Descending Spiral by P A Duncan
Author:P A Duncan [Duncan, P A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781078111485
Publisher: Unexpected Paths
Published: 2019-08-09T22:00:00+00:00
26
Sonata
When Mai emerged from the office, it was to the strains of Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, otherwise known as the Moonlight Sonata. It wasn’t coming through the house’s sound system, and she frowned. The pianist missed a note, paused, backed up a couple of measures and started again. The last time she’d heard Alexei play his piano was a few days before he left for Patriot City.
He played Moonlight Sonata when his mood was low, Mozart or Tchaikovsky when he came out of it. She went to the library’s doorway. The piano was in a corner of the room, and he sat on the bench, the sheet music before him on the music rack. That meant he wasn’t sure of his ability to remember something he’d played since he was twelve or thirteen. He’d had no interest in his mother’s horses, and she’d insisted on the piano.
Another slip, and he stopped, flexed his fingers, once, twice. He started again at the beginning. Without looking over his shoulder, he said, “Sit and relax. Have some wine.”
He’d opened a fresh bottle. That and one glass sat on a nearby table.
“A little early in the game for an attempted seduction, Alexei,” she said, her tone harsh against the somber music. But she walked to the piano.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve played the left hand with me,” he said. “I’m doing so poorly, we’ll probably mesh well.”
And now, an attempted joke.
He’d found his rhythm, and the sonata smoothed out beneath his hands. Mai remembered the first time she’d watched him play, at this same baby grand stuffed into his small apartment in Crystal City. He’d just finished playing her body as well as he had the piano, though the sounds his lovemaking had wrought from her had been harmonious in their own way.
No. No thinking about that. Forgiveness, if it came at all, wasn’t happening so soon.
Mai went to the bench and sat to his left. He told her the measure, and she looked at the sheet music to see where he was. He moved his left hand away, and she managed to come in without a hitch. They’d done this before, too. Her experience with the piano was far less than his, but this was one piece she’d learned before abandoning the instrument herself. She missed a note, but he kept playing. At about a minute left in the short piece, they synched perfectly.
As the tones faded, Mai rose. Alexei lay a hand on her arm.
“That was completely civil,” he said. “Let’s talk.”
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