Chapter Text
When I put my hands on her shoulders, I rest them there and look down at the piano. I see the fingers that have stopped playing the song are still resting on the keys. While she only played a handful of bars from a few different songs, her fingers flew at a grace over the keys that I haven't seen. Her piano fingers have entranced me.
"How do you do that, dearest?" I ask of her.
"W-What do you mean Carol?" She asks back in her soft, sweet voice.
"Your fingers. How do you move them like that?" I give her shoulders a little squeeze and my drag my hand across the top of her shoulders as I sit next to her on the bench at the piano.
"Oh, I don't know Carol. It's just something I do." Therese answers.
"Is this what you want to do, play piano?" I ask of her while glancing again at her fingers resting on the piano.
"I suppose so. I want to play music for people, but I don't quite know how to convey how I feel." She glances down at the piano then up at me through her eyelashes.
We are both staring at each other, no other sound happening than our gentle breathing. I turn to look down at my hands that are crossed on my lap and think of the feelings that are happening that I thought for sure wouldn't come back. With Abby, these feelings were slow and fun, like waves gently coming to shore. But I had Harge to think about, and 9 months later I also had Rindy. I couldn't let the feelings go anywhere, so I stopped things with Abby. She is still a dear friend, and godmother to Rindy, but that's all. I tried to focus on Harge for Rindy's sake. Rindy deserved to have two parents under the same house, could anyone blame me for putting my daughter before myself?
With Therese though, I can't quite seem to make these feelings go away. Maybe it's because Harge and I are most fully divorced, or maybe it's because she was flung out of space and landed on this godforsaken Earth for some reason beyond our knowing. Either way, when I think of Therese and things I feel for her, they are like waves violently and frequently crashing on shore with no stopping in sight.
"Would you play me something, Therese? Would you play me something about how you are feeling right in this moment?" I gently ask her with my head turned so I can look at her profile. She breathes in deep and nods.
She lifts her fingers and pauses before she starts playing. She plays a tune I have never heard before. It's not too fast, but it's not slow either. It jumps from being louder to being soft. Like she can't quite decide what she wants, but she knows she wants something. I wonder if the feelings she is playing about, are feelings about me? Is she having feelings about me, but is doubting whether she should have them or not?
I lift my right hand and gently start playing a series of notes that fit right in with her tune. Not quite taking over, but adding a gentle melody. Letting her know that I am feeling things as well, but will support her in whatever she decides.
A few moments later we both stop and all is quite again. I breathe in deep and lift my head to see her already looking at me. I stare at her for a few seconds before gently tilting my head to the side as if I am asking her a question. A gentle rose color blush crosses her cheeks before she smiles and I see catch a glimpse of her dimples before she once again ducks her head.
What a strange girl she is. With her quiet beauty and piano fingers.