The Christmas Sweets by Regina Duke

Author:Regina Duke [Duke, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary romance
Publisher: RD Books
Published: 2019-04-15T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

Tatum smiled. “I never thought of it that way.” She marveled at what a sweet man Braydon was. She sat down at the piano and let her fingers drift over the keys. They seemed to want to play “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and she let them take over.

Jake’s voice startled her. “You close your eyes when you play.”

Tatum turned to him. “You will, too, someday. Your fingers will make friends with the keys and you won’t even have to look at the music.”

Braydon leaned an elbow on top of the piano. “Right now, he and the keys have more of a karate chop relationship.”

Tatum laughed. “That’s a good one.”

Jake persisted. “You said yesterday that my piano is a precaution…I mean, a percussion instrument. I tried to look inside but nothing moved.”

Tatum said, “That’s because it’s sort of a puzzle box. You have to know the secrets before you can open it.”

Jake’s face lit up. “No kidding?”

Braydon echoed, “No kidding?”

Tatum stood up and flipped the top of the piano open.

“I got that far,” said Braydon.

“I’m too short,” said Jake.

Tatum gave them an all-knowing look. “If your dad will let you stand on the piano bench so you can see, I’ll show you the secrets.”

“Yay!” Jake was already on his knees on the bench. Braydon caught his arm to steady him as he stood up.

“This should be interesting,” he mused.

“Didn’t you ever watch your piano tuner?” asked Tatum.

“Um, no, not really.”

She found the catch inside the front panel and popped it loose. “This one is heavy and takes two hands.” She lifted it carefully and set it on the sofa.

“Wow!” Jake stared intently at the strings and other wooden parts. “What are those?”

“Those are hammers.”

“Really? They’re made of wood,” said Jake in disbelief.

“Metal hammers wouldn’t sound as good, and besides, they might break the strings. Go ahead and play a note.”

Jake did so.

“See? When you press a key, you’re really hitting the strings with a drumstick. Kind of.”

“Oh, I get it. Cool. Look at all those strings. Like a big guitar.”

“Like more than thirty guitars, actually.”

“Neat-o!”

Tatum smiled. “And there’s another secret underneath. Braydon, would you help me put the upper panel back, please?”

“Sure.”

Once it was secure, Tatum said spookily, “Are you ready to see the rest of it? Or is your mind already blown?”

Jake giggled. “Show me, show me.”

Tatum glanced up at Braydon and was caught off guard by the affection she saw in his eyes. She cleared her throat. “Here goes. You can get down now. I need to move the bench.” She proceeded to unfasten the lower panel.

“What are those long things?” asked Jake.

“Those are called the trapwork. When you press one of the pedals, they move the levers to make the sound louder or softer.” She gave Braydon a little shrug. “That’s a simplification, but you get the idea.”

Jake was squatting to get a better look at the workings of the piano. “Awesome,” he said softly. “It’s like I’m playing a Transformer, only it’s not a car.”

“I like that,” said Braydon.

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