“Yes,” Emily said and meant it. She would spend years, if she had to, teaching this girl anything to help her get past whatever it was that had hurt her so badly.
By the time everyone cleared out and Emily looked toward the door at the back of the room, Salem was gone and she felt the loss like an ache.
At home, she sat in her bedroom and composed a letter to post on her Facebook page, knowing that everyone she had worked with over the years would see it.
She had done good work this morning in getting rid of those old demons, but what about Jean-Marc and his character assassination of her? She couldn’t let that continue without fighting back.
She had helped Aiyana, but it was time to take care of herself.
The resolution to the prayer book problem was on hold until she heard from Arthur, but she could respond to Jean-Marc through social media.
No more hiding her head in the sand as she had done in high school; no more dealing with it all alone. She had a hunch, a strong hunch, that once she responded to him, others would support her. She had treated their colleagues well while Jean-Marc had been his arrogant and opinionated self.
When she opened her page, she found that her friends had already been online defending her. It gave her strength. Not all of her colleagues had spoken up, though. Jean-Marc was their boss, after all.
She wrote from the heart, about her integrity, honesty and her moral character, which her colleagues had all witnessed over the years.
“In closing, I would like to thank all of you for your friendship and professional support throughout my career. I am leaving archeology with a heavy heart, but with excitement for the future, and very much looking forward to the new direction my life will take.”
And what direction will that be?
I just don’t know.
“Emily?” Pearl called up from the bottom of the stairs.
“Yes?”
“I just made a pot of tea and I have chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven in one minute.”
“I’ll be right down.”
She clicked the mouse to post her entry, sending it out into the world like a bird of peace, hoping to put an end to this whole crazy problem.
Downstairs she sat at the table where her sister had already put out two cups of tea. Pearl placed a plate of cookies onto the table.
“Those smell heavenly.”
“How was the event at school this morning?”
Emily had never told Pearl what had happened in high school—she had been only a toddler at the time—but now she shared that feeling of freedom, of having let go of the past, and Pearl smiled. Emily talked about the music and the resounding enthusiasm from the kids, about how many of them asked her to teach them how to play.
“There it is then,” Pearl said.
“There what is?”
“What you are meant to do next, of course.”
“What?”
Pearl looked at her as though she were dense. “The next stage in your life is to teach music. You certainly studied it enough when you were in high school.”
Yes, she had.
Even so, teaching music? She had never considered it, but as she did now, a warm glow filled her from her heart out. Yes. It felt right. More than right. It felt perfect.
She stood and rounded the table to hug her sister. “You’re a genius.”
“Of course I am.”
Emily burst out laughing and couldn’t stop.
* * *
SALEM SLIPPED HOME briefly to change for his dinner meeting in Denver with his adviser. The man had gone above and beyond at times to make sure Salem excelled.
He donned a fresh dress shirt and his black dress pants.
“Dad?” Aiyana stood in his bedroom doorway. She still glowed from her successful day at school. Emily had done wonders for her. So how was he supposed to reconcile the godsend with the woman who would eventually leave, breaking his daughter’s heart?
And yours.
Yeah, and mine.
“I saw you at the back of class today. What did you think of Emily?”
“She was really good.” She was amazing, a genius peddling transcendent music beautifully played.
“I thought she was incredible. I want to study a musical instrument.”
“You do? Good.” He filled his pockets with his wallet and keys then combed his hair and braided it. “Which one?”
“I’m not sure. Probably violin. I want to talk to Emily before I decide.”
“She can advise you, I would imagine.”
“So...can I buy something?”
“Why don’t you decide what you want to learn, then rent until we know for sure that’s what you really want?” She clattered down the stairs behind him. “If it is, then yes, we can buy you a musical instrument.”
At the front door, she threw her arms around him then pulled away too soon, but beamed a glorious smile of happiness. Would wonders never cease?
“Dad? There’s something else.”
“Yes?”
“Can I invite Emily to my birthday party tomorrow night?”
Thinking of how heavily Aiyana was starting to lean on Emily, and how devastated she’d be when that inevitable break finally came, Salem said, “No.” Emily could advise Aiyana about musical instruments, but he wouldn’t encourage any more interaction between them than that.
Aiyana stared at him with her mouth open. “But she helped me through all of that awfulness with Justin. She was amazing. You asked her to help.”
The first time, yes.
She was amazing, passionate and inventive, so far into the music today she probably had no idea how much of her soul shone through while she’d played. But he didn’t want Aiyana shattered when she left. And Emily would leave. No doubt about it. They’d been through this too many times over the years.
“She got her brother to help me at school, too,” Aiyana reminded him.
She helped you with Aiyana, when you were desperate, and now you want to deny Aiyana a deepening friendship with her.
Yeah, she did, but the crisis is past. Aiyana’s fine now and Emily can only hurt her.
“So, why can’t I have her over?” Aiyana persisted. “I don’t have that many friends, Dad.”
No, she didn’t, but he wished she could have only the best of friends, not someone who wasn’t likely to be here tomorrow.
“I know, but I’d rather you hang out with your peers.”
“But I’m more comfortable with adults than with kids my age. I always have been.”
True. She’d always been remarkably mature, when she wasn’t having adolescent mopes, though he was beginning to understand those more now. High school was a tough place. She would probably make the bulk of her friends in college, when others grew up a bit more. “Emily probably wouldn’t want to come to a teenager’s party,” he extemporized.
“How do you know if you don’t ask her?”
“I don’t want to embarrass her if she doesn’t know how to say no.”
“She seems like a person who could say what she means.”
Yes, she was. Salem caught his dad watching him from the doorway of the kitchen with a steely glint in his eye. Unless Salem missed his guess, he was going to get an earful later. His dad had always liked Emily.
“You’re no fun,” Aiyana muttered.
“Hey,” Salem said. “Don’t talk to me like that.” In the blink of an eye, he’d gone from her hero to the worst dad on earth.
She stomped up the stairs, every heavy footfall a rebuke.
The second she turned twenty and stopped being a teenager, Salem was going to drop to his knees and thank the Powers That Be. That thought sobered him. She was already growing up too quickly. He didn’t want t
hese years flying any faster than they already were.
“That went well,” his father, master of understatement, said.
* * *
DEAD TIRED BECAUSE his dinner with his adviser had gone late last night, and everything that could go wrong at work today had, Salem came home wanting nothing more than a hot shower, a quiet evening and an early bedtime.
He opened the front door of the house...into a wall of sound. Music blared from the living room, along with the worst caterwauling he’d ever heard.
God, no. Aiyana and Mika were singing. They were beautiful girls, smart and hardworking, but they couldn’t sing worth a damn. Who on earth was encouraging this? Their grandfather? He couldn’t stand their voices, either.
Along with the music and singing, laughter emanated from the living room. Then he remembered and his heart sank. In the chaos of the week, he’d lost track of his days. Today was Aiyana’s birthday party. It was going to be a long night.
Even so, Aiyana deserved her fun, especially after this tough week.
He forced a smile and entered the room, only to stop dead. At the center of all the havoc stood Emily.
Figures. It had to be Emily. She creates chaos everywhere she goes.
Aiyana stood beside her sister with a microphone in her hand. When she saw him, she faltered in her singing, but, expression defiant, started up again as if to say, What are you going to do now, Dad? Kick Emily out of the house?
She knew he wouldn’t. Salem was many things, but he wasn’t rude.
When the song ended, he managed to keep his cool and kiss Aiyana on the cheek. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
Despite her defiance, her smile looked hesitant.
He dug deeply for as much goodwill as he could muster and said, “I didn’t know you planned karaoke.” He hated the stuff.
“It was Emily’s idea. She bought the machine for my birthday present. Isn’t it great?” Salem suppressed a groan. The machine was staying?
Aiyana introduced her guests. “You already know Alyx. She just got back from vacation with her parents. I missed her.”
Yes, Alyxandra could have helped her at school this week. “Where did you go?” he asked.
“The Grand Canyon. Dad always takes me out of school early for our trips. He hates traveling in the summer heat.”
“Say hello to him for me.”
Aiyana gestured toward a pretty girl sitting on the couch. “This is Sophia Colantonio. Her family owns Tonio’s. She’s going to teach me how to make Italian dishes.”
The girl stood and shook his hand. Nice manners. He liked Sophia right away. He hoped Aiyana would keep this friendship. Italian food, though?
“She brought homemade lasagna for supper.”
Salem murmured politely. What was wrong with the food they always ate? Roast chicken and mashed potatoes. Fried pork chops and green beans. In late summer, early fall, they ate a lot of Three Sisters—squash, corn and beans. His dad was a good cook. Why did they need to change? They’d bought frozen lasagna in the past. It was only okay.
“What song do you want to do next?” Aiyana asked Mika. “Emily, you join in, too, this time.”
“Love to.” She squeezed in between them. “I brought a ’50s and ’60s CD. You guys ever hear of the Supremes?”
“I don’t know. Put on something.”
The second Emily put on “Stop! In the Name of Love,” Salem recognized it. It was long, long before his time, and Emily’s, too.
“I’ll teach you the movements,” Emily shouted above the blaring music then sang the opening verse. At least she had a good voice. The second his girls learned the chorus, though, they’d be belting it out. He didn’t want to be in the room when that happened.
Salem hunted down his father in the kitchen, a headache pounding at his forehead.
Dad stood at the counter preparing birthday food with big wads of white tissue sticking out of his ears.
“You look like a demented rabbit,” Salem said.
“What?”
Salem removed the tissue and tossed it into the garbage. “How’s it going, wascally wabbit?” He got a beer out of the fridge. “I can’t hear myself think over all of that racket.”
His dad grinned. “Nice to hear the music and the girls laughing, eh? Even if their screeching is hard on the ears, the laughter is good.”
“Music’s too loud, though.”
“You’re only thirty-seven and already you’re an old man!”
Was that true? Just because he liked peace and quiet did that make him boring? Had he become a stick-in-the-mud? Annie used to tell him he was too uptight. That was usually when she was high on whatever drug she could manage to score in Accord. In his disgust at her behavior, he hadn’t taken her seriously. Had it been true? Was he too uptight?
A song by Justin Bieber, Mika’s current favorite, followed the Supremes. Mika sang it alone. Oh, his aching eardrums.
Dinner turned out to be an adventure. Salem tried the lasagna and loved it. “Sophia, I’ve had frozen lasagna before—” the look of horror on her face made him laugh “—but this is awesome.”
“Never, ever eat frozen again. I’ll teach Aiyana how to make it from scratch. It isn’t hard, just time-consuming.”
Alyx had brought souvlaki made by her dad. “What’s in this?” He pointed to the dollop of white cream with green bits in it that he’d put on his plate beside the meat.
“That’s called tzatziki.”
“Zat what?”
“Tzatziki. It’s yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic and mint. Put it on the lamb. It’s delicious.”
Lamb? He’d never eaten it before in his life. He put a dab on a piece of meat and ate it. “You’re right,” he conceded. “It is delicious.”
Things went well until they started up the music again after dinner and Salem’s headache shot into his temples. When he carried dishes to the kitchen, Emily followed. Damn.
He didn’t want to see her, didn’t want to talk to her, didn’t want to have anything to do with her. His rational mind couldn’t stop the emotional part that thought she was stealing his daughter’s affections.
Her elbow brushed his arm as she passed him and he recoiled. His body liked her touch too much. Always had.
She noticed his withdrawal. How could she not? “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He tried to keep his voice neutral, but disapproval bled through.
Emily dropped a bunch of cutlery into the sink where it clattered. She pointed at his face. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make that face.”
He wasn’t making a face. “What face?”
“That human sphinx thing you do. It drives me nuts.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Exactly.”
“You’re not making sense.”
“I’m making perfect sense. Whenever you have to deal with the slightest emotion, you close up tighter than a clam’s ass.”
He knew the punch line. And that’s watertight.
“So what?”
“So, you can’t go giving me dirty looks without telling me why.”
He hadn’t hidden his displeasure very well. “You should know.”
“Should know what? Am I supposed to be able to read your mind?”
Emily would be gone soon and he would be left to pick up the pieces, but he wouldn’t discuss it here. He refused to ruin Aiyana’s party.
When would it end? It was already after nine. “Shouldn’t the company be going home soon?”
Emily slid him a sidelong look. “Seriously? Even for a weeknight it’s still early. Have you turned into a monk, Salem?”
“No,” he shot back. “It’s just noisy.�
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“If you won’t tell me why you’re mad at me, I’m going to go have fun.” Over her shoulder, she tossed, “You can go to bed, old man. The youngsters plan to party until dawn.”
Another one calling him old man. First his father, now Emily. He wasn’t a stick-in-the-mud. He wasn’t.
The party ended by eleven. Blessed peace and quiet.
Salem hugged his daughter. “Happy?”
“I had an amazing party. Emily’s so much fun.”
He didn’t want to talk about Emily. “I can’t believe you’re sixteen. Seems it was only a year ago you were spitting up milk on my shoulder and filling your diapers with disgusting crap.”
“Dad!” Aiyana giggled.
“Come on upstairs and I’ll give you your present.”
He’d bought her a dress and hoped she liked it. What did he know about clothing for teenagers?
She waited for him in her bedroom, where he placed the box in front of her on the bed.
When she opened it, she exclaimed, “Oh, Dad, I love it.”
That one simple sentence warmed him clear through to his heart. “I’m glad.” Damned if he didn’t feel teary.
He’d kept it simple with black. A sheath, the lady in the shop in Denver had called it. He thought those were things you kept knives in, but apparently they were also a style of dress. He had bought an adult dress for her. After all, she was becoming a woman.
“Can I try it on?”
“Of course. It’s yours.”
He left the room and sat on his bed in his room. A minute later, she came in wearing the dress with a pair of flat velvet shoes, and his heart expanded. His daughter was a young woman. Cripes, his eyes were misting again.
“I love it,” Aiyana said softly. “Thank you for not buying me a children’s dress.”
He thought of those children’s toothbrushes he’d bought far longer than he should have. About time he got something right.
“We’re not finished yet.” He retrieved a small jewelry box from the drawer of his bedside table, where he’d hidden it. “Put this on.”
She opened it and gasped. “Is it real?”
“Yes.” He’d bought a necklace with a single diamond in a white gold setting.
Always Emily Page 13
