The Accidental Encore (14 page)

Carolyn turned back around and wiped her hands on her jeans.
“I’m sorry about my appearance. I’ve been moving stuff in all day.”

“I imagine you’ve had lots to keep you busy.” Allie looked
up the stairwell, surprised that Leah hadn’t come down. The girl was usually
eager for their lesson to begin.

“I have. Mark told me you usually stay for dinner after
Leah’s Tuesday lesson, but I haven’t had a chance to prepare anything.”

“That’s okay, Carolyn. I wasn’t expecting to stay, and you
don’t have to feed me every week.”

“Well, it sounds like a tradition, and I don’t know anyone
in Atlanta. If you don’t mind staying, I’d love for you to join us next week
after things are more settled.”

“If it works out for you next week, I’d be delighted,” she
said as Leah moseyed down the stairs. “Ready?” she asked the girl.

“Yep.”

“I’ll be in the garage if you need me,” Carolyn said before
disappearing around the corner.

Allie followed Leah into the den. When they were both
settled in their places, Allie asked Leah to start with her recital song. Leah
nodded and began the song at a tempo much faster than she’d learned. “Whoa,
slow it down, Leah.” Allie tapped her leg in rhythm to the beat. “Start over
and watch the pace.”

Leah started again, but she kept messing up at the chorus of
the song she’d had down for weeks. “Arrrrh,” she grunted. “I can’t do it.”

Allie placed her hand on the girl’s arm. “Yes, you can. You
can do this in your sleep. Start over from the top and relax. You’re all tense.
Your fingers won’t cooperate if you try to push it.”

“My fingers won’t cooperate anyway.” Leah slammed her hands
on the keys and bolted from the bench.

Allie sat in stunned silence as Leah ran upstairs and
slammed the door. Uh oh. Leah was upset about more than her piano lesson and
Allie had a good idea why. She thought about getting Carolyn, but quickly
disregarded that idea. If Allie wanted Carolyn, she would have run to the
garage and not her room. With a quick look around the corner to the closed
garage door, Allie followed Leah up the stairs and quietly knocked on her door.
“Leah?”

“I can’t do it, Ms. Allie. I can’t do anything.”

“May I come in, please?”

After a muffled, “Yeah,” Allie pushed open the door and
frowned at Leah, her face buried in the pillows on her bed.

Allie closed the door and sat down at the foot of the bed on
Leah’s aqua blue blanket. “Leah, what’s wrong?”

“Everything.” Leah flipped over and stared at Allie with
red-rimmed eyes. “I don’t like her at all!”

Just as Allie feared, Leah was upset about her stepmom, not
her piano playing. “Sweetie, you have to give it some time.”

“Time’s not helping. I like her less and less every day.”

“More time. It’s still too new.”

She sat up and rubbed the heel of her hands over her face.
“Everything is different. She’s changing everything. Her stuff is all over the
house. It doesn’t even feel like my home anymore.”

Allie remembered what it felt like when her dad and Suzanne
moved into their new home. They’d combined their belongings and her dad had
gotten rid of a lot of his furniture—her furniture—to make room for
Suzanne’s things. The worst were the pictures of the two of them she scattered
all over the house. “I know this is hard, but you need to think about Carolyn
for just a minute. She moved half way across the country into your house. You
can’t expect her to throw all of her stuff away.”

“Why can’t she leave it in her room?”

“You mean their room?” Allie pointed out.

“Whatever. I didn’t marry her, so why should I have to live
with her things?” Leah crawled off the bed and grabbed a framed photo from her
dresser. “She moved the picture of us—my mom, dad, and me—from the
mantle to in here and put a snapshot from the wedding in its place. She’s
getting rid of my mom already.”

Tread lightly, Allie warned herself as she tried to think of
a way to pacify Leah without making it seem like she was taking Carolyn’s side.
“Leah, I don’t think she was trying to get rid of your mom. She probably
thought she was doing a nice thing by moving the picture in here, but the only
way to know for sure is to ask her. You need to talk to Carolyn about this and
give her a chance to explain.” Allie stood up and faced Leah. “You two are
probably experiencing some of the same emotions. I know it’s hard, but I really
want you to try and talk to her.”

“I can’t, Ms. Allie.” Leah kneaded her elbow with her hand
as if it hurt, but Allie knew she was just about to crawl out of her skin with
anxiety. “If I tell her what I’m feeling and thinking, I’m going to get in
trouble. My dad always said if you don’t have anything nice to say, then say
nothing at all.”

“Usually that’s true,” Allie countered. “But in this case,
the longer you keep your thoughts bottled up, the more likely they’ll
eventually explode and, trust me, you’ll be in bigger trouble then.” Allie
stepped closer and patted Leah’s arm. “Talk to your dad. Ask him to help you
talk to Carolyn. The three of you can work this out, I know you can.”

“He’ll take her side.”

The girl was intent on being right. Of course, Allie
remembered how being twelve and feeling totally displaced felt. “There aren’t
sides here, Leah. The three of you have to figure out how to get along, and
when you do, I think you’ll find you might just be happier than before.”

Leah snorted. “That’s not going to happen. It didn’t happen
with you.”

“I didn’t have to resolve anything because I could always
run to my mom.” Not that she did anything other than fan Allie’s already
burning flames. “My parents hated each other, and neither one of them was
capable of putting their differences aside for my benefit. Your dad loves you,
and Carolyn is feeling like an outsider. Everyone here wants you to be happy.”

“I wish I had some place to escape.”

Allie wrapped her arm around Leah’s shoulder. “You do. You
can lose yourself in your music.”

“Is that what you did?”

The piano had saved her even before the divorce. She’d play
for hours to block out the sound of her parents arguing. Before she knew what
had happened, the music, her ability to control the song, fed a hunger where
nothing else could. “Yes, that’s exactly what I did.”

Chapter 16

Allie couldn’t help but speculate as to Craig’s motive for
wanting her to come over. She’d been surprised when, after her lesson with Zoe
Thomas, she had two missed calls and a text message from Craig.
Come to my
house ASAP
, he’d texted. So like him not to ask, but to order.

She’d thought of him since Saturday. She couldn’t help but
think of him. A widower. A man with a beautiful, empty home and a lonely heart.
She’d felt a connection with him over pizza and conversation. He’s the one who
said she wanted to be heard, and damn him and his listening skills. He was
unpredictable and funny and he kept her on her toes. So why did she feel so
uncertain about him calling her? Was he interested in seeing her on a personal
level, and if so, what would she do?

She liked him, despite his unconventional attitude about
women and pretty much everything. She’d never met a man who didn’t play games
or mask his true feelings. As strange as it seemed, they were friends. Allie
had never dated a friend.

He met her at the door with a scowl on his face and his dog
at his heels. “You’ve really done it now, Blondie.”

“Excuse me?” she asked.

Instead of inviting her in, he stepped onto the porch with
her and shut the door behind him, leaving Blackjack inside. He hadn’t changed from
work and he smelled like sawdust and sweat. “Leah’s here.”

She lifted her brows and stared at him, waiting for further
explanation.

“I found her here when I got home.”

“Is she okay?”

“She was alone and upset.” He shoved his hands in his jeans
pockets and glared at her. “Apparently someone told her it would help to have a
place to escape when she was feeling bad about Carolyn.”

Uh oh. Allie hadn’t said that. Not really. “I never told her
that.”

“That’s not what she said.”

“I told her my situation with my stepmom didn’t get better
because I didn’t have to face it every day like she does. I was trying to make
her realize she had to be honest with Carolyn and Mark.”

“Well, you misfired. She took off and didn’t even leave a
note. Not to mention the fact that she walked here alone in the dark.”

“Do Carolyn and Mark know she’s here?”

“They do now, and I look like the bad guy.”

“Can I talk to her?” Allie asked. She knew Craig blamed her
for what Leah had done, and while she knew this wasn’t what Allie had told Leah
to do, she did feel responsible.

He grabbed her arm as she tried to walk past him. “You need
to fix this, Allie. She can’t run away from her problems.”

When Allie turned to face him, they were practically
nose-to-nose. Absurdly, she felt a tingling in her belly at being so physically
close to him, even though he looked as if he wanted to spit on her. “I’ll try.
I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

He opened the door for her and followed her inside. “Where
is she?” Allie asked.

Craig pointed up the curving staircase. “First door on the
left.”

Allie tiptoed up the hardwood stairs, the tapping of her
heels echoing off the empty walls. She spun around midway when she heard Leah
say, “I’m in here,” from somewhere down the stairs. Craig stared at her with a
bitter look of accusation on his face before nodding with his head into the
den. Great. No matter what she did, no matter what she said, he was going to
blame her for Leah’s actions.

“I thought I asked you to wait upstairs,” Craig said to Leah
where she sat huddled in the corner of the couch. Blackjack nestled against her
and set his head in her lap.

Leah shrugged. “I didn’t want you talking about me.”

“Well, what did you think Allie and I were going to talk
about? The weather?”

“Look, I’m sorry,” Leah said. “Obviously, I shouldn’t have
come here.” She stood up, but made no attempt to leave. “I thought you’d help
me.”

“You thought wrong.” He walked to stand over her and peered
down at her tear-streaked face. The man was tough as nails if the trembling of
her lip didn’t sway him. “You scared your dad and Carolyn half to death. They
didn’t know where you were or what in the world was wrong to make you leave
like you did. I don’t know what Allie told you, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t
to run away when things got tough.”

“He’s right,” Allie said, figuring she had a better chance
of getting out of this unscathed as Craig’s wingman. “You have to talk to your
dad and stepmom. I never told you to run away.”

“I tried to talk to them, I really did,” Leah whispered
through tears. “But they don’t care about me. All they care about is each
other.”

“That’s the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard,” Craig
said, not even trying to hide the disgust in his voice. “Do you have any idea
how many times and how many ways your dad has bent over backwards for you? The
only reason you don’t know Carolyn right now is because your dad was trying to
protect you in case their relationship didn’t work out. He’s always put you
first, and it’s about time you started to show him the respect he deserves.”
Craig stared at his niece as a vein in his neck pulsed menacingly. “He’s in
love, Leah, and he’s happy. He found a woman who makes him feel good about life
again. After your mom died, I didn’t think he’d ever feel good about anything
ever again. He loves Carolyn and he loves you and you’re breaking his heart by
being such a brat.”

Allie walked closer when she worried Craig’s honesty might
make Leah burst into tears. To her credit, Leah stood her ground, although
Allie could tell by the flush of her cheeks that he’d hit a sore spot dead
center. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” she yelled back.

“Oh no?” Craig slapped his hands on his hips. “Who do you
think was there after your mom died? Who do you think watched him work his
fingers to the bone being both mother and father to you? Who do you think
listened to him worry for two years about whether to ask Carolyn to marry him
because he didn’t want you to think he was rushing into something?”

“I love my dad. I want him to be happy.”

“Then you’d better grow up and act like it. Carolyn’s here.
She’s his wife and she’s your stepmom. You don’t have to love her, Leah, but
you damn sure better treat her with respect.”

“Craig’s right,” Allie said. “You won’t get anywhere with
either one of them if you disregard the rules and are mean to her. Your dad
loves you both, and it’s not fair of you to make him take sides. You have to be
willing to get to know Carolyn and try to forge your own relationship. It’s not
up to your dad or your uncle to do it for you.”

“I don’t know how,” Leah cried. “I don’t know what to say to
her.”

“Start with ‘good morning’ when you get up and ‘hello’ when
you get home from school,” Allie said, thinking of all the ways she’d screwed
up with Suzanne. “You said she’s been putting her stuff out. Ask her about it.
‘Where’d you get this?’ or ‘why is this special?’ If you don’t talk to her, you
won’t ever find any common ground. And Leah, you’ve already got one giant piece
of common ground—you both love your dad.”