life, and if playing long tones helped, then so be it.

  Melody let herself in and threw her music bag on the leather sofa. The cottage smelled like old wood, dried salt, and lavender. Their mother had grown the herb in window baskets all their lives, and Laini had carried on that tradition, giving Melody bags of it during the summer months. Dried bunches of the purple-blue flower hung from the ceiling. Laini must have recently harvested a new crop. Melody always thought of home when she smelled the light fragrance, and right now the scent calmed her.

  She slumped onto the sofa next to her flute bag.

  Wolf.

  The one person she tried to forget kept nagging her consciousness, followed by a question: what if he was telling the truth? Could an ex be so bold as to show up and announce a fake engagement? That didn’t sound like anyone she knew. But she didn’t know anyone who looked like Alda, either. The woman’s breasts practically burst out of her evening gown screaming wardrobe malfunction please! If someone was that confident, then maybe Alda thought she could pull off a lie like that.

  No.

  Melody refused to go down that path. If Wolf were telling the truth, she’d have to care about him all over again, and she knew what that was doing to her career. It was best this way. As much as he’d broken her heart, now she could focus on the most important thing in her life: her flute.

  Yes.

  Tomorrow she’d dive into etudes and scales before running through that Mozart concerto fifty million times. She’d always drowned her sorrows in practicing, and this would be no different. Melody turned on the television. A scene of two lovers kissing in the night stabbed her in the heart and she changed the channel to a monster movie. Watching the shadows in the rafters of the ceiling, she decided that wouldn’t work, either. She’d had enough drama and horror for one night.

  Melody found a channel of infomercials and settled into the sofa, propping her head on an embroidered pillow. Infomercials were safe. She watched for over an hour as vacuums, jewelry, and garden hoses that shrunk when the water was turned off came on the screen. She was starting to think she needed all that junk for herself and for presents for her family. Looking for her cell phone to order that ingenious shrinking garden hose, she noticed two golden lights twinkling in the distance.

  Impossible.

  That driveway only led to Laini’s beach house. Unless someone had taken a wrong turn? It was unfathomable Laini would leave her house this late on a weeknight, even if she’d had a rare fight with Derek.

  Melody crouched by the window, watching the meandering light as the car took the dips and turns on the muddied dirt road. Panic rose inside her as she thought of the sound of a leather jacket crinkling and the callous dark eyes of her attacker. She grabbed the fire poker, the metal cooling her sweaty palms, and waited.

  A black Ford Mustang broke through the foliage and parked next to her Fiat, making her car look like an old lady’s toy. The driver’s side opened and Melody dropped the poker to the ground. It clanged by her feet, but she heard the clamor only as an afterthought.

  Blinking her eyes in disbelief, she wondered what Wolf was doing at Laini’s beach house and if she was dreaming. But when she glanced back out the window again, Wolf looked all too real. He still wore the tux from the fund-raiser, and he carried a stack of papers in his hands. A determined look crossed his face as he climbed the steps of the porch.

  She retreated into the shadows. Although her heart beat with excitement, she didn’t know if she could face him. Why was he here? Would he come all this way if he had been lying?

  There was only one way to find out.

  A gentle knock sounded and
Melody turned the knob, whipping the door open. Wolf stood with the gentle rain tinkling behind him, his dark chestnut hair slicked back, except for a single, wild strand that hung in front of his eyes. His gaze was desperate with intensity.

  “Mel. I had to see you.”

  Melody shook her head. As much as she reveled in his presence, this was all wrong if he had a fiancée back in Germany. “What are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?”

  “Laini told me where you were.” He stepped toward her, and the air between them sizzled. Melody could almost feel the rain misting up from the heat. “Please, just give me five minutes to explain.”

  Melody held her ground. Did she really want to let this fickle man into Laini’s beach house?

  His blue eyes beckoned. “Five minutes, nothing more.”

  “All right.” Melody stepped back and Wolf came in, slipping off his shoes before his feet touched the wood floor. He handed her a stack of papers. “You need to see this.”

  As she took the papers, he looked the other way, as if he couldn’t stand what was on them. Melody’s curiosity heightened. Lists of purchases filled the pages. It was a bill for his Visa.

  “What’s Parfumuree and Kos…me…tik?” Melody struggled with the German. He’d spent nine hundred and eighty seven euros on one trip alone.

  “Parfümerie and Kosmetik. It’s a fancy perfume and makeup store in the Alexa shopping center.”

  “Good God. Five hundred euros spent at Swarovski crystal?” Was he trying to tell her he was a shopaholic?

  Wolf winced. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  She read down the list, but nothing made sense. What would Wolf want with perfumes, jewelry, and women’s clothing? She thought back to the expensive bottle of wine he’d ordered on their date. Had he bought all of those things to impress Alda?

  “Who’s Andreas Murkudis?”

  “He’s the brother of fashion designer Kostas Murkudis. That’s his store in Berlin.”

  She swallowed a current of disbelief. “Did you buy the whole store?”