Song of the South

Late night piano lesson

Dinner had gone well. The kids ate together laughing and having a good time. The adults sat around telling jokes and stories and just relaxing. Shortly before bedtime, Kinsey took Bella and Hayden upstairs to give them a bath. Lane was next. She was reading to the three smallest kids when Jesse went to take his bath. When Daisy went inside to get her bath, Eric turned to friends and told them what was up, in regards to house hunting. He asked if they could keep Kinsey and the kids occupied while he looked at the properties that had been found.

Brent was shocked to hear that Eric was seriously house hunting. He thought the bassist loved his house. Why was he looking into buying a new house? Especially since the one he already had was completely paid off! Then it hit the vocalist. He wanted a bigger house because Kinsey had five much younger siblings. Getting the bigger place was to hopefully entice Kinsey to staying with him. Did this mean that Eric had fallen in love with the much younger woman? It would be interesting to see how that relationship developed!

Kellie and Lori had promised they’d keep Kinsey and the kids occupied. It made Eric feel better. He didn’t want Kinsey to know what he was up to until he had the keys in his hand. Besides, there was no guarantee that any of the houses he sees the following day would be “the one”. He was going to look until he found one that was perfect for them. Everyone was having a good time but Lori said that they should get to the hotel to get Stella in bed. Eric thanked his friends for all their help. Brent left with the Kerch’s since he was staying at the very same hotel. Bill and James had left already because Bill had some business to get to the following day.

Eric shut everything off, locked all the doors, and headed up to his room. He peaked into Kinsey’s and Daisy’s rooms to check on everyone. He was happy to see everyone was sound asleep and seemed to be sleeping very well. He smiled as he walked to his room to get ready for bed. He changed into his pj bottoms and crawled into bed. He tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position. His mind was racing with fantasies and possibilities.

Eric just couldn’t sleep. He didn’t want to read or play video games. He didn’t want to write music. Quietly slipping out of his room, he headed downstairs to where his piano sat. He’d written the piano parts to ’Call Me’ on it a few years before he had anything to use it with. Brent had loved it the second he heard it and wound up writing the song around Eric’s piano parts. As he sat down, he hoped it wouldn’t wake the children.

If it did, he would do whatever he needed to in order to get them back to sleep. He had been playing for close to an hour and hadn’t heard a peep from anyone upstairs. Something woke Kinsey up. She laid in her bed just listening. It was very beautiful, what she was hearing. Was it on the radio? A cd? Finally she couldn’t stand it anymore and, as quietly as she could, she slipped out of her room. She shut the door behind her so it wouldn’t wake the other two in her room.

She tip-toed downstairs to find the source of the beautiful music she was hearing. She came into the room it was emanating from and stopped. There were two candles lit on a black piano. Eric was sitting there in a pair of black and green striped pajama bottoms, no shoes, no shirt, and just playing. She stood there for a few minutes just watching him play. After maybe 10 minute she moved closer to him. He saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned towards her with a smile.

“Did I wake you?” He quietly asked, long fingers still ghosting over the keys

“Yes.” She confessed, “But I don’t mind.”

He nodded for her to have a seat next to him. She cautiously sat down on his right leaving a small space between them.

“I didn’t mean to wake you. I just couldn’t sleep.” He stated, voice low and soothing