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He pecked her on her head and released her but she felt the contact linger, warming her.
“Hey you two,” said Tom from the living room area. “Stop making fun of me.”
“We’re not,” said Kate. “You’re really good. I was just enhancing the performance by adding my vocals.”
“Definitely enhancing,” said Ethan. “I think we have a rock star in the making.”
“Ha!” said Kate. “Never in a million years. Who would want that shit?”
Ethan fell silent, his face suddenly serious. “You have it in you, you know.”
Kate gave him a doubtful look. “If you never made it, why would I? And besides, I haven’t thought about that kind of thing in years. And making it big as a rock star was never my goal.”
Ethan raised his brows. “No?”
She shook her head. “No, Missy and I, we just wanted to play music, do gigs like my dad and mom did, make enough to keep going and enjoy what we did. Now it’s all changed anyway. Posting songs online, Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube and all that. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
Ethan nodded slowly, his expression suddenly shuttered. “Yes, it has changed.”
He turned around and started to stir the sauce again. Kate wasn’t certain what had shifted the conversation, but she knew that Ethan had turned inward, becoming almost inaccessible.
It had been the knock on the door a few moments later and Zig’s entrance that had shifted the atmosphere back to the easy one it had been before. And now, with the marinara ready, and Zig juggling peppers, she was trying to cut for the salad, it was as if those few moments had never existed.
* * *
Tom picked out a tune on the piano, while Kate and Ethan sat sprawled on the sofa and Zig the armchair. All three drank beers, content to listen to Tom for the moment. The meal was finished, dishes done, thanks to Zig and Kate, and now they were just relaxing, their stomachs full of what Kate had to admit had been a delicious meal. Maybe it was his grandmother’s recipe, or whomever he’d ascribed it to.
She’d enjoyed the lazy conversation that had gone with it, catching up with Zig who was fast becoming a key person in the software company he worked for, developing apps and other key pieces of software in the ever burgeoning area of the exercise and active life range of the company’s boutique brand. His dream was to go out on his own, developing various apps around the music industry, and after talking to him, Kate had no doubt he would make it happen.
“Do you play an instrument?” Kate asked Zig.
Zig shook his head and grinned. “I am an appreciator of music. I design things that help make it happen.”
“You should see his LP collection,” said Ethan. “I’m sure it’s worth a fortune.”
Zig shrugged. “Probably. But it doesn’t matter. I’m not getting rid of it.”
Tom stopped his playing and turned around to face them. “What kind of music do you collect?”
“All types,” said Zig. “Anything from Klesmer to hard rock, from jazz to ska.”
“Classical?” asked Kate.
“Oh, well, no. Not really. I leave that to Ethan here. His collection is just as eclectic but in a slightly different direction.”
Kate looked over at Ethan, surprised, even though she knew it wasn’t unreasonable for him to have a collection of music. Of course he would.
“Not a Spotify fan?”
Ethan smiled. “I do Spotify. But there are some recordings I like to collect in LP form.”
“Just like Dad,” said Tom. “No wonder you two got along.”
Ethan laughed. “Yeah, we did have that in common.”
“I think you had a lot in common,” said Kate quietly.
Tom nodded thoughtfully. “It’s true.”
