Page 15 of To Believe In You
“Great. I’ll put you on the list.” She tapped the tablet screen, skipping to another section of the electronic lesson book. With all the video tutorials they had access to through the online portal, the kids could probably teach themselves to play, but Adeline had assured him individual attention would help the students progress faster—and would impact their lives in larger ways.
Matt prayed he’d get that last part right.
While she searched for the next area to coach him on, he noted another glare from Lina. “I don’t know how to make amends with someone I never wronged in the first place.”
Adeline followed his gaze. Thankfully, instead of staring, she returned her attention to the screen. “Are you sure you never wronged her?”
A pit opened in Matt’s stomach. He’d lost years’ worth of memories to the haze of drugs and alcohol. Had he done something to Lina during that time?
Probably.
He’d used a lot of women over the years. How many considered him their worst regret? Had he introduced any of them to drugs that had taken over their lives? Or what if he had a child he didn’t know about running around?
“You look worried,” Adeline said.
Matt rubbed his face. Lina didn’t have kids and wasn’t a drug addict, so whatever she had against him probably wasn’t a worst-case scenario. As for other women, most likely, anyone who could’ve claimed having a kid of his would’ve come after him for money because of his income with Awestruck. None had, and he had enough mistakes to make up for without peopling his imagination with non-existent children.
Lina seared him with another glare.
He averted his eyes. “What’s her story?”
“She’s worked for Awestruck since graduating college.”
“Does she have a family?” She wore a ring, but not on her left hand. During his Awestruck days, he’d gotten the impression she’d been taken. Married.
“She’s here alone.”
“That’s evasive wording.”
Her shoulder lifted. “You’ll have to ask her for details.”
Did Adeline’s side-stepping mean Lina was divorced and Adeline didn’t want to gossip?
He didn’t remember all the women he’d been with, but he’d recall making a move on Awestruck’s married social media manager. Wouldn’t he?
But what if he didn’t? What if he had something to do with why Lina was single?
* * *
Lina slatedMatt into the bass guitar lessons scheduled for the following week. Each time she deleted Adeline’s name and typed his in its place, she felt like she was volunteering the poor student to be a lab rat.
But Adeline was the boss, and already she’d spent an hour in a practice room with Matt, preparing him. To ensure all went smoothly with his lessons, Lina would adjust her own schedule to overlap with his starting next week. Coming in around eleven would give her a few hours of quiet in the office to keep up with her Awestruck role before lessons started after school. Then, she’d work on Key of Hope responsibilities until around seven, when the latest of Matt’s lessons wrapped up.
After one final adjustment, the deed was done, and she needed some air.
She set off on foot for the coffee shop around the corner. Though Lakeshore was a small town with a tiny year-round population, the sidewalks currently bustled with tourists who would split their time between the cute Main Street shops and exploring nature.
Lighthouse tours cruised out into Lake Superior, rivers and waterfalls awaited the adventurous in the woods, and state parks offered well-groomed trails to pretty rock formations. In a few weeks, even more people would arrive in search of fall color.
For now, an occasional tree waved a yellow leaf or two as a sign of things to come, but only someone watching for it would notice.
Once she had her vanilla latte, she continued down the street. The visitor’s bureau kept a wildflower garden. Since people rarely took advantage of the benches there, the spot would make the perfect place to relax away from Matt and thoughts of all the havoc he’d wreak on Key of Hope.
She settled on a wooden bench beneath the spotty shade of a crab apple tree. As she took her first sip of coffee, her phone chimed over the twitter of birds.
Dad was calling her from his cell phone? Had he even been home to hear her message yet?
She hesitated with her thumb over the icon to answer. Did he hope to reach her voicemail? Or maybe something had gone wrong. Happened to Mom.
