Page 57 of Twilight Tides
And I took my chance at an in. “Your dad says you play. Do you know this one?”
“I only know a few songs.” Kelly shook her head, but there was something new in her expression. Something like … interest. And I realized that I hadn’t seen anything but sadness on her face since she’d returned home. Until now.
“I could teach you. I know a few Taylor Swift songs. They were some of the last I learned before I stopped playing.”
“You stopped?” Fiona seemed surprised.
I nodded. “When I was around fifteen, sixteen.”
“You’d never know it.”
“I told you.” Murray stood now, placing a hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “London is a secret prodigy.”
“I’m not.” I laughed off his compliment. “But I forgot how much I enjoy playing. Well, at least privately. I don’t do public performances. Stage fright.”
“You have stage fright?” Fiona raised a brow.
I nodded. I think people always assumed only shy people got stage fright.
“You’d … you would really teach me?” Kelly leaned into her dad.
“You name the time and place and I’ll be there. Ipromise.”
Kelly didn’t look overly convinced, but I could see she wanted to believe me, and it kind of broke my heart.
“Monday after school, let’s meet at the piano and I’ll teach you how to play ‘All Too Well,’” I pushed.
Kelly’s expression was tight with longing. But then she shrugged and turned away. “Aye, whatever.”
“Kelly—” Fiona called after her granddaughter, but she’d already left the music room.
Murray turned to me from watching his daughter hurry away, his expression grim, brow furrowed with deep concern.
“I’ll be here at this piano on Monday,” I vowed. “It’ll take time for her to trust someone outside of you and Fiona, but I won’t be the one to break her trust.”
Something worked behind his eyes and his voice was gruff as he finally replied, “Thank you.”
It wasn’t until an hour later, when Fiona was getting ready to leave and Murray had gone downstairs to tell Kelly her grandmother was heading out that Fiona caught me alone.
Her eyes were bright with worry as they searched my face. “You seem like a nice person, London. You really do. But please don’t mess with my son’s or my granddaughter’s emotions.Whatever this deal is between you, I need you to promise that you’ll be careful with their feelings.”
Even though I understood where she was coming from, I still felt frustrated. Who in their right mind would toy with Murray’s and Kelly’s emotions? “Of course I will be careful with their feelings.”
“Don’t … don’t make them like you too much.” She patted my arm gently. “Not when you’re planning to leave eventually.”
Before I could respond to that, Fiona left.
I wanted to call after her that she had it all wrong.
Murray and Kelly weren’t the ones in danger of being hurt here.
21.Murray
The longer I lay awake, my mind refusing to shut down long enough to sleep, the more agitated I became, making itimpossibleto sleep. The meeting with Hughes played over in my head, intermingled with my worries after that dinner. I wondered if Mum had said something to London when I was out of the room because after Mum left, London was suddenly distant. She’d immediately hidden herself in her room and hadn’t come out. Something happened. I just knew it. I was overly aware of every nuance of change in London’s demeanor. Mum was not a confrontational or unkind person, but she’d stood in front of me many times as a boy to protect me. She might have said something out of concern for me. But what? And why was London upset?
I’d also scheduled a meeting with Ramsay on his private island tomorrow morning to discuss the threat from the Walsh brothers and I kept imagining all the different outcomes that might come from that too.
Finally, around one o’clock, I decided to get up to make myself tea with a splash of whisky to see if it would help me sleep.
