A Wedding on Lilac Lane by Hope Ramsay (best book clubs .txt) 📕
Read free book «A Wedding on Lilac Lane by Hope Ramsay (best book clubs .txt) 📕» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: Hope Ramsay
Read book online «A Wedding on Lilac Lane by Hope Ramsay (best book clubs .txt) 📕». Author - Hope Ramsay
Working musicians had to go on tour. She’d been avoiding this truth for months.
And of course she’d like to be in a relationship with a mature man who appreciated and respected her. But she couldn’t rely on a man to get her the home she wanted. She was going to have to do what Mom had done. Earn a bit of money, save it up, and buy a house when she could afford it. But maybe she could make a home base in Nashville or someplace, where she could at least try to break into the studios.
So she’d decided. Once the wedding was over, she was buying a bus ticket to Nashville. There was work in Nashville for a good fiddler. That’s where she had to go.
She wasn’t telling Mom about her plans. Mom wouldn’t be all that happy about them. But she had to go. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t be back for holidays and visits, but she couldn’t stay in Magnolia Harbor. For so many reasons. Maybe if she wasn’t around, Mom would come to realize that Dylan was a good soul. Maybe Mom would find a son if her daughter got out of the way.
In the meantime, her Saturday-afternoon gig at Howland House had taken on real significance. She needed the money Ashley paid her, as well as the tips she received, to build her nest egg. She had to have enough money for that bus ticket to Tennessee, as well as some money to tide her over until she found a job.
So when Saturday rolled around, she got up, served breakfast, managed the webpage and reservations, and then helped set up for tea. When she started playing fiddle in the library, she had more than the usual number of guests sitting on the chairs listening.
For a short time, the crowd boosted her ego. Maybe she could make it in Nashville. But her confidence didn’t last long.
About twenty minutes into her set, Cody Callaghan strolled through Howland House’s front door on a pair of badass snakeskin cowboy boots. As usual, he was wearing a black Urban Armadillo T-shirt and sleeveless jean jacket. His uniform was about as predictable as Doctor D’s bow tie, and it drew stares from the inn’s customers, most of whom had dressed for a summer tea party at a fancy inn.
Dammit. She missed a note. What was the date? She’d been so wrapped up in Mom’s illness, she’d forgotten that Urban Armadillo was scheduled to play at Rafferty’s right after the engagement party.
Cody still possessed an undeniable alpha-male magnetism despite (or maybe because of) the skull tattoo on his biceps, his scraggly stubble, and long hair. He sauntered into the inn ready for a fight, which he got from Candi, who insisted that he wasn’t on the reservation list.
Funny how Candi had allowed Dylan to gate-crash the tea, but she wasn’t letting Cody take more than one step into the center hall.
“Git out of my way, little girl,” Cody said in his too-loud Texas twang. Ella missed three notes in an easy arpeggio and might have stopped were it not for Jackie Scott. The boy was sitting quietly in the corner watching her, and whenever they played together, she made such a big deal about him not stopping when he made a mistake. So she gritted her teeth and concentrated on the music. Unfortunately, concentrating didn’t take her to some higher plane where she and the music became one.
Cody folded his massive arms across his equally impressive chest and stood there until Ashley appeared and miraculously managed to get him to leave. But not before he stepped to the entrance of the library and yelled, “Don’t think you can ignore me, Ella. And what the hell kind of music are you playing, anyway?”
She continued bravely, stumbling over the Borodin piece she’d been practicing for days. Her face got chili-pepper hot with shame. Nothing upset her more than making that many mistakes in something she’d practiced.
She wanted to run away or break down and have a great big cry. She wasn’t happy. She didn’t know how to find her happiness. And Cody seemed to underscore the barrenness of her life.
She might have packed it all in, except for the adoring look in Jackie’s eyes. She loved that kid, despite the disaster he’d unleashed at the engagement party. And she sure didn’t want to teach him any bad lessons about performing. Sometimes you had to suck it up and go on with the show.
She got to the end of the Borodin, feeling drained. The next song was some sad Irish ballad that was sure to make her weep. She didn’t want to go there, so she turned to the boy and said, “Do you have your whistle?”
The kid’s eyes grew round as he nodded and pulled the simple flute from his back pocket.
“Then get up here and play the ‘Sailor’s Hornpipe’ with me.”
The kid showed no hint of stage fright as he hurried to her corner and stood beside her. She let him set the tempo, and she followed. A few moments later, Ashley rushed to the library door and stood there, beaming love and pride at her little boy. When that happened, Ella was almost glad that Cody had messed with her mind. Playing with Jackie changed the mood in the room.
Soon the guests were clapping along with the music, and Cody’s ugly words were forgotten by everyone except Ella, who continued with the music, ending the afternoon with a medley of Strauss waltzes.
She’d finished the show, but she was badly disappointed in the quality of her performance that afternoon. Her mind had been off somewhere else, caught between Cody and Dylan and Mom and her future. So she was utterly astonished when one of the guests, an older man with shiny, bright eyes, handed her a fifty-dollar bill and said, “I liked the way you arranged the Borodin. You played it well, under the circumstances.”
“Um. Thanks. It’s so much better with four
Comments (0)