Love at First Note (28 page)

“How was the reception? Did everyone love him? Did he get a new album deal?” Lilly launched her questions too quickly for me to answer.

“Everyone loved him. The deal isn’t a sure thing, but I think it will be soon.”

“The concert was really great,” Trav said. “I’m glad you and Elliott finally got your stuff together.”

“Thanks. It took us long enough. I’m going across the hall.”

“Ya’ll behave over there,” Lilly called. “You need me to come chaperone?”

“Haha. Good night.”

I let myself into Elliott’s apartment, pushing the door shut behind me, then headed for the couch, but he stopped me before I could get there.

“Wait,” he said. “Don’t sit.” He closed the distance between us and kissed me with a fervency that took my breath away. One hand wrapped around my waist while the other moved to the base of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair. I pressed my palms flat against his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin and the rapid pounding of his heart through the fabric of his shirt. He pulled his lips away but kept his forehead close to mine. His voice was
low and a little husky. “I’ve missed you so much.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my forehead against his chest, my brain still a little foggy from his kiss. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.” His grip around me loosened,
but I only held tighter. “No, don’t let go. Not until you kiss me again.”

He seemed happy to oblige.

We settled onto the couch, and Elliott took my hand, rubbing
his thumb over my fingers. “Okay,” he said. “I need
details.”

“
You
need details? I need details. I want to know exactly what Schweitzer said. And did you talk to the Spzilmanns? I didn’t get to meet them before they left.”

“I did meet them. They were great. And Schweitzer loved the
concert. We’re meeting next week in L.A. to talk about the next step. He wants to do an album—all original, maybe a few classics.”

“
Rhapsody in Blue
, maybe?” I grinned.

“Ha. For you, I’ll see if I can work that one in. He does want to record ‘
Le Coup de Foudre
,’ though. I’ll need you for that one.”

“For the recording? For real?”

“You think I’d find a different violinist?”

“I’ve never done studio work before.”

He smiled. “I think you’ll be able to handle it. Now, stop avoiding
my question. Details. What’s your commitment?”

I hesitated. “A year: t
he tour for the first four months, then ten concerts over the next eight months.”

“Ten concerts. That doesn’t seem like enough to justify living in Cleveland full-time.”

“It isn’t. I think I’ll probably come back to Asheville and just travel up to Ohio when I’m needed.”

“So everything—Schweitzer, the Spzilmanns
, the lady from the
Times
—Greg set all that up just because you agreed to the tour?”

I shook my head. “Schweitzer was Greg’s doing, but I brought the lady from the
Times
on my own, and Agnes Rockwell brought the Spzilmanns. Though, Agnes and Greg are friends, so I guess that was Greg too. He did ask her to help.”

Elliott leaned back and shook his head, an expression of wonder
on his face. “I can’t believe you did all this to help me.”

“I believe in your music, Elliott. And I knew others would too.”

He pulled my hand to his lips, kissing the tops of my fingers.
“If Greg hadn’t told me about your bargain, were you just going to let Brian take the credit?”

I sighed. “I was afraid it would make you feel guilty, like I was trying to buy back your favor. And I didn’t want it to be about us. Because I still would have done it. Even if we’d never worked things out, if you’d moved back to L.A. and hooked up with some blonde soap opera actress, I would have made the same deal. I needed
this to work for you.”

“Please don’t underestimate how much I appreciate what you’ve done when I say this, but, Emma, I was ready to walk away from my music. To stay in Asheville and teach piano lessons and play organ for the local women’s choir if that’s what it took to be where you are.
What makes me happy is you. I’m not sure I need anything else.”

I closed my eyes, wanting to soak up his words and feel them sink all the way into my soul. It was what I’d wanted to hear all
along,
that there was an
us
he thought was worth fighting for. But I wasn’t enough. I knew that. And if he really thought about it, he would know it too. I shook my head. “That’s not true.”

“What’s not true?”

“You need your music. Plus, you have too much to give. I’m too well acquainted with what you’re capable of to let your gifts waste away behind the organ of a women’s choir.”

He leaned forward and kissed me, slower this time, his thumbs brushing across my jaw line, past my ear, and down the curve of
my neck. “I love you, Emma. I’m sorry it took me so long to say it.
”

I felt like there should have been trumpets playing a fanfare in the background, something, anything to celebrate the moment. “I love you too. I’m sorry it took you so long to say it too.”

He laughed. “You need me to say it a few more times to make up for the lack?”

“Yes, please. Once an hour for the rest of forever.”

He took my hand and turned it over, tracing the words onto my palm and up onto my wrist, sending shivers up and down my arm. “There you go. But that’s it. I’m cutting you off until”—he glanced at his watch—“2:00 a.m. And not a minute sooner.”

“Do you think Greg will make it happen? Get you on the tour?”

“If he doesn’t, I’ll be there anyway. I’m going to follow you wherever you go.”

“You want to be my groupie? I’ve never had a groupie before.” It wasn’t lost on me that Elliott really
had
groupies, which somehow made my joke feel less funny.

“I’d rather be your boyfriend than your groupie. I hear they get better seats at performances.”

He leaned back and pulled me against him, my head resting on his shoulder.

“Was it really
love at first sight?” I asked.

“It was probably more like love at first note.”

“When we played together through the wall?”

He nodded. “It was like a punch to the gut. Every time I heard you practicing, I realized how much I wanted you to know I was more than just crazy videos and cover songs. I wanted you to think I was good enough for you to notice.”

I reached for his hand, tracing the arch of his long, graceful fingers
with my thumb. “Mission accomplished.”

“When you played the next Sunday in church, I was done for
. That was when I knew.”

“And then after the wedding . . .” My heart hurt to think of the pain I must have caused him.

He sighed. “That was a dark six weeks for me. I loved you. I
knew I did. But I wanted to be what you needed, and I wasn’t sure
I was. I didn’t want to hurt you any worse than I already had.”

I sat up and pulled my hair out of
its twist. It was late, and all the excitement of the evening was settling in my shoulders. I shook my hair loose. “Elliott, nothing hurts worse than thinking about those awful words I said. Please know I didn’t mean them. I don’t love extra attention, and I don’t particularly love the limelight. But I do love you. Anything that happens, anything the media throws at us or demands of us or says about us, it won’t matter. There’s not a single thing in this world that will keep me from loving you. As long as you’ll always love me too.” Not too bad for a girl who was terrible with words.

He reached up, brushing the hair from my face. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

* * *

Four months later

City lights reflected on the shimmering surface of the Seine, big-band music floating out of the corner bistro in Paris where I’d
just finished dinner. The tour was nearly over. Two more stops in Florence and London, then our final performance back in New York and we were finished. I hadn’t seen Elliott since he’d performed with us in Amsterdam five weeks before, and it was nearly killing me. He would meet me in New York, but that was still ten days
away. Ten days felt like an eternity.

I turned the corner, glimpsing the hotel lights twinkling at the end of the block. A man emerged out of the darkness that stretched
between the hotel and me. I could see only his outline at first, but
everything from the shape of his shoulders to the cadence of his
walk felt familiar. I rushed forward.

“Daddy?”

He smiled and opened his arms. “Are you surprised?”

I wrapped my arms around him, overwhelmed by the sheer shock of seeing my father in the very last place I ever would have expected him to be. “What are . . . ? How on earth? When did you . . . ?
” I couldn’t figure out which question to finish first.

Dad laughed. “No questions. Not yet anyway. I’m just here to give you this.” He handed me a single sheet of paper.

I looked it over. It was sheet music for piano, if I had to guess, but it wasn’t labeled, and the melody wasn’t something I recognized. “What is this?”

Dad put his hands on my shoulders and pointed me toward the hotel. “Keep walking, and I think you’ll find your answer.”

I gave him a puzzled look, but he only grinned, urging me forward with a tilt of his head.

“Are you coming too?” I asked.

“I promise I won’t be far behind,” he said. “Now, go on. You’ve got somewhere to be.”

I hurried to the hotel, my heart pounding in my chest, and wondered what kind of goose chase Dad was sending me on. I had just made it through the front door when a familiar voice stopped me in my tracks.

“What? You aren’t even going to say hello?”

I turned around. “Trav? Are you kidding me?”

He laughed and pulled me into a hug. “It’s good to see you, Em.”

I reached up and gave his cheek a friendly pat. “You shaved!”

“You like it? I’m still getting used to it, but Lilly’s a fan.”

Hope surged through my chest at the thought of seeing Lilly. “Is Lilly here?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. I’ve only been instructed to give you this.” He handed me another sheet of music.

“For real, Trav. Somebody better tell me what’s going on.”

He waved his hand. “Keep going. You’ll know soon enough.”

I hurried through the lobby, looking left, then right, then left again, half expecting someone to jump out from behind one of the giant marble columns to surprise me. Finally I saw Ava sitting on a small cushioned bench in between the elevators. When she saw me approach, she stood and ran into my embrace.

“What is everyone doing here?” I asked her, my eyes wide.

“That’s all the hello I get? It’s nice to see you too.”

I gripped her shoulders, then gave her another hug, happy to ignore her sarcasm. “Looks like you’re getting to see Paris after all.”

“You know it. And tomorrow you’re going to get me some of those cookies. For now, this is for you.”

More music.
Of course.

I shook my head. “I’m not even going to question anymore. Where to next?”

The elevator dinged behind us. “Pretty sure you’re supposed to get on this elevator,” Ava said.

When the doors slid open, Lilly jumped out. “Surprise!” She pulled me onto the elevator, her eyes all bright and happy, and gave me a big hug. “How are you? Are you surprised? Are you happy?”

“I’m . . . I have no idea what I am. I’m a little confused, but yes, it’s amazing to see everybody. Where are you taking me?”

She handed me a room key.

“What, no music?”

“Oh! Right.” She pulled it out of her pocket. “I almost forgot.”

I added it to the stack. Immediately I noticed something I hadn’t
seen on any of the other sheets. It was only one word, a dynamic
scribbled in haste across the bottom of the page.
Pianissimo.
But it was
enough for me to recognize the careful, measured script of Elliott’s
handwriting. I’d known Elliott had to be involved. I was holding a
stack of piano music, after all, but seeing confirmation of what, until
then, I’d only hoped to be true was enough to stop my breath, trapping
the air in my lungs a beat too long.

“Emma,” Lilly said. “Yo. You hear me? Breathe.”

I took a breath, then grabbed Lilly’s hand. “Where is he, Lil? Please just tell me where he is.”

The elevator chimed and opened. Lilly nudged me off without answering my question but stayed behind herself. “Room 714,” she
called as the doors slid closed.

My hands trembled as I moved down the hallway and found room 714, making it extra difficult to slip the keycard into the reader affixed above the door handle. It took three tries before the little indicator light flashed green and the door finally clicked open.