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She shook her head.
He chuckled. “It helps avoid solicitors.” He stepped aside. “Come on in.”
She nodded and walked into the dark living room. “Did I wake you?”
He shook his head. “Nah, I was avoiding practicing the modern piece.” He grinned again and she smiled back. “Your visit is an excellent reason to not practice it.”
“Oh, Mark!” She shook her head. “No, I can come back later—”
“I’m glad you came.” His voice grew soft. “I was afraid I’d pushed you too hard yesterday.”
She glanced at her fingers. “I did it to myself.”
He chuckled. “I meant in making you play... and confessing your past.”
She scrunched her nose and then sighed. “I think it was somewhat freeing.” She gave a small smile. “I did enjoy playing again.” Geoffrey’s anger flashed into her mind but she pushed it away. She didn’t want to think about Geoffrey. “Is it okay I came?”
“Of course. I was hoping you would.” He motioned to the stairs. “You wanna go up?”
She glanced at the stairs, resisting the urge to run up them. “Yeah.”
* * *
Mark followedEmily up to the second floor, a grin spread across his face. She’d come back! He’d worried all night that she wouldn’t, but no. She’d returned.
She walked over to the table where he’d left out his old violin for her, and stroked the leather case for a moment before turning to face him. “You sure I’m not in your way?”
“I’m sure.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’m glad you came.”
Her cheeks turned pink and she looked away, but she was smiling. It warmed his heart. “I woke up not able to think about anything else.” She glanced up at him. “I think you’ve woken the monster in me.”
He laughed. “I doubt it’s a monster.”
She smiled. “You have no idea. I used to practice for hours...” Her eyes widened. “I mean, I won’t do that here... I don’t think I could, though, even if I wanted to.”
“Emily, you can come over as often as you want and stay as long as you want.” He grimaced. “I wish you could take it to your place so you didn’t have to travel, but I can’t deny I’m glad you have to come over to play.” He smiled. “I’ll get to spend more time with you.”
She stared at him for a moment, then she shook her head. “I don’t want to take away your practice time.”
He shrugged. “I can go upstairs if I need to. But it’s not like I only practice during the day. I do other things.”
“Like what?” she asked, genuine curiosity in her eyes.
He laughed. “I suppose that sounded more impressive than it is. I enjoy a bit of mindless video games sometimes.” He shrugged. “I go to the gym, I watch TV. I listen to other people play and watch videos about stupid things.”
She nodded, tilting her head. “I suppose you would have to do normal person things sometimes.”
He laughed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She blushed again. “Well, you’re a celebrity... I never imagined you sitting around watching videos on your phone.”
He wagged his eyebrows and leaned forward, a conspiratorial smile on his face. “Did you know I also cook and take showers?”
She giggled, taking the comment as lightly as he meant it. It was weird, thinking of himself as a celebrity, but he supposed he was one, to a degree. Not like a movie star. Not many people recognized him walking down the street, something he was grateful for.
“Don’t you also support a music school around here?”
He nodded. “How did you know?” It wasn’t something he tried to hide, but he didn’t seek out publicity for it either. He did it because he wanted kids to have a fair chance to learn about music, not to gain status points.
