I lifted my eyes slowly to his round face, momentarily confused about what he was asking me. But then I remembered the conversation from the night before and forced my mouth to form a smile as I said, “What would you like to hear?”
Mr. Hayes beamed. “Surprise me.”
I barely contained my grimace as I led the way from the dining room into the sitting room.
As I settled down before the piano, my heart thudding loudly against the cage of my ribs, I stared down at the keys. Would I remember how to play? It had felt like ages since I had played though it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks.
The first few notes were rusty as my fingers tried to remember their old strength, but soon enough, they were dancing across the keys as I played the well worn “Moonlight Sonata”. I felt myself fall in love again with playing, the old dream I had nurtured returning as I envisioned myself on stage with a large crowd before me.
But then the last notes faded, my hands went still, and the spell was broken.
Giving my head a little shake, I pushed roughly away from the piano, my heart aching for the girl I had once been who had wanted nothing more than to perform in concert halls all over the world. I thanked Mr. Hayes, who was applauding me loudly, and begged his pardon. I needed air.
My coat was halfway on, my hat in hand, when the telephone rang shrilly.
I briefly debated on letting Danielle answer, but it was ridiculous to let her. I was closer.
Lifting the receiver, I answered and heard Mimi on the other end.
“Is Hazel there?” Her voice had an odd quality to it, almost as if she was choking.
“It’s me,” I replied and she let out a loud sigh of relief.
“Look, Hazel, I’ve gotta ask—” She broke off and I heard someone talking softly in the background. I thought it was Leo, but since I barely knew him, I couldn’t be sure. Mimi quieted him then, after a brief shuffling, asked, “Can you meet me tonight at the Golden Sparrow? Please?”
“Mimi...” I sighed heavily. I knew that if her voice broke, even once, I wouldn’t be able to say no. I would need this conversation to end as quickly as possible if I wanted her to know that I was serious.
“Oh, Hazel, I know,” she said hurriedly. “I swear, I do. I know you don’t like Walt or that I’m with him. But even if I told you all of it, well, I doubt you’d understand or even believe me.”
“You’re right,” I said hotly. Anger seemed to be a better armor against her, so I used it. “I don’t understand anything at all about why you would want to be with someone like him.”
“If you come tonight, I’ll tell you everything,” Mimi went silent then, waiting with bated breath for my answer.
I felt my eyebrows rise with skepticism. Why couldn’t she just tell me now?
“I just need a friend tonight.” Her voice was small now, childlike in its pleading. “And Leo can’t be there, or else he’d come. But if Walt sees him...”
She didn’t need to finish her sentence for me to get an idea of exactly would happen to Leo.
“Come tonight and I promise I’ll never ask again,” Mimi went on. “Just tonight, Hazel, please.”
What resolve I had crumbled, just as it always did when it came to Mimi. She was my one weak spot and I was certain she knew it.
I bit my lower lip, shaking my head more to myself than to her. I couldn’t. I needed to stand firm. But when she pleaded again, her voice small, my resistance completely buckled and I exhaled vehemently.
“What time?” I expected to hear her usual squeal of delight, but when it didn’t come, a sense of foreboding washed over me. Something wasn’t right.
“Eight,” she answered, her tone solemn. “I’ll come by and get you, alright? And I’ll bring Frankie, too.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll need...” She trailed off and I heard her let out an annoyed huff of breath. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll meet us there. I’ll see you at eight.”
The line went dead and I slowly replaced the receiver, feeling slightly numb and more than a little confused.
Returning to the sitting room, I announced my plans with Mimi for the evening.
Mama looked up from her chair while Mr. Hayes, who had been staring down at the photograph of my father in his uniform, glanced around at my entrance.
“Sure,” she said. “Just don’t be out too late, alright? You’re going to need to look refreshed for tomorrow’s dinner.”
My brow furrowed in confusion.
“What’s tomorrow?”
Mama’s eyes went wide and even Mr. Hayes seemed surprised.
He turned to Mama and, in a stage whisper, said, “What child doesn’t know her own birthday?”
I stared blankly at him as realization suddenly dawned on me.
How on earth had I forgotten my own birthday? I suspected I had simply only been keeping track of what day of the week it was and not the date itself.
“Oh.” I was still struggling to hide my own surprise and I cleared my throat, feeling foolish and extremely self-conscious under their curious stares. “Right. I had just lost track of what day it was, that’s all.”
Mama didn’t look convinced, but she shrugged me off and Mr. Hayes turned back to examining the family photographs.
How odd, I thought as I turned away and moved almost mechanically to the stairs.
Once I was back up in my room, I allowed myself to worry over the fact that I didn’t even know that my birthday was tomorrow. How had I lost that much time? How had I not paid any attention at all to the days that were passing?
On a sigh, I sat down at my vanity and stared blankly at my reflection. No thoughts crossed my mind as I sat there. But when the sky began to darken, I spurred myself into action and got dressed. I even paid extra close attention to my makeup. For some reason, I wanted it to look perfect when Mimi saw me.
With ten minutes to go until Mimi came, I pushed myself to my feet and made my way down to the front door.
I heard my mother and Mr. Hayes in the sitting room, voices low as they talked. I didn’t even know what they had in common other than having lost their spouses. How had they even met? What had attracted them to one another?
I didn’t even know what was going on in Mama’s life anymore and it made me feel guilty to my core to realize that.
Turning away from the sitting room, I pulled on my coat and was reaching for the door handle when the doorbell rang.
Pulling the door open, I saw Mimi standing on the doorstep, an idling taxi behind her. I saw a figure beside the taxi move and, my heart skipping a beat, realized it was Frankie, his golden hair a beacon in the encroaching darkness.
“Hello,” Mimi said timidly, drawing my eyes back to her.
I considered her for a long moment until her expression turned worried then, without a word, I pulled her into a crushing embrace that she eagerly returned.
“I’ve missed you, Hazel,” Mimi said into my fur-lined coat collar.
Letting her go, smiling a little, I said, “Well, you are my best friend and it sounded as though you were in trouble.”
I didn’t miss the way Mimi’s eyes darted anxiously around the dimly lit street before she ushered me to the idling taxi.
When I came to stand beside Frankie, he offered me a shy smile and a soft “Hello” before opening the taxi door for Mimi and I.
I slid in next to Mimi and Frankie followed. I sat closer to Frankie, enjoying the electric feel of my body at our close proximity. I glanced up at him and his lips curved a little as the taxi made its way to the speakeasy.
Looking out the window beside Mimi, I slid my hand into Frankie’s and didn’t stop the smile that spread across my lips when he gave my hand a squeeze.
I returned the pressure but didn’t look back at him. My mind had already drifted back to the way Mimi had sounded when she had called earlier. Under the lights we passed, I saw Mimi’s brow creased with worry, her hands twisting anxiously in her lap as she stared out
of the window at the passing city.
She had said I was going to need Frankie with me. Why? Did that mean she wouldn’t be with us tonight? I suspected she would Basso, but would she be with him the whole night?
I wanted to ask her, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to spoil the night before it had begun.
When we finally pulled up to the Golden Sparrow, Mimi bolted out of the car and was waiting down by the door before Frankie had even straightened up.
He helped me out and, my hand still gripping his tightly, we followed Mimi.
She knocked on the door brusquely and it was swung obligingly open, engulfing us in loud conversation and jaunty music.
Making a beeline for our table, I hadn’t even settled down in a chair before Mimi was gone.
I nearly followed after her, worried for a moment that she was already leaving us for Basso. But Frankie put a hand on my arm, stopping me, and I kept my seat.
“She’s just getting our drinks,” he reassured me. “She’ll be right back.”
But I was shaking my head. “Something isn’t right, Frankie.”
To my surprise, he nodded in solemn agreement. “I know. I feel it, too.”
I drummed my fingers impatiently on the table, waiting for Mimi to return.
“She called me this afternoon,” I told Frankie after a few minutes of silence. “She begged me to come out tonight and her voice... she didn’t sound right.”
“She was waiting for me outside the factory this afternoon,” he said and I looked at him in surprise. “Liam and Connor were surprised, but they let us talk. She didn’t say much, only said you’d be here tonight and would I please come.”
“Mimi went to your job just to ask you to come out tonight?” My brow knitted together in puzzlement.
“I’ve never seen her like this,” he confessed.
I turned back towards the bar in time to see Mimi emerge from the crowds, drinks in hand.
“Me either.”
Before she could reach us, however, she was waylaid by a man I was beginning to think was the owner. His gleaming black hair and olive skin was difficult to forget. And judging by the dark expression on Frankie’s face, my assumptions were right.
The man caught Mimi’s upper arm and her mouth opened in a cry of frustration that I couldn’t hear but imagined that she was berating him for nearly spilling the drinks. The man clearly didn’t care and held on to her until she bobbed her head.
I saw her mouth form the word “Fine” and he promptly released her. He glanced briefly over his shoulder and his eyes locked on mine. I froze as he smirked at me. And then he was turning away and Mimi was returning, her face pale.
Her hands were trembling slightly as she set the drinks down, but she forced her voice to be cheerful as she passed us our drinks.
“Sidecar for you,” she said as I took my drink. Then her nose wrinkled as she handed Frankie his. “And this disgusting nonsense for you.”
Frankie chuckled as he took his drink. “It’s only whiskey.”
Mimi rolled her eyes and settled down beside me, but she didn’t drink. Her legs were jiggling under the table and she was tapping her fingers in agitation.
I scanned the crowd until I spotted Basso sitting at a booth with a group of other well-dressed men. He had a glass in his hand, a ring glinting on his pinky finger, but he wasn’t talking. He was only sipping and listening, his eyes occasionally roving over the club and its patrons.
For the second time that night, his eyes landed on me and stayed there. I felt my face turn red but I found that I could not look away.
His lips quirked in a smirk and he lifted his glass subtly to me and, finally, I tore my gaze away just as Mimi shot to her feet.
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
Mimi didn’t answer. She only drank her sidecar in a few gulps then vanished into the crowds that had moved to obscure Basso and his table.
“Do you think we’ll see her again tonight?” I heard myself as, my eyes lingering on the last spot I had seen her.
“It’s hard to say,” Frankie said. “She never leaves with us any other time.”
“But it’s different this time,” I pointed out. “Leo isn’t here and I know she’s going to be doing something with that Basso fellow.”
“Right.”
Frankie fell silent and I turned my attention to my drink, my thoughts still on Mimi.
Lifting my eyes a few minutes later to the table I seen Basso sitting at, I wasn’t too surprised to find it empty. Mimi was no where to be found, either, which only solidified my suspicions that she had gone with Basso somewhere. I hoped I would see her again before we left. I was only there because she had begged me to come, after all. It seemed unfair of her to abandon me after inviting me out.
But I had Frankie, I reminded myself. I subtly glanced at him and found him tapping his fingers in time of the music, humming quietly to himself.
There was something about him, I thought as my eyes traced the curve of his neck and memorized the way his eyes lit up when a song he knew played. His hair seemed to have been spun with gold in the way it shone under the lights. He was warm and kind and seemed to have a curious pull that drew me to him. I liked being near him, I liked to watch him laugh. I liked the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled and how he seemed to be a completely different person when he was on stage.
He must have felt my gaze on him because he turned to me expectantly and I looked away quickly but not fast enough to see his cheeks turn pink.
“Do you wanna dance?” he asked me and I looked back, a smile tugging at my lips.
“Sure.”
With my hand in his, he led me towards the other dancing couples just as a new song started up.
His arms tightened around me briefly before he spun me around suddenly then quickly pulled me back in so that there was only an inch of space between us. I tilted my head back expectantly, a ghost of a smile on my lips as Frankie closed the distance between us, his lips brushing lightly over mine, as if asking permission. In response, I moved my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
If I could have spent eternity in his arms, it wouldn’t have been long enough.
I could feel his heart beating through his shirt, almost mirroring mine. It drew a smile to my lips as I pressed them against his.
Frankie deepened the kiss and pulled me so close that there was no space between us anymore.
One of his hands moved up to cup my cheek while the other rested softly against my waist. His touch seemed to burn through the fabric of my dress and the sensation awoke something in me that made me feel as though I could never be close enough to Frankie.
Finally, Frankie pulled away and I slowly opened my eyes to see him staring dazedly down at me, a small smile curving his lips.
Letting out a tiny, self-conscious laugh, I turned away and led the way back to our table, his hand grasped tightly in mine.
I had only taken my seat for a brief moment when I spotted Mimi’s dark head weaving hastily through the crowd. I caught a glimpse of her face and was shocked to her looking so unhinged.
She was paler than usual, her eyes wide and glassy. She was moving jerkily, pushing and shoving people out of the way and ignoring their shouts of annoyance.
Knowing that something was seriously wrong, I shot to my feet, which drew a question out of Frankie, who had just settled down into his seat.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his glass halfway to his lips.
“Something’s wrong,” I said, my voice sounding flat and distant even to my own ears. “Something’s wrong with Mimi.”
My eyes moved to the crowd when Mimi reached the door. She was running from something or someone and I wanted to see who.
A man with lanky, greasy hair was hot on her heels, forcing his way through already disgruntled patrons after Mimi.
I knew him, I realized with a jolt. I had seen him before when Mimi took us all over Lower Manhattan several weeks ago. He w
as after her.
“We need to follow her,” I announced, my voice calm though fear was rippling through me, nearly paralyzing me. But I needed to move. I needed to reach Mimi before that man did. “Now.”
Without bothering to see if Frankie was following me, I cut quickly through the crowd to the door, reaching it mere seconds after the greasy man. To my relief, Frankie was right behind me, his hand just touching my lower back to let me know he was there.
The man at the door looked at us expectantly. “Your coats—?” he asked, but Frankie and I ignored him and the chilly evening as we rushed out of the club and up the stairs to the street above.
Terror choked me when I heard Mimi let out a startled shout.
“There,” I said, pointing towards a dark alley beside the club and Frankie nodded seriously. “She’s there.”
It was getting harder to breathe. I was shaking with fear all over, my feet moving me forward while my mind was telling me that I didn’t want to see. I did not want to know what was happening to her.
“Frankie,” I urged, my voice rising with the panic when Mimi let out an angry shout.
“He sent you?” I heard Mimi say as I neared the black gap she had vanished down. “You, of all people?”
If there was a response, I didn’t hear it.
I made to step into the darkness, but Frankie stopped me.
“Don’t,” he said, his voice hard.
He wasn’t looking at me. He was staring at the alley and he looked as if he was waiting for something.
But I shook my head and pulled free just as Mimi let out a bloodcurdling scream. It pierced my heart and froze me in place at the mouth of the alley.
It was cut off abruptly and I felt my knees knock against one another as dread overwhelmed me.
“Mimi,” I breathed and had taken another step towards her when someone suddenly bumped roughly into my shoulder, sending me tumbling to the ground.
I caught a glimpse of his dark, greasy hair before Frankie was there, pulling me back onto my feet.
The Golden Sparrow Page 13
