Page 80 of No Vow Broken

“Does it have lyrics?”

“It does.” He smiled and ran his fingers along the keys. “Would you like me to sing it for you? I can translate afterward.”

“Please.”

He bent over the keys, playing the song and singing softly in Italian. His dark hair framed his face as his long, elegant hacker hands sped across the keys. I listened absolutely mesmerized by the melody, his voice, and the sight of him transformed by the music he played. It was a dichotomy—a precision of notes and melody…and yet, it stirred me.

When he finished, he placed his hands in his lap, the last notes still lingering on the air.

“I have no idea what you were singing, but somehow, my heart was touched just the same,” I said.

“Good, because I sang it for you.”

“I…felt it, Slash. I mean it. That’s sounds weird, but Ifeltthe emotion and the connection to you through the music. I never really thought about it that way before.”

“It’s not an easy leap for those of us who struggle identifying emotions and feelings, especially when they are aimed at us. But I do think it requires a certain level of trust before you open yourself like that to someone.”

Something clicked into place my head. “So,that’swhy you kept your piano in a safe room in your apartment? Because you didn’t trust anyone to hear you…therealyou…through the music.”

“Until that night I played for you,” he said. “And told you about how I’d been left in Father Armando’s church as an infant.”

I reached out and touched my hand to his cheek. “Thank you for trusting me.”

He leaned over a pressed a soft kiss against my mouth. “Want to know the lyrics?”

“Yes.”

“Gino Paoli’s song is poetry with literal meanings. Roughly translated it goes like this:

When you’re with me,

the room doesn’t have walls,

only trees.

Infinite trees.

When you’re near me,

the ceiling disappears and no longer exists,

because now,

it’s just the sky.

The rest is gone,

for there’s nothing else in the world.

A harmonica is playing,

or perhaps it’s a piano,

that plays for you and me,

in the vastness of the sky,

and the infinity that is us.”

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