Free In the Rain by Erin Lark Page A

very same things I wanted to
forget. To escape.
    "It's
okay," Thayre said, his voice as even as
before. "I went too fast."
    "No,
it's not something you did. This, you...it's wonderful. I'd be lying if I said
I didn't feel the same way, it's just that—"
    "Complications.
I get it."
    I
sighed. "It's some crap from my past I have to work through first."
    "Anything
I can do to help?" He propped his head up on an elbow.
    "I
wish I knew. Truly."
    "Well,
you let me know, okay?"
    I
nodded and settled beside him. "The ink on your back, mind if I see it?"
    "Not
at all." He sat up so I could look at the markings, then, pointing to the
one on his left side, he said, "Got this one in college. It's—"
    "Angie,"
I breathed, tracing the neck of his beloved violin.
    "I
guess it's better than getting a tattoo of my ex." He laughed. "Though
it was something that came up from time to time." He pointed to the second
design, of the logo I'd seen on the t-shirt he'd offered me the other night. "You
could say my music is my biggest love." He lay down and held out an arm so
I could rest my head on his chest.
    "I
take it your ex wasn't too happy competing with a musical instrument."
    "Hardly.
And it wasn't just the
violin either. She met me after I got uber serious about my music, but I guess
she figured it was a phase. Like she could fix me or something. I tried to make
it work, but when she gave me the ultimatum of her or my music, you see how that went."
    "I
should've done the same thing."
    He
furrowed his brow. "Is that why
you couldn't find your violin?"
    "Something
like that.
I kept it, but I seem to have either misplaced it, or he got rid of it while I
wasn't looking. Apparently I sounded like a thousand drowning cats when I
played. His exact words."
    "The
hell? He clearly has poor taste in music then."
    "Can't
argue with that.
He refused to call what I played music, but he loved screamo."
    "We
sure know how to pick em, don't we?"
    "Sometimes
I wish dating was as easy as finding a good violin."
    "If
only we
were so lucky. Then again, given how many instruments I have, I'd have a harem
by now."
    I
laughed. "I hadn't thought about that."
    He
got quiet then, and his eyes grew distant. With our need to touch one another
out of the way, there wasn't much else to talk about. It's hard to say how much
time had passed since our first kiss in his studio, but I was sure it hadn't
been nearly as long as I thought. Good things never are.
    "Have
you considered the possibility of playing with us?" Thayre asked, resting
an arm behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. "I wasn't lying when I
said you were the best available, and I could really use a first violinist, Ms.
Childhood Prodigy."
    "Wouldn't
that make
things weird between us?" I sat up so I could see his face.
    He
shrugged. "I don't think it would. If you think about it, logically, we
shared our passion of music first, and we'll always have that.
It can't be snuffed out. You may bury it for a while, but it always comes back.
Either when you're listening to the radio or find you have a song stuck in your
head at work. Music never leaves you."
    "Problem
is, you can still leave your music."
    "True,
but look where it got you." He shifted his weight and sat up beside me. "Please,
Moyra, I could really use someone like you."
    "And
if we can't keep things professional? Besides, isn't it up to your manager to
find a new violinist?"
    "I
am the manager, as well as the conductor and the producer." He grinned. "What?
I like multi-tasking."
    "What
about your label?"
    "Bought
and owned by yours truly."
    "Okay,
but what about the other musicians you have? Isn't there a waiting list?"
    "There
is, but not for the violin." He cupped his hands around my own. "Trust
me on this, you're the best chance we've got, and once they hear you—"
    "So
that's
why you recorded me?" I set my hands in my lap and hoped the sudden
movement didn't undo whatever happened here tonight.
    Sitting
up straighter now, he looked