Page 60 of Caught in a Storm
Caleb pets Lincoln’s bowling-ball-size head. The dog doesn’t have much of a tail, so he wags his entire rear end. Margot joins, scratching Lincoln’s smooth back, and the dog tips over onto the pavement.
“Yeah, that’s my guard dog for you,” says LaVar. “Anyway, Jackson’s the reason I wanted to talk to you. I got another boy, too. Younger. Absolute monster. Tears the place up.”
Jackson nods, agreeing that his brother is a monster.
“Jackson, though, he’s real musical. A piano man, just like you.”
“That’s great,” says Billy. “How long’ve you been playing, Jackson?”
“Since I was six. Well, five and a half.”
“Had to say goodbye to his piano teacher when we left New Orleans,” says LaVar. “I asked around. Folks tell me you’re the best music teacher in the city.”
Margot and Caleb smile at Billy, and he feels a rush of pride. Lincoln smiles, too. He’s a friendly gargoyle sprawled out on the sidewalk.
“I’m thinking we should hook you two up,” says LaVar. “You’d like teaching him. You’re a good kid, right, Jackson? And he can play. No joke. Kid’s legit.”
Jackson pushes his glasses up. “Dad, stop it.”
“Nah,” says LaVar. “I wish I had five more just like you. What do you think, though, Piano Man? Got any openings on your roster?”
Internet fame has been good for Beats by Billy. For the first time in years, he has a waiting list. A universe simply doesn’t exist, however, in which Billy could tell this man who’s advocating for his son anything other than yes. “What’s your favorite song to play?”
Jackson thinks. “Probably ‘Für Elise.’ You know, Beethoven.”
“Who?” says Billy.
Jackson is startled at first but then gets it. “Oh. Yeah.”
Billy hands LaVar one of the business cards he keeps in his wallet, and LaVar claps him on the back, which nearly sends Billy into traffic. “And maybe after you get going,” he says, “you can give us some advice on pianos. Thinking we’re ready for an upgrade.”
Billy tells them that he’d be happy to.
“I miss having you around, Piano Man,” says LaVar. “You made this place sound like the French Quarter. Felt like home.”
When LaVar, Jackson, and Lincoln are gone, Margot hands Caleb her Slurpee to finish, because it’s too much for her, even a size small. “By the way, I take it back,” she says. “That is the tallest person I’ve ever met.”
Caleb sips Margot’s Slurpee, stands up straight, sighs. “Well,” he says, “it was fun while it lasted.”
Chapter 35
On Friday, Billy pokes his head into the bathroom. “The Baltimore Department of Water called. They said they’re almost out.”
Behind the shower curtain, Margot says, “Good one.”
Yesterday he tapped the bathroom door and asked if she’d fallen. The day before that he asked if she wanted him to install a waterproof chair for her. He can tease her all he wants, but the water pressure here is amazing, like something you’d have to be sleeping with the mayor to get in New York. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Okay, but…technically we’re late.”
She looks at her new pink loofah, soapy and dripping. They’re going to Robyn and Aaron’s for dinner tonight. “I can’t believe it’s taken us so long to ask you two over,” Robyn said yesterday. She and Aaron came to the apartment door to formally invite them. Aaron gave Billy and Margot a look that said, I assure you, this wasn’t my idea.
She isn’t nervous, exactly, but the list of things she’d rather do is long and includes things like dental appointments and mammograms. As the hot water works the back of her neck, Margot imagines chatting, passing salt and pepper shakers, complimenting window treatments, and for the umpteenth time in her life she wonders what it’d be like to be a normal person.
“Well, since we’re late anyway,” Billy says, “you want a shower beer? I got the crappy kind you like.”
She tells him to go away, but then reconsiders. “Yeah, actually, I should probably be at least a little drunk for this, huh?”
“Atta girl.”
