Page 44 of Accepting Love

I can’t stop smiling. “I’m in love with her.”

Audrey’s smile is just as broad. “I’m so glad. Have you told her?”

“No. Not yet. I don’t want to spook her. I’ll wait until the time is right.”

“I love her too. She’s the daughter I never had. I want the best for her. I want you to know that I’ll take on whatever role you’d like from me going forward. I’m used to taking care of most of her needs. I’m sure you’ll want to take over that job or most aspects of it. But I’m willing to continue cooking and maintaining the business side of her career. If that’s okay?”

I nod. “Of course. I want you to play whatever role you’d like. Like I said, I don’t want to rock the boat. I want to slide into your lives seamlessly.”

She opens her mouth, hesitating a moment before continuing. “I’d understand if you eventually didn’t want me living so close.”

I shake my head. “God, no. This is your home. I’m not here to push you out. Caro would never forgive me anyway. She loves you.”

“I will make changes. How about if for now, I continue as her manager and do the cooking and maintain the kitchen. We have a cleaning staff that comes in once a week to do the rest of the downstairs. When I’m not cooking, I’ll stay out of your way. I won’t come upstairs for any reason. You’ll want your privacy. I’ll manage her events from my own office, and only come and go from the kitchen.”

“If that feels comfortable for you, it’s fine with me. And you don’t have to cook all the meals. I can manage some nights too. As for being her manager, I will never take that from you. It’s best if the business end of things remains your domain. I’ve learned over the years from hundreds of musicians coming and going from my studio that having a significant other as one’s manager is rarely a good idea.”

She nods. “Agreed.” She stands. “I’ll let you get to it then. I’m sure you have work to do.”

“Some, but I did warn my employees I would be marginally available for a while. They can manage without me.”

Audrey heads for the door, grabbing the frame and turning back to face me. “I’m really glad she found you and even more glad you were able to crack her shell and get inside her walls.”

“I won’t ever take it for granted,” I assure her.

After she leaves, I head upstairs to grab my laptop. There is a permanent smile on my face, partly due to the smoothness of this transition that could have been far more complicated and awkward. But there’s another reason, and it’s the unbelievable sounds of some sort of sonata coming from the music room.

At some point I need to address the reason I came here in the first place—fixing the acoustics. I have some ideas. I need to make a few calls and bump heads with some people. Hopefully I can get her room sounding better as soon as possible.

The only issue is that there will be several days when that room is covered in dust and filled with workers. The best way to get the job done will be to hire a team of people to get it done in a short amount of time, but that means Caro won’t be able to practice in there. It also means we’re going to need to protect the piano while they’re working.

I have a thought. It pops into my head. I turn toward the calendar and drag my finger along the days in the coming weeks. She has a break next week after her performance on Sunday. The next thing on her schedule is recording in my studio the following week.

There are seven days blank between the two events, and I know exactly how I want to fill them. The question is, can I convince my Little girl to spend a week with me at Blossom Ridge?

It would do us both some good. It would give her the opportunity to spend an entire week in her Little space. It would give us both time together in a setting that isn’t her house or mine.

The more I think about it, the more I love the idea.

I sit at the desk and pull out my cell phone to call Craig, the manager of Blossom Ridge. I’m grinning and hoping this might work out. There are a few important things that would have to fall into place.

“Hey, stranger,” Craig says by way of greeting.

“Hey to you too. How’s The Ridge?”

“It’s doing great. We have a steady stream of guests most weeks. Leah is writing and helping run the mansion. Everyone here is happy. How about you? Have you found the luckiest woman alive yet?”

I grin. “In fact I have.”

“Seriously?” His voice rises. “That’s great. I’m so happy for you.”

“You probably know her in fact. She’s been a member of Surrender for two years.”

“Really? I’m intrigued.”

“You know her as Hannah.”

“Hannah. Yes. I should have guessed. You’ve played with her on occasion. Didn’t you ask her out a few times?”

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