by Karis Walsh
Table of Contents
Synopsis
By the Author
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
About the Author
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
Synopsis
After a lifetime of moving and change, Jan Carroll wants nothing more than to settle down and build a home. Then her father gets sick, and the stable—if solitary—life she’s made as a high school geometry teacher in Spokane, Washington, threatens to crumble around her. She wants little to do with newcomer Tina Nelson, a shallow and unreliable playgirl. Especially since their mutual friend Brooke Stanton has been not-so-subtly matchmaking…
Tina, a graphic artist and musician, has vowed to spend her life free from the obligations that characterized her youth. No ties, no long-term commitments. But she agrees to travel to Spokane to help her cousin promote his business and, in a second moment of weakness, promises to contact Jan. Tina is certain her acquaintance with the too-logical and inflexible woman will be a short one.
Sometimes, though, love makes you throw away life’s careful script. Can these women learn to improvise?
Improvisation
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Improvisation
© 2013 By Karis Walsh. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-60282-911-4
This Electronic Book is published by
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, New York 12185
First Edition: May 2013
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editor: Ruth Sternglantz
Production Design: Susan Ramundo
Cover Design By Sheri ([email protected])
By the Author
Harmony
Worth the Risk
Sea Glass Inn
Improvisation
Acknowledgments
Revisiting the world I created in Harmony and reconnecting with some favorite characters has been a wonderful experience. I’ve come out of the process filled with gratitude for every reader who has taken a chance and bought one of my books. For every person who has contacted me through e-mail or Facebook or my blogs. For every romance fan I’ve had the privilege of meeting in person at a book signing or other event.
Whether you’ve read all my novels or are just joining me now, with Improvisation, this book is for you. Thank you for taking the time to travel with me through the world of my imagination. Enjoy!
Dedication
For Cindy
With all my love and all my heart
Chapter One
Tina Nelson’s fingers played a cascading waterfall of notes, echoed moments later by Andrea Taylor’s viola, while her mind raced several measures ahead. She was sure Andy had practiced diligently before this session, but Tina hadn’t even glanced at the music since the last time they had played it together, over six months ago. The rehearsal was a casual one between two friends as they worked the kinks out of a duet they’d played before, but Andy had obviously prepared for it. When Tina had arrived at Andy’s—fifteen minutes late, after frantically searching for the right piece among the numerous piles of sheet music scattered throughout her apartment—Andy had already set up two chairs and had written out an agenda for the session. Luckily, Tina enjoyed the rush of being a few steps behind and fighting to catch up. She noticed some tricky string changes coming, and she shifted her hand up the violin’s neck into fifth position to handle the difficult passage more easily.
“Stop doing that,” Andy said, continuing to play without missing a beat when Tina morphed the Mozart into an old fiddle tune.
Tina sighed and returned to the music in front of her. Mozart’s second string duo was one of her favorites—fiery and demanding and passionate. Perfectly suited to her and Andy’s style of playing. But, today, the stems on the notes resembled prison bars, and she felt too restless to stay within their confines. She tried to behave for half a page before a series of notes led her back to the familiar fiddle song.
This time, she managed to pull Andy along with her for a few bars. “Incorrigible,” Andy said as she stopped playing and balanced her bow on her lap.
“Irresistible,” Tina offered instead. She considered it a personal triumph every time she was able to tempt Andy off the transcribed path of perfection.
Andy penciled in a note on her music. “Now, every time I play this section, I’ll want to switch songs,” she said, a small smile belying her cranky tone. She took out a yellow highlighter and emphatically colored her notation.
“What did you write?” Tina asked, leaning over to peek at Andy’s music. Notes filled the margins, color-coded for her convenience. “Do not have fun?”
Brooke Stanton tapped on the door of Andy’s music room, the spare bedroom in their apartment. “Are you taking a break?”
“Just long enough to get Tina back in line,” Andy said.
“Could be hours,” Tina added, watching her friend’s small grin turn into a bright smile as Brooke walked into the room. She swiped two of Andy’s colored pens while her attention was diverted. Tina had slept with plenty of women she met at the weddings where she played with Andy and the two other members of their string quartet, but those relationships rarely lasted beyond the next weekend’s gig. Andy had only slept with one—for once straying from her orderly behavior and dramatically choosing the bride instead of a bridesmaid—but the relationship had lasted almost two years so far. Everyone who knew Andy and Brooke expected those two years to stretch into forever.
“Was that Mozart?” Brooke asked, stepping farther into the room and resting her hands on Andy’s shoulders.
“It was ‘Little Brown Jug,’” Andy said. “But it was supposed to be Mozart.”
“Poor sweetheart, is Tina driving you crazy?” Brooke winked at Tina before leaning down to kiss Andy on the cheek. Tina winked back. She and Brooke were often coconspirators in their attempts to bring out Andy’s more playful side. Tina watched Andy turn her face to meet Brooke’s kiss. It was simple and quick, but the love behind it was difficult to miss. Tina smiled, glad to see her friend’s happiness. Brooke was the kind of woman who might even have made Tina give up her routine seduction of bridesmaids. Thank God, Andy had found her first.
“I’ll let the two of you get back to work,” Brooke said as she straightened up. “Andy, I bought a can of tomatoes when we were at that Italian grocery downtown, but I can’t seem to find it.”
“Second shelf, behind the soup,” Andy said as she shuffled through her music.
“Because t comes after s?” Tina as
ked.
“That’s just how I put them away,” Andy said, sounding indignant. “I don’t alphabetize my canned goods.”
“Anymore,” Brooke called from the kitchen.
Andy’s cheeks turned slightly pink, but she pretended to ignore the comment even though she couldn’t hide her smile as she clearly enjoyed Brooke’s teasing. “Let’s practice the third movement. Without any fiddle tunes this time.”
Tina’s laugh changed to a sigh. Back to work.
*
An hour later, Tina shoved her sheet music haphazardly into her bag. After two more unsuccessful attempts to sway Andy away from the written notes, Tina had given up and concentrated on the Mozart. Even she felt satisfied with the final play-through. She and Andy handled the challenging timing easily, coordinating the two intricate parts with a comfort developed over years of playing together.
Boring old practice had a predictable but limited outcome—improvement. Tina preferred to improvise because she never knew what the result would be. Unpredictable, with limitless possibilities. But even though an impromptu fiddle jam session would have been more exciting, Tina knew she’d appreciate Andy’s insistence on perfection when they played the piece in front of an audience. The chamber music festival would be her last performance with Andy for at least three months because Tina had stupidly promised to work with her cousin in Spokane. Temporarily. She shifted restlessly in her seat, tired of sitting still for so long. She didn’t relish the prospect of spending so much time far from her friends and too close to her family.
“I’ll miss this,” Andy echoed Tina’s thoughts.
“Me too,” Tina said. She toyed with a tuning peg on her violin, tightening the A string. She plucked it. Sharp. She returned it to its original tension and laid the violin in its velvet-lined case. “But Spokane in the spring…they write songs about that, don’t they?”
“They should,” Andy said with a smile. “All the cows are blooming.”
“And the tumbleweeds aren’t yet dry enough to tumble.”
“It’s a beautiful city,” Brooke said from the doorway. “Rivers and lakes and parks. A brilliant cultural scene. Tons of great restaurants…”
“Thank you, Spokane Board of Tourism,” Tina said as she followed Brooke into the living room. The coffee table was set with food for Brooke and Andy, and a plate of pasta and glass of wine sat on a tray next to the chair Tina always used. Brooke had simply expected her to stay for dinner—a sure sign Tina was spending too much time in their apartment. Intruding on their privacy. And neglecting her own romantic life. “Do you have any brochures?”
“Even better,” Brooke said as she sat on the couch and folded her legs underneath her. “I happen to know a beautiful woman who, I’ll bet, would be willing to act as your personal tour guide.”
Tina groaned. She had walked right into Brooke’s trap. She took a bite of garlicky, spicy penne before she answered. “I appreciate it, but I’m sure I’ll be too busy to socialize.”
Andy laughed and choked on her pasta. “When have you ever been too busy to womanize? Sorry, I meant socialize.”
“Funny,” Tina said. “But I have to design Peter’s website and help him create a marketing plan and—”
Brooke waved her fork in the air. “You’ve managed to have other plans every time Jan’s come to Seattle. I’ll bet you can find an hour or two over the next three months to meet her for a drink.”
Tina balanced her plate on her lap and took a sip of wine. Brooke was partially right—Tina was going to need plenty to drink and plenty of female companionship to get her through the uncomfortable reunion with her family. And she certainly wouldn’t disagree with Brooke’s description of her friend as beautiful. Tina hadn’t had a chance to talk to Jan Carroll at Brooke’s wedding rehearsal, but she had been very aware of her, sitting alone in the back of the church. A fraction of her mind had concentrated on playing the familiar quartet music, but most of it had been pleasantly occupied with the imagined sight of Jan’s dark blond hair released from those barrettes, reflecting gold as it fell around her shoulders. The feel of Jan’s skin as Tina stripped off her silk pantsuit and slipped her hands around that slender waist…Tina would have had Jan’s phone number before the bride and groom made it down the aisle if it had been one of the group’s normal wedding gigs. But she had needed to stay with Andy, who was distraught because she thought she had lost Brooke. Then Brooke had fallen in love with Andy and turned into a matchmaker, and Jan was now off-limits for Tina. Tina wanted nothing more serious than an affair or three in Spokane, but she suspected Brooke was busily planning a double wedding.
“I’ll try to make time, but no promises. Besides, I’m not looking for anything serious right now. Or ever, right, Andy?”
“Jan’s great, Tina,” Andy said in a serious voice. “You’ll like her, and it’ll be good for you to have a friend over there. Someone to get you away from your family now and then.”
Traitor. Andy was no help. She had joined the “serious relationship” cult and apparently was willing to help Brooke in her recruiting efforts. Even now, she stared at Brooke as if Stradivari himself had carved her curves out of a rare piece of wood. Tina was thrilled to see her so…content. Andy had always been wound a bit tight, and Brooke had managed to loosen her up, get her back in tune. But Tina wasn’t Andy. An occasional casual affair for stress release was all the retuning she needed. She finished the last of her wine and set the glass down a little harder than she meant to.
Brooke poured more wine in Tina’s glass. “What’s the situation with you and your family? Or shouldn’t I ask?”
Tina had been hoping for a change in subject, but talking about her family was as bad as being pushed into Jan’s arms. She swirled the wine and watched the light play off the ruby liquid.
“We’re just distant, I guess. When Dad was alive, we’d go visit a couple times a year. Grandmother would criticize my mom for everything—how she was raising me without enough discipline, what a little hellion I was. Dad would try to defend me and Mom, to make everyone get along, but the visits were always a mess.” Tina paused and took a drink of the rich and fruity wine. Her dad had kept up his efforts to bring the family together until he died, when Tina was eight. Then the trips to Spokane had stopped. Tina’s grandmother hadn’t had a chance to know her during junior high and high school, when her mom had been sick and she had grown up faster than most teenagers. Now she’d get to know the adult Tina, the grown-up hellion. Tina smiled at the thought.
“To families,” Andy said as she raised her glass in a mock salute. “Where would alcohol sales be without them?”
Tina returned the gesture and watched Brooke curl closer to Andy on the couch. Her friend had been forced to be an adult at an early age as well. But maturity sat easily on her, and she seemed to crave the security and stability of her relationship. Tina had shrugged off the weight of responsibility after her mother had died, and she had no intention of finding someone else to depend on her. She had experienced love and loss. She didn’t plan to go through it again.
“So what about this cousin?” Brooke asked. “You’ve agreed to help him, so he can’t be all bad.”
“He’s okay,” Tina said with a shrug. “We played together when we were kids and he’s kept in touch. Letters or e-mails on holidays, that sort of thing.” She laughed shortly at the memory of their latest awkward exchange. “Somewhere along the way, our conversations became little more than weather reports, and the most personal answer either of us gives to the question How are you? is the local temperature. It’s easier for him, since there are actual seasons in Spokane. But how many ways can I say It’s rainy with occasional sunbreaks?”
“Maybe he’s desperate to keep any sort of relationship going,” Brooke said, her voice soft. “It’s unseasonably warm this spring might mean I want to talk to you, but I don’t know how to get past this rift.”
Tina shook her head. Peter probably only wrote to her because he felt guilty after
his side of the family abandoned her. And she only answered, year after year, because she didn’t want to be rude. She had more feelings for the weather girl on the local news. “Nice idea, Brooke, but the truth is, we feel some stupid family obligation to keep writing, but we don’t care enough to get beyond the most stereotypically superficial of topics. I’m going to help him because Dad would’ve wanted me to, but after this trip, we can stop the meaningless chit-chat. It’ll be a relief for both of us, I’m sure.”
“Cloudy, with a noticeable chill in the air,” Andy said, without looking up from her dinner.
Tina ignored her comment. She would accept the uncomfortable obligations to family and to Brooke, but after this trip, she would be free of them. No more Peter. And definitely no more Jan.
Chapter Two
Jan ended the call and dropped the phone into the pocket of her blazer. Her third-period class was already filing into the room, so she controlled her desire to drop her head onto the desk and cry. Instead, she silently recited the students’ names as they sat down, in an effort to reorient herself. Sophomore Geometry. Twenty-one students. Lesson number twelve. She watched them chat and laugh as they pulled out notebooks and rulers while she wondered if she’d be able to get through the hour without needing to ask one of them what she was supposed to be teaching.
The doctor’s words took up all the space in her mind, pushing away the theorems and proofs from today’s lesson plan. She had been expecting a call about her dad’s injured shoulder, not about the warning signs the doctor had noticed while examining him. Possibility of early onset Alzheimer’s. We’ll run more tests. Has your father shown any of these symptoms? No, but she seemed to be experiencing all of them right now. Her dad’s fall and subsequent stay in the hospital had left her scared and worried. Planning to move him into her partially renovated house and arranging for a nurse while she was at school had left her frantic and harried. But the doctor’s news had left her numb. Empty. Lost.