Page 64 of All of Him
Amanda escaped my room as quietly as possible, latching the door behind her. I tried not to laugh as she called for her dad and trudged down the stairs.
I got up quickly and threw on my underwear and work jeans, trying to fight the morning wood from sleeping next to Amanda. I took a few deep breaths, then rushed around my room to toss a shirt on. Looking in the mirror, I decided I absolutely needed a hat. My overgrown hair still managed to look awful, even covered up, but it would have to do.
“Morning, Tony!” I said, much too upbeat for my personality. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked between him and his daughter—the woman I’d kissed the night before.
He saw right through it; I could read that, even on Amanda’s face.
“You two got breakfast this morning?” Tony asked suspiciously.
“Yeah!” I said. “We wanted to get an early start. Amanda,” I continued, “do you think they accidentally gave us decaf at the diner? I’m still really tired.” Amanda smirked and made her way over to my coffee maker.
Well played, I told myself.
I was beyond tired from the night before, but I knew Tony would be suspicious if I just brewed some coffee after “getting breakfast.” Then again, he already knew something was off. We had obviously been upstairs together.
“You guys are bizarre.” He chuckled, setting his bag down by the back door. “I have a surprise for you today, Noah.”
Amanda and I both turned our heads toward Tony, curious.
“You can hate me for doing something without asking, but I wanted to go the extra mile, considering everything you’ve been through.”
“Tony,” I started sincerely, not even sure what he was talking about, “you have already been giving me so many breaks with not charging labor. And I’ve learned more about home maintenance than I ever thought I would.”
“Ah,” he said, waving it off. “This is what I do. I enjoy the fact that I can see the brick on your fireplace now. I like that I can take my lunch on the porch swing. I’m happy with this. What I did isn’t that big of a deal.”
I looked at my fireplace, remembering the amount of chemicals I’d needed to get the paint off. Never again would I drink that much Jameson.
“So, what’s the surprise?” Amanda asked, handing me a mug of coffee and standing too close for comfort.
I shifted away from her, hoping she wouldn’t notice.
“Well,” Tony started, “I know you said to leave the basement as is, which I am.”
I raised my eyebrows, remembering for maybe the third time since I’d moved back home that I actuallyhada basement.
“So, what’d you do, Dad?” Amanda asked, stepping closer to me again.
“I paid my buddy to come out and tune that piano. I found some songbooks with your name on them, so I assumed you played.”
My eyes caught Tony, trying to convey how thankful I was. Piano had been my rock when I was growing up. I played and sang a little, just for fun, whenever I felt overwhelmed with my home life. The piano in question had been sitting in the basement since I’d left for Ireland. I’d barely touched one since then, not even sure I still knew how to play. I definitely hadn’t felt like it.
“You play piano?” Amanda asked.
I nodded, keeping my eyes on Tony.
“Thank you, honestly,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I was happy with having it back, but it would be nice to find out. Maybe I’d be able to trade some running time with playing music when the cold got worse. “I wrote that thing off years ago.”
“I’m glad you’re okay with the gesture,” Tony said, lifting his coffee cup in the air as if to cheers. “He’ll take care of it while we tile that upstairs bathroom, and you’ll be able to play it this afternoon.”
35
Amanda
MY DAD ONE HUNDREDpercent knew that Noah and I had lied about going to breakfast. Whether he would call us out or not was up for debate. Luckily, he seemed to be much too distracted for the day to pester me about it.
I’d had no idea Noah played the piano, and I was happy to know that I’d be able to hear him play by the end of the day. The look on his face had been somewhere between genuine gratitude and that look that he gave me when I pushed him too much. I knew though that the gratitude outweighed the annoyance when it came to my dad.
The two of them tiled like crazy all day, trying to meet the mid-December deadline for the party. I hoped Dad wasn’t drilling Noah for what had really happened between us and also that Noah wouldn’t tell him. The last thing I needed was more poking from a parent. He already worried about me.
