The Sweetest Sound by Lilian Darcy

Author:Lilian Darcy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: family saga, romantic comedy
Publisher: Tule Publishing Inc

* * *

With four simple words, Ramona had made Charlie a promise, at the end of their Plaza Hotel afternoon tea, and they both knew it. She was going to sleep with him tonight.

At the restaurant that evening, Alonso accused her of “playing in a dream,” and one of the other waiters overheard him and said, “A good dream. She’s playing even better than usual.”

Yes, because music was made of emotion, and her heart was full of it.

Every table was full tonight, also, and people turned from their food and wine and conversation to smile and applaud every time she finished a piece. The management paid her a token amount by the hour and she received a percentage of tips as well. Sometimes it paid better than busking and waitressing, sometimes it didn’t.

She was sending a little money home, but barely enough to pay a few day-to-day bills, and she strongly suspected her parents were simply banking it on her behalf. They were too proud and stubborn, with all their talk about not wanting her to make a sacrifice. They were the ones doing that.

If I can’t get some kind of a break, I have to go home.

Did Charlie understand what she’d told him today? She hadn’t said everything, not straight out, but maybe he could read between the lines.

I’m not really here, she’d been telling him. My heart’s not here, even if you do own a piece of it, now.

She thought he planned to ignore her on the not really here thing, or that he didn’t understand how important it was, and she couldn’t blame him for that, because she was ignoring it herself. The piece of her heart that he owned was growing larger and larger every time she saw him.

He’d said he would take her home, and it was after eleven thirty. Despite the tradition of late dining in Spanish culture, as well as New York’s reputation as the city that never sleeps, the restaurant had begun to empty out. Every time the door opened she looked up to find a party of people leaving, instead of what she wanted to see—Charlie coming in.

When he finally walked through the door, the maître d’ had already given her the nod that said, “Make this the last, Ramona.” She fumbled a chord change when Charlie lifted his hand and smiled at her, and her heart started to beat faster. He sat at the bar and ordered a drink, maybe soda water, she couldn’t tell from her position in the corner on the opposite side of the restaurant.

We’re going to sleep together tonight.

She could feel the change in her own breathing, just thinking about it. She finished the piece of music, letting the sound of the guitar strings die away slowly. The last two tables of diners lingering over their coffee applauded, the sound thin and sporadic in the near-empty restaurant. A woman at the nearest table said to her, “Are you only here on Saturdays? I haven’t seen you before.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.