“No, but?—”
“Is there one over at your place I’ve somehow missed on my visits?”
“Oh. Well, no?—”
“That’s right,” I said, slapping my knee. “Because you and Dad got rid of the piano.” God, I sounded like an asshole, but I couldn’t stop myself. If I had to be miserable, so did every-fucking-one else. They were all goin’ down with me. “Huh. Now why would you do a thing like that?”
Mom blinked at me like I’d lost my mind, and then her small shoulders lifted. “From what I remember, you moved out, and your father wanted room for his desk.”
“Ahh. And when you chose this place, did you know about the noise ordinance before or after?”
“What do you mean?”
“My piano, Mom. You know, my passion, my life. The thing I love that I conveniently can’t have here?”
“What?” she said. “Do you think we chose this place to keep you from playing?”
“I don’t know. Did you?”
“That’s ridiculous. How could you think I’d take away something so important to you? Do you really think I’m that malicious?”
“I wouldn’t have thought so, no. But I can’t help but wonder. I mean, you guys never agreed with my career; you wanted me back here near you and following in your line of work. Maybe you thought I’d forget.”
“I wasn’t even thinking, Reid. Your father and I thought this would be a nice place for you, gated and with great views. I promise it didn’t even cross my mind that you couldn’t bring your piano along. And then with you teaching music at the school and having access to several there… I’m so sorry. It honestly didn’t cross my mind.”
I could only stare at her, the woman who had been my rock for my whole life. The woman who would do anything for anyone and didn’t have a mean bone in her body. I knew she hadn’t intended to hurt me. I knew it’d been an accident, but I still feltthe need to blame someone for all the fuck-ups happening in my life. And truthfully, now that I’d said my piece, I found the anger dissipating like early morning fog, and in its place—the guilt from lashing out. God, I’d been such an ass lately.What’s wrong with me?
Sighing, I ran a hand over my hair. “I know, Mom. I don’t mean to take out my frustration on you.”
“Oh, Reid,” she said, scooting to the edge of the couch to rub my arm. “I don’t pretend to know what’s happening to you right now. I know you’re confused and upset and taking it out on those closest to you. I know that, and I can handle it. So if you need to vent and yell, I understand. If you want to talk, I’m here. If you have questions, I’ll try to help you answer them as best I can. Thingswillget easier, baby. Please believe that.”
I wanted to believe she was telling the truth, that she was all-powerful and could see months and years into the future to know it would all turn out okay.
“If you’d like, why don’t you get dressed and we can run down to Newton’s now and pick out a new piano? The desk has become nothing but a clutter magnet anyway.” She squeezed my arm. “I’m so sorry, Reid. I just assumed since Ollie bought one for you to play, that you’d?—”
I flinched and pulled away from her. “He did what?”
She seemed to realize her mistake as soon as she said it. “Oh. Oh dear.”
“He bought me a piano?”
“Well, I…I didn’t realize he had until recently, and—” She stopped and then said a word I hadn’t heard come out of her mouth ever: “Shit.”
My eyes widened. “Did you just say…‘shit’?”
“No,” she said, the look on her face a mixture of mortification and embarrassment. “Of course not.”
A snort of laughter left me then, because holy fuck—my proper, kind mother had cursed, which meant hell must’ve frozen over.
“It’s not funny,” she said, covering her face when I laughed harder. “Don’t tell your father.”
“It’s just a word, Mom. I don’t think it means you’ve cursed your soul for all eternity.” As she continued to shake her head, I rolled the words she’d uttered around in my head.I just assumed since Ollie bought one for you to play…
He bought me apiano?
“Did you…” I started.
“Yes?”