Page 57 of Crescendo

“That’s basically what I was doing! Over and over and over!”

Melinda’s voice drifted into the room, and I saw her step through a door and into the shot, taking Natália’s empty drink and setting down another one. I at least knew it wasn’t alcoholic, because if Natália was drinking, well—everyone in the world knew in twenty minutes. “It’s that grimy Brett Downing guy who has problems with this. He has a big creative directorial lead on that scene and he’s being a diva about it.”

“Hm.” I leaned back against the practice room door. “I’ll see if I can pull some strings here and send the RAF after him.”

Natália sighed dramatically. “I wish you would. Just let me know so I can watch.”

“I’ll bring popcorn,” Melinda said before she left the room again, and I waited a second before I asked,

“Melinda’s been taking care of you?”

“She’s really sweet. She found me face-first on my couch after I’d had too much wine, yelling at my computerah, te dou um cacete, caralho. She’s been looking after me.”

My heart swelled with pride. My music daughter really did take after me. “I’m glad she’s been helpful. You can send me what you’ve been doing, and I’ll have a look, see if I have any input. I’m washed-up and useless, so I can’t say I’ll be any help, but I might be good to at least bounce ideas off of.”

“You’re an angel, Lydia,” she said, big puppy-dog eyes down the phone. “I love you and Melinda loves you and we all… love you. And it sounds like Ella at least loves your body! That’s good too.”

“Uh-huh… I’ll tell her you said hello. Anything else?”

“Have you had fish and chips?”

“I had a version made with halloumi. I’m trying out being vegetarian while I’m here.”

“Because your girlfriend is, too?”

I scowled. “How would you even know that?”

She put her nose up. “Because Natália knows best. And it says on her profile here that she’s vegetarian. She’ssopretty. I’m a little jealous.”

I let out a long sigh, closing my eyes. “Yes… understandably so. She’s very attractive. But she’s also very insightful and clever and I find her intelligence very attractive too. However—she is not my girlfriend.”

“Oh, sure. And I’m… I’m… and I’m a clownfish.” She went wide-eyed. “Ah—I gotta go. I just remembered something. I’ll talk to you later! Thanks for your help. Tell your girlfriend I said hi! Beijinhos!”

She went to end the call, missed, and tossed the phone aside as she stood up, unaware that the call was still going. I opted to hang up instead of staring at Melinda’s living room ceiling. I slid the phone into my bag and stepped into the room again, where Hannah was perched at the front of the stool, giving me a scrutinizing look.

“So you are seeing Ella,” she said, and I sighed, waving her off.

“Natália just… says things. She’s a good friend from back in LA. You can ignore her.”

“That door isn’t as soundproof as you think, you twat.”

Ah. One would think I’d have learned. Of course, last time I had a soundproofing failure, the result was fantastic, so maybe I could be excused. “You listen into a lot of conversations that don’t concern you?”

“What,you’recallingmenosy?”

“Okay, point taken.”

“If you’re trying to keep this whole thing you’ve got quiet, you could do a better job.”

“Should have done a better job than telling Melinda about it,” I muttered, and I dropped back onto the chair next to the cello, picking it up just to have it there in position. “You’re not going to go blabbing about it, right? As established—it’s just casual and we’re keeping it between the two of us. At least, that was the goal. She’s doing a better job of it than I am.”

She pursed her lips. “You think I’m gonna not tell Eliza about it?”

I hung my head. “I mean, I guess youcould.But only if you want to end up making things uncomfortable for everyone. It’s not like it even gets Eliza any… I don’t know, advantages over me.”

She stared at me for a long time before, with a huff, she turned back to the piano. “All right,” she said. “Fine. I’ll keep your secret. But only ‘cause…”

I raised my eyebrows, studying her, waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, I said, “But only because what?”

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