In the Rain Read Online Free PDF Page B

soundboards.
    I
glanced at him, confused. "Okay, I get the keyboards and everything else,
but what's with the major sound system?"
    "You
really have been out of the loop, haven't you?" He released an exaggerated
sigh. "Long story short, I decided to cut out the middle man and produce
the albums myself. It's helped pay for most of this, so I must be doing
something right."
    I
stopped mid-sweep over the neck of a cello. "You're probably right. Problem
is, music hasn't been in my life very much since I got out of school."
    "But
you do remember how to play." It wasn't a question.
    "As
easy as riding
a bike, right?"
    "We
can hope so." He nodded at the stool in the middle of the room. "Why
not have a seat so we can get you set up."
    Doing
my best to ignore the nerves coiled in the pit of my stomach, I took a seat.
With Thayre so close to me, it was hard to concentrate on the note in front of
me instead of his near-silent breath. The dark ink on white paper blurred, and
I worked on removing the bit of dirt from under my fingernails. 
    Surrounded by instruments and walls
of glass, I was in all intents and purposes, at the very center of Thayre's
world. I didn't have to look at him to see he was watching me. He'd been
extremely attentive when I played so many years ago, I could imagine his vision
drifting from my face to my hands and back again.
    Come
on, Moyra, concentrate. You've played the violin a thousand times before. This
should be cake. I wet my lips and tried to familiarize
myself with anything that didn't
include Thayre.
    He
reached in front of me to grab the violin from its case, attached it to a cord,
then handed the instrument to me before stepping to the back of the room. Out
of site, but certainly not out of mind. Far from it.
    For
a moment, all I could do was breathe, feel the strings and soft wood under my
fingertips and try not to freak out under Thayre's gaze. He's watching. And
if he wasn't, he was listening. I swallowed hard as I traced the strings
on the violin, the curve of its neck, and finally, the bow which I held in my
hand. It had been so long since I'd touched my own violin that it
took me a few seconds to get comfortable with the weight of it.
    I
knew I was incapable of playing one of my own pieces, so I glanced at the music
sheets in front of me. Then, very gently, I dragged the bow across the middle
of the strings, and froze as the sound reverberated off the surrounding walls.
    "Jesus,
that’s
loud."
    Thayre
came around to face me, and his grin from earlier widened. "It’s a sound
system, what did you expect?" He pointed at the wire connected to the base
of the violin.
    "Won’t
your neighbors hear?" Do they mind?
    It
was past eleven by now. Surely they wouldn't appreciate getting woken up by
someone else’s music, no matter how beautiful the string of notes looked on the
page.
    He
knocked on the glass. "Soundproof. Come on, Moyra, give me a little credit.
As many nights as I lie awake with something stuck in my head, I had to make it
soundproof."
    "So,
you come in here a lot?"
    "All
the time—not just to
play either. The table there?" He pointed to it, and I couldn’t help
noticing the lights hanging above it. "I write most of my music in here,
and most times, it’s in the middle of the night. I can’t get to sleep until I
get the notes out."
    "Sounds
like what
I go through with writing."
    His
eyebrows jumped. "You write?"
    I
dropped my gaze and caressed the scroll of the violin, smiling at how smooth it
was beneath my fingertips. "A little.
I haven’t really shown anyone though. Poetry mostly."
    "I’ll
be damned. Any chance they could get turned into lyrics?"
    I
looked at him and laughed. "Can they be turned into lyrics? Really, you’re
going with that?"
    He
held up his hands. "Okay, okay. I get your point. Dumb question. So, are
you going to play, or what?"
    I
licked my lips and looked at the violin I had coveted for so long. It was in my
hands, and I was inside Thayre’s