Downtown Idea

56. Piano Man

The time had come to go back to LA. I was excited. It had been about 2 months since Louise was born and I was relieved to be able to get her to a pediatrician, no offence to Andrea Wormme.

Over those two months though it was actually really nice to be able to help out on the farm. Reese mentioned how I looked so normal and how weird it was that I had bounced back so fast. I was relieved that I did. I assumed that it had to do with the chores that I did while still pregnant to keep me in shape.

Over the course of my pregnancy I would sneak down to the livingroom and play the piano that was a little out of key. My last night at the farm I was trying to do just that. I had just gotten Lady to go back to sleep for the rest of the night so I decided to play a bit. It was strange. The house wasn't very big but the walls were so thick that you couldn't hear anything unless a door was open.

After playing piano for a few hours Jonas came down and frowned at me lightly.

"Having fun?" He asked rubbing his eyes and sloffing off to the kitchen. I didn't know what time it was and I almost didn't care but I wanted to know if I woke him up. So I walked into the kitchen to find him making coffee.

"Did I wake you?" I just outright asked him. He shrugged.

"I mean yeah, but I also needed to get up, and there are worse ways to be woken up." He said washing out his mug. "There are better ways too, but whatever." I looked outside at the darkness and frowned.

"What time is it?"I asked. Jonas looked at his watch

"4 am." He smiled. I was suddenly aware that he was always up before the rest of us but it never occured to me that it was before the whole fuckin sun was up.

"Do you always get up this early?" I asked. He nodded.

"Thereabout." I was completely shocked at that. And I was shocked that I was shocked, "I don't go out until about 5 though. I let myself wake up, and I eat breakfast, and clearly I'm still in my pajamas so." He said shrugging. Less surprising but I never noticed.

I offered to make him something to eat but he shook his head and mumbled something about how he was just gonna eat the rest of the spaghetti.

"No offense but I can't wait for you guys to leave so I can eat something other than spaghetti." He said shaking his head, "I know for a fact that she knows how to cook more than that and yet here we are eating this all the time."

"And yet whenever one of us offered to make something it was 'nooo, not leek and tattie soup!' or 'not cheese and beef casserole!' and then acts like we're making her cook." I shook my head as I spoke.

"I quite like your casseroles." He said softly, "And I might miss those more than I miss you." I smiled.

"I like your soup. So I relate." I said sitting down at the table.

"For real this farm is going to be really fucking empty when you guys leave." He said sitting down across from me.

"Come with us?" I offered, "I mean, Luke would be thrilled." I said, I started listing reasons he could (and should) come with us.

"Nah, I don't think LA life is for me." He shrugged, "Or at least not anymore."

After a while Jonas came down the stairs in full cowboy garb. He filled his coffee mug and started out the door. By the time Reese came downstairs the coffee in the pot was cold.

"This is why we need the single serve coffee maker." She said shaking her head.

"It's not. This is why you need to wake up too early with me and Jonas." I shrugged. A lot in my life has changed but my stance on single serve coffee machines was still firmly in place. Reese shook her head at me and didn't press the matter.