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“Yes, and now she wants to move in with you. Permanently.”
“No, just for the summer, because of the workshop,” he corrected.
“She says she wants to live with you all week long.”
His chest tightened, and he was immediately ashamed of his dread. That he was the kind of father who didn’t want to live with his daughter full time.
“She claims I don’t support her,” Rona continued, “that I’m hard on her. She says she’ll come visit me every other weekend.” There were tears in Rona’s voice. She sniffed, swallowing them.
“Shhhhh….” The crowd shushed them.
A line of young boys and girls around Gal’s age filed on stage, all wearing white shirts and black pants. And here she was! The most beautiful of them all. Her anxious eyes searched the audience and landed on her parents. She gave a small wave, which he answered enthusiastically, his heart expanding. He’d waited so eagerly for this recital because it was the first opportunity he ever got to see Gal perform on stage.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea that she come and live with me full time,” he whispered to Rona. “I’m up for a very demanding job. I would need to put in extra hours. What would she do in the empty apartment all alone.”
“Of course not! We’re not supposed to give her whatever she wants.”
“SHHHHH….” Someone shushed them.
Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen
Come, you daughters, help me to lament
The Israeli children sang the opening of the Passions, mourning Jesus. He listened to the sublime music, grateful that this was German–which no one understood.
Amongst the youthful voices, he thought he could distinguish Gal’s beautiful soprano. The chorus ended the eight-minute piece, and the crowd erupted into passionate applause. All the singers smiled but Gal, who looked at the conductor as if her life depended on it. The flute gave the now familiar introduction to the aria Gal had been practicing constantly these past few weeks. He waited breathlessly during the orchestral introduction.
Three, two, one, it was Gal’s cue, “Bluten nur”, his mind hummed in anticipation. But Gal didn’t pick up her cue. Her mouth opened, but no sounds came out. The orchestra stopped playing. Gal stood pale and transfixed, producing no sound. Nothing was heard except for her loud gasps. The concert hall was in a complete hush, punctuated only by his daughter’s belabored breaths. He curled his fists and held his breath as the moment stretched.
“Oh, no,” Rona whispered.
Erez started rising from his chair, his instinct to go to his daughter, to do something, anything, stronger than his reason.
“Sit down.” Rona’s fingers latched onto his arm.
“Chorus, Number 10!” the conductor ordered, and brought down his hands.
All the children obeyed, singing a-Capella, following the conductor’s instructions. Except for Gal. Gal’s eyes shone, and he hoped she would keep it in and wouldn’t cry.
“Gal, you can do it.” Rona’s voice was hushed, pleading, “Please, Gali, get a grip. You got this.”
As if hearing her mother, Gal straightened. She shook her head, took a deep breath, and joined the choir, her strong voice making a difference in the last notes of the short choral piece.
For the rest of the recital, she sang with the choir, holding it together. Then it was finally over.
They hurried to hug her and tell Gal how wonderful she was.
“It’s a hiccup, a small thing. It has never happened before and won’t happen again. Her nerves got the better of her,” he said, to convince himself as much as his ex-wife. “We’ll fix it before summer is over.”
Chapter 16
It’s A Date
“Good morning!”
Erez was in her doorway again, holding two cups of coffee, again, but it wasn’t a déjà vu from yesterday. This morning he skipped the CPA’s outfit and embraced Gil’s software engineers team’s code of dress. A white and blue cotton T-shirt, with Bondi Beach written on it, stonewashed Levi’s jeans, and sneakers. His sun-kissed, sinewy arms were on display, the blue tattoo of rippling waves on his right bicep, and the pair of manta rays swimming on his left forearm.
She dreamed about him last night and woke up and had to use a sex toy. She imagined nothing new–just re-lived her one night with him.
