Free EntangledTrio by Cat Grant Page B

notes, the triumphant bows at the end. But they don’t know about the years of hard work, the sacrifices. The personal cost.” He shook his head, eyes crinkling. They were nice eyes, deep sea-green with a ring of dark blue around the iris. Stormy and intense when he was at the podium, they’d now gone amazingly soft, even dreamy. “Which is why it’s always a pleasure to meet a true musician like yourself. There aren’t many singers who’d choose integrity of the score over applause.”
    Genuinely touched, David had to remind himself to close his mouth. “It…um, throws off my concentration when the audience interrupts a performance to clap or shout bravo. There’ll always be another high note. That’s what we tenors get paid for, right?”
    “Indeed.”
    The door opened again, and this time Colette peeked inside. She’d changed out of her long, wavy brunette wig and Act Four gown into her regular clothes. “There you are, Aleks. Sophia said she saw you heading this way.” Her wide-eyed gaze bounced from Petrovsky to David and back again. “We should let David get dressed and go back to his hotel. I’m sure he must be tired.”
    “Or he can join us at our apartment for a late supper. I, for one, am famished.” He flashed them both a mouthful of long white teeth. It would’ve looked positively shark-like if not for his obvious good humor. “You two must be hungry as well.”
    David’s glance locked on Colette’s, and they both laughed nervously. Petrovsky couldn’t mean… No, of course he couldn’t. It was just a friendly invitation to dinner. Colette had made it clear what had happened between them was in the past. And that was fine, really. He’d accepted it. Seeing her with Petrovsky these past two days had proven what she’d told him was true—they were happily married. And though David’s heart still died a little at the realization, he wasn’t about to do anything to screw that up.
    But he wasn’t about to turn down the invitation either—especially since he was indeed starving. “Give me five minutes to get dressed, maestro, and I’ll be happy to join you.”
    “Aleks, please.” Still smiling, Petrovsky stood, hand extended. “We’re colleagues, after all.”
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    Aleks slowly circled the dining table, refilling everyone’s glasses with a lovely 2008 Viognier while David regaled them with stories from his childhood that had Colette nearly doubled over with laughter. Aleks couldn’t help smiling himself as he sat down to sip his wine and listen.
    “My old dog Buddy was sweet, but dumb as a bag of rocks. He thought everything was made of food and kept jumping on stuff, trying to eat it. My dad had pretty much had it with him. One more chance, he said, then it was off to the pound. So when I got home one Christmas Eve and found the tree snapped in half, it didn’t take three guesses to figure out what happened. Plus, Buddy was still gnawing on the tinsel.”
    By now Colette had her hand over her mouth, her eyes round as dinner plates. ”So what did you—”
    “What any desperate sixteen-year-old would do, I guess—grabbed Dad’s axe and went out in the woods behind our house to chop down another tree. Then I dragged it inside and finished getting it decorated about five minutes before my folks got home from work.”
    “Oh my God! And they never suspected it wasn’t the same one?”
    “Dad kept giving it the stinkeye all through dinner, but by the time we’d finished eating he was full of beer and didn’t care anymore.” He sat back with a grin and a shrug. “And through it all, I never tipped my hand. It was my first great performance. That’s when I knew I had a real future in show business. Or forestry.”
    Colette kept giggling between bites of the delectable cassoulet Simone had prepared for them. It’d been ages since Aleks had seen her so unabashedly giddy. She never laughed this easily with him. The thought sent a sharp, swift pain lancing