Hearts Entwined

by Gray, Khardine

  "It's gone now," she said nonchalantly. To regain her composure, she looked away and resumed eating her ice cream. When she was finished she'd go to bed. Clearly, she was tired. Very tired.

  She'd slept on the plane but the time difference was throwing her off her game. Evie was certain Gage would have managed to clean his face himself. He didn't need her practically pampering him.

  "Thanks." He was still looking at her even though she was staring ahead at the reception desk. "So hey, you didn't tell me what you were working on. Sounded interesting."

  She looked back to him and saw that he'd straightened up and seemed quite interested.

  "It's about water," she replied. "It's called Water Notes."

  "Water?" he narrowed his eyes not quite understanding.

  "Yeah."

  When she thought about how she composed her music, it made sense in her head, but usually when she tried to explain it to someone else they never quite understood what she was saying and ended up looking at her like she was crazy. Lucy was the only person who got her, and understood her completely.

  The way that Evie's talent worked was that she actually saw music in objects and things around her. It was even more intense when she felt inspired or strongly about something. Her emotions would transpire into music.

  It was why she played so well and could write music effortlessly. For her, her violin was a living thing that translated what she saw into what it sounded like. It was a part of her soul.

  "Okay, you have to explain." The corners of his mouth lifted into an easy smile.

  "When I look at something I can see and hear it in the form of music. My piece is about how water sounds." That probably didn't offer the best explanation because everyone knew how water sounded, and it generally tended to sound the same to everyone. "It's about how water sounds to me, and the way it changes. Water is transparent, but you can see it, it flows and goes wherever it wants. It's safe when you can control it, but dangerous when you can't." Maybe that was a little better. When she spoke to Lucy, she would have explained more about what musical notes she saw.

  He was listening though, really listening. "You can come up with a whole composition from that?"

  She nodded. "Yeah."

  "Is that how most musicians create music?"

  She shrugged. Lucy always said she had a special gift. A very special gift that would undoubtedly take her places. She was so right.

  "I can't say that they do, and I can't say that they don't. For me when I look at anything, doesn't matter what it is I see and hear it as a musical note. Sometimes the world sounds like one big orchestra to me."

  "That's real impressive Evie. I've never of heard that before."

  It was weird she supposed, but that's how she'd done it from as far back as she could remember. "Maybe because it sounds crazy."

  "No, it doesn't." He did look impressed. "Can you do it now?" He asked.

  Her brain was always doing it. She just wasn't paying it any attention. She nodded and smiled.

  "What can you hear?" He looked around them looking like he was trying to listen.

  She pulled in a slow breath and listened. As he shifted on the sofa, his movement against the leather sounded like a swish. For her, that was a treble clef middle C whole note. When the door opened outside of the lobby and someone came in, she heard a whole melody. E sharp, A, B, E, C all as quavers and if someone were singing it they'd be singing as a tenor.

  "Evie," he prodded, she smiled at him.

  "I'd have to play it for you, or sing."

  "Then sing." He said quickly like he was eager to hear what was going on in her head.

  "I am not singing for you." No way. Yes, she loved to sing, but for her that was too intimate to share. That was why she hummed when she was composing.

  "Why not?"

  "Because I only just started talking to you. It's like we just met," she chuckled.

  He frowned at her. "Like hell, we didn't just meet. We've known each other since we were kids. Come on sing."

  She shook her head. "I can't, but... maybe I will one day." She made a show of finishing off the rest of her ice cream and gesturing that her mouth was full.

  "You're torturing me," he huffed.

  She laughed and rested her head against the soft leather of the sofa. "I said maybe one day. That should give you some hope."

  "Alright, Miss Evie." He bit the inside of his lip.

  Miss Evie. He'd taken to calling her that the other night. At first, she was annoyed, but now she supposed it didn't seem so bad.

  "What about you?" They hadn't spoken about him at all.

  "Me, what me?"

  "How's football?"

  He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. "Oh, we're doing that are we? You share, then I share." The irresistibly devastating grin on his face drew her attention to his sensual lips.

  "I guess," she replied. He appeared genuinely interested in her music, so it seemed only right that she try to gather some interest for football. She hated the sport, hated anything like that where there could be potential violence and body clashing. In football there always was. "So how is it?"

  He thought for a moment, and a hesitant expression filled his face. "It's different to what it used to be." There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

  "Don't you like it anymore?" It would be odd if he didn't. She was sure he was just as obsessed with the sport as she was with her music.

  "Oh yeah, it's not that. I guess um..." he bit the inside of his lip, looked away and then continued. "It's been different since my accident."

  Evie knew that he'd been in a car accident, but she didn't know the details. When it happened, despite their differences, all she was concerned with was that he was okay. When she heard he was and didn't suffer any injuries she kind of dismissed it in her mind. However, from the look on his face, there seemed to be perhaps more to what had happened.

  "Is it from an injury?" Maybe he was more injured than what Lucy had told her. Lucy had a habit of not wanting to worry her, so she held back sometimes on details.

  "No... I was the only one to walk away from the accident with nothing wrong with me. There was three of us in that car. The driver was one of my best friends. He died instantly. The other is paralyzed for life. They were both wide receivers on the team. It's hard for me to play when they can't. The game's different."

  Evie froze, mind and body numb at the thought. She was speechless. She didn't realize it was a serious accident like that, or that anyone had died. "I didn't know that happened." It was classical Lucy to avoid telling her. Telling her all the details would have let on to the severity. "I'm so sorry."

  He nodded and offered a small smile. "It's okay, and thanks."

  There was only a mouthful left of his ice cream, but he threw it in the side bin next to the sofa. "I guess it made me think of my parents as well. It was similar circumstances."

  That didn't even cross her mind. What happened to his parents was extremely sad. They'd had a head on collision with a drunk driver. She never knew them, but had heard many good things about them from Lucy. She'd been told so many things that sometimes she felt like she knew them. Evie felt bad that she hadn't considered that the recent accident would have brought up painful memories for him.

  "But, hey. These things happen I guess." Although he tried to brush it off, she could see the sadness in his eyes.

  "I am truly sorry." She offered again.

  This time when he smiled the spark returned to his eyes. "It's all fine. I guess other than all that, football is fine. I do a lot of charity work now too."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah. Training takes up a lot of my time, so I can't commit to anything like climbing Kilimanjaro or Everest." He chuckled. "So I tap into other things like bungee jumping, skydiving, and last month I swam with sharks."

  She brought her hands to her cheeks at the frightening thought of that. "What? That's crazy."

  She loved looking at the sea, and s
he might venture into the shallow by the shore, but that was it. Sharks terrified her to no end. One of her friend's cousin's got bitten by a hammerhead shark. It took their leg off completely. She couldn't imagine swimming with the dreadful things.

  "I know, but it was supposed to fund a whole water system for a village in Indonesia. The whole thing was going to cost at least a million dollars."

  "I can't believe you did that." She squirmed. "Weren't you scared?"

  "A little."

  She rested her head against the sofa again and hugged her knees to her chest, getting comfortable as she listened to him.

  He really had changed a lot. That in itself was a good thing, and she supposed that it would be easier, if only for Lucy's sake to try to get on.

  Chapter 5

  It was the sound of people moving around that woke Gage up. He shuffled against the pain in his back from the awkward position he'd placed himself in on the sofa.

  He sat up and looked over at Evie. She was curled up on the other end looking smaller than she was, almost childlike. Her ponytail rested on her chest and ran down to the edge of her waist.

  He didn't want to wake her, but from the movement around them, he could tell they'd have company soon. It was also beginning to brighten up outside. He looked at his phone and saw it was just after five. He imagined that the reception and housekeeping staff would soon begin to fill the area.

  "Evie." He moved closer and shook her arm gently. He tried to speak softly so he wouldn't startle her.

  She shuffled and stirred then opened her eyes gradually. When she saw him she looked confused, but then her expression softened, and the beginning of a smile tipped the corners of her mouth.

  "Gage, what... oh no." She looked about and saw they were still in the lobby. "I fell asleep. I'm so sorry, please don't tell me I fell asleep when you were telling me something important. I remember sharks, swimming with sharks. Not good." She wrinkled her nose, and even that didn't take away from her beauty.

  He shook his head. "No. It's possible I fell asleep talking." She giggled, and there was that feeling again. That spark of excitement that flickered within him. "I think I started talking about chewing gum, so you didn't miss much."

  She laughed again.

  "I didn't get to sleep in my beautiful room." She yawned, stretching her slender arms up.

  "It's still early. Why don't you go finish sleeping, and I'll come and get you later."

  She smiled at that. "Thank you." She picked up her little bag and shawl. "Gage." She looked at him with a gentleness he hadn't seen before.

  "Yes, Miss Evie." He smiled.

  She giggled at that. "I had a really good time last night."

  "Me too."

  "See you tomorrow. Or today," she sighed. "I'll see you later." There was a warmth in her smile that echoed in her voice. With that, she left.

  Gage made his way to his room which was in opposite direction. Instead of going to sleep he spent the time going over the route and making the booking for a villa. He decided on a nice villa because there was a chance they'd be there for a good few days. Hotels were great, but he preferred somewhere homelier for longer stays. He also thought his grandmother and Evie would both be happy with what he selected.

  Since he had time, he got on with the task of looking for the contact numbers that matched the sister's names.

  Five minutes into his search made his heart sink. There were just over eight hundred Vanessa Rossi's and two hundred Anna Romano's who lived in Tuscany. Add that to the amount of Angelo's listed and they would totally have their work fully cut for them. They were most assuredly going to be in Italy for more than a week.

  Gage quickly made a spreadsheet, adding all the contacts and then he took a selection of two thousand from the Angelo's listed and did the same. He decided he'd focus on that list.

  His grandmother's face fell when he told her about the number of people they had to contact. He thought he should make her aware of the situation, although he was by no means suggesting they give up.

  "It will be like looking for a needle in a haystack." She sighed resting her elbows on the dressing table.

  "But at least we have a place to look in."

  "Gage. I can see you're trying, but this is going to be hard isn't it? I don't want you doing anything that will take you away from your training."

  He knew she was concerned about his training because of how important it had always been to him, but he didn't want her to even think about that. Gage pulled up one of the chairs and sat in front of her. "Don't worry about my training. I don't want you to stress out about anything." He looked at her, observing her weak demeanor.

  As he'd talked to Evie last night, one significant thing stood out to him. They'd talked a lot about different things but she never once mentioned his grandmother's illness. Knowing how much Evie cared about her, Gage could only assume that it was because she didn't know about it.

  "You haven't told Evie have you?" he asked with care. It was a very delicate, sensitive subject.

  "Haven't told her what?" She looked away and picked up her hair brush.

  "You know what?"

  She turned back to him. "Gage, you know how I feel about that."

  He clasped his hands together and stared at her. She'd made her thoughts very clear on how she felt about the tumor in her brain. The tumor she took tablets for, to stop it from getting any bigger. To stop it from spreading and eventually taking her life. Taking her life from her, taking her life from him. He dared not think too much about it. He dared not, or it would destroy him.

  She covered his hands with hers and held onto him. "I can't tell her. I've wanted to, but I can't. Not yet. She won't understand."

  "Or, maybe she will." He offered thinking about the way Evie described her love for music.

  His grandmother was told she had a ten percent chance of having the tumor removed successfully without repercussions. The repercussions being she'd lose function of a sufficient part of her brain, mostly the part that allowed her to play the violin, remember her music and compose. Everything that governed her creativity would be damaged. Removed. She'd also need care for the rest of her life.

  She said she didn't want to live like that.

  The doctors told her if she were lucky she'd have another ten years if she did nothing and let it take her. However, she could have a greater life expectancy if she had the surgery. Her response at the time was, "I'm eighty-eight. Ten more years sounds great to me."

  She flat out refused the surgery. He could imagine Evie doing the same if she were faced with such a decision. Just listening to her last night made him think that. It was mesmerizing to hear how her brain worked. It reminded him of one of those TV shows that featured amazing creative people. He'd never heard anyone describe anything the way she had.

  "I'll tell her when the time is right." His grandmother assured him. "Can we please just cross this bridge first? I just want to find Angelo. That is all I want right now." Her voice withered.

  "Okay." He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "I'll go get Evie. Let's be ready to leave in an hour."

  "I appreciate you Gage." He saw the wealth of her appreciation in her light blue eyes that were heavy with worry. "I really do."

  He knew she did. He leaned over and kissed her forehead before he got up to go.

  As the doors leading to the balcony were opened, he went that way to Evie's room hoping she'd be outside. She wasn't, but her door was slightly ajar. He knocked before he went inside and just as he was about to turn the corner to the bed an earth shattering scream pierced his ears.

  "Evie." He cried rushing in.

  Gage stopped sharply and felt his mouth drop as he beheld Evie standing on the chest of drawers wearing nothing but what she could pull around her from the short curtains at the window. He was too enthralled by the sight to do anything else but stare. She reminded him of that statue of Venus standing in a seashell covering her breasts and her privates. Except, Evie was real, and
the statue of Venus had nothing on her. Gage's eyes were glued to the perfection of what he could see.

  Sun-kissed, golden skin with an allure of satin glistened against the sunshine. Lust burned in his brain, and he could think of nothing else but admiring her magnificent, perfect body. She was flawless. His eyes trailed up from her thin legs to her shapely thighs of smooth skin and up to what he could see of her voluptuous breasts. The curtain was covering all the good parts.

  "Gage please. Get rid of them." She screamed trying to move into the wall.

  He didn't know what she was talking about.

  "Gage please come and get me."

  He tensed. That was a bad idea. He most definitely shouldn't go any closer. In fact, he should leave.

  "Evie -" something bounced around on the floor, or a few somethings. He could see them now. Lizards, at least three or four of them.

  "Gage help me."

  Oh no, this was just like that time with the frogs. Except this wasn't her back garden, and she wasn't nine years old. She was a beautiful thirty-three-year-old woman who he couldn't take his eyes off.

  She'd asked for his help then too but he'd ran off and left her to cry for what he was told was hours. It was best for him to leave now too but he wouldn't be leaving for the same malicious, vindictive reason he left years ago.

  She screamed again, bringing him back to the present. She was holding the curtain closer to her and stretched out her other hand towards him, her eyes pleading for him to help.

  Unlike that time years ago he couldn't just run off and leave her, especially not after last night when he seemed to get so far with her. He moved closer and got right to the area before her where the pesky lizards danced. They were only about an inch or two tall but none the less terrifying for Evie.

  "Gage get rid of them. They came in on me in the shower. I hate those things." Tears were actually streaming down her cheeks, and it made him feel bad for her. "Look, they're just awful, the beady eyes and scaly skin ahhhh." She screamed at the sight of another lizard skittering in from the bathroom. This one was bright green, a lot bigger, and made poor Evie shriek as if something was physically happening to her.