Moving On

Chapter 8 - Part 3

"Let's play a duet," Kate suggested the moment Tyler sat.

He placed his hands on the piano and pressed down on random keys again. He hadn't played the piano since his parents died, hadn't even touched one until the last time he was here with Kate.

Playing the piano was something he did with his mother. Since the night of her death, he had refused to play. Though there was a piano in the house that his grandfather had dumped him in, he never once touched it.

Somehow, everything that reminded him of his parents made him angry. Every one of those things only reminded him that he would never be able to see or spend another moment with his parents.

If Marianne hadn't stood in his way, he would've thrown the piano out without a second thought.

The mansion used to have a piano, too.

He guessed his grandfather had the same reaction toward the piano as he had. The only difference was that no one could stop him from throwing anything out of the house.

"You know how to play," Kate said, almost in accusation.

He looked up at her, wondering how she came to that conclusion.

"Your thumb; you placed it right at the beginning of a new chord, and you bent your fingers the way you should instead of placing them flat on the keys."

His focus dropped back to the keys. "I haven't played for a while," he said softly.

Kate didn't reply.

He turned and saw her pursing her lips, clearly worried that she'd hurt him. He reached over and pushed her hair behind her ear, getting her attention. "I'm fine."

"I can teach you if you want. It's okay if—"

"Why not?" He wasn't exceptionally keen, but she'd seemed so happy when she was playing the piano, and he wanted to be part of that.

She beamed and placed his hand on the correct keys. "Heart and Soul. Have you played it before?"

He gave a wry smile at the pure coincidence of Kate picking the one song his mother had taught him. He tried out the keys, playing the first few notes. "This is all I remember."

Smiling, she showed him a few notes at a time, then let him repeat after her demonstration.

"I love this song. My grandmother used to play it with me even when she was at the senior home, except she thought I was my mother," Kate said, shaking her head indulgently.

Tyler had spent his whole life avoiding anything that held any link to his parents. Any memories of them only made his heart ache, so he refused to allow himself to remember. That was the only way he could cope.

Seeing how fondly Kate could speak of the memories that her parents and grandparents had created for her, it felt safe for him to remember as well.

Though he would never see his parents again, perhaps he could still smile at the joy they'd once given him.

"And your sister?"

"She wasn't interested and never learned. Now I have someone to play the song with."

He smiled, pleased to be the someone she was talking about.

"Mr. Hayes, we're done," Tim said.

"Go ahead and play. I'll check it through first," he said to Kate before getting up and moving over to Tim.

Instead of playing, Kate swiveled around and watched him scrutinize the system.

Her attention on him lingered for a minute. Then she got up and attended to his staff, bringing out more glasses and a flask of water.