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Christmas?That was nearly five more months away.
Suddenly curious about her reasoning, Lex hesitated, deciding to try and let Amy talk him into it.
“What’s so special about Christmas?” Although when Lex thought about it, he had a few sudden flashbacks that came out of nowhere. He envisioned snow outside and a huge Christmas tree in an elegant room where he was seated near a roaring fire. He could even see someone playing a piano.
What wasthatall about?
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” she said, sounding stubborn. She must have noticed his hesitation.
And then Lex glanced behind him at the piano. “I never realized there was a piano in here.”
“Mom keeps promising me that she’s going to find someone to teach me how to play.”
Lex pursed his lips and stood, turning to take a proper seat on the piano bench. When he rested his hands down on the keys, he was surprised to hear a pleasing chord sound out from beneath his fingers. His eyes went wide because his fingers seemed to move instinctively across the keys, like the music he was playing had been memorized by another person from another life sometime in the past.
He noticed that Amy’s mouth had gaped open wide when he finished playing the Christmas tune. Strangely, he didn’t even know its name.
“Lex, you know how to play. Will you teach me—please?”
Lex was still staring down at the keys in absolute shock. He did know how to play—didn’t he?
“Amy, I don’t even know how I did that,” he admitted, mystified as he gave her a side glance.
Holding his gaze, Amy covered her mouth with her hands.
“Let’s keep it a secret for now. Okay?” he asked.
“That depends.” Her look became sly. “You’re not going to leave. Right?”
Lex rolled his eyes.
“And you’ll stay through Christmas?”
Lex sighed. “I’ll stay through Christmas.”
They stood from the piano bench.
“It’s a good thing that you didn’t open the front door,” Amy admitted. “You would have set off the alarm, and not all of us know the code.”
“Amy,” he muttered as they made their way from the room. “How did you know that I was going to try to leave?”
“Dad thought you might a few weeks ago. But when I saw you loading up the granola bars when I went to help with the laundry this morning, I figured that today might be the day. Your bedroom is right above mine, and when I heard someone moving around tonight, I thought I’d come down here and get something to drink before I went back to bed.”
“Are you sure you’re only ten years old?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.
She giggled as she went scrambling through the hallway and up the back staircase, while Lex followed behind her.
Chapter Thirteen
It had been a close call, Amy thought to herself as she climbed back into bed a few minutes later. Lex had been looking so sad during the past few days. That’s why she’d dressed in shorts and a t-shirt rather than her pajamas. She’d nearly fallen asleep, thinking that she was mistaken after all about suspecting that Lex was planning on taking off after she’d seen him packing the protein bars earlier. Sure, they probably would have caught up with him right away because of the alarm, but it was better if Lex was able to decide for himself whether he really wanted to go.
It was amazing how he’d been able to just play the piano. Amy had never seen anything like it before. She wondered if he could play anything else besides the Christmas song that he had, likeJingle BellsorSilent Night.The song he’d played had been familiar but she wasn’t sure what it was called. It was one of the more old-fashioned songs that you usually heard when you went to a Christmas concert.
One moment, Amy was thinking about Christmas, and the next, she was sound asleep.
* * *
The following morning, Amy paused before she headed into the kitchen. Mom and Dad were having a conversation, so she decided to eavesdrop, as usual.
