Sweet Harmonies (13 page)

When Kelly finished her number with a huge
flourish, she raised her arms triumphantly in the air, her chest
heaving as if she had just run a marathon.

Ryan, his eyes twinkling as if he couldn't
help himself, stood and started a slow clap. Karina turned in her
seat and looked up at him disbelievingly.

She turned forward again and addressed Kelly
dryly, “Um, thanks, we'll be in touch.” She was utilizing the
entertainment industry euphemism for 'not in a million years,
jackass.' But Kelly took the phrase literally, and even though it
was Karina who had uttered it, Kelly replied to Ryan.

“
Oh, Ryan, yes, definitely get in
touch,” she giggled, “Call me any time, you know my number.” With
that, she winked and flounced offstage.

Karina turned to Ryan, “Were you being
serious when you clapped for her?”

He shook his head in awe, “It definitely
wasn't GOOD, but it
was
amazing. You gotta give her
that.”

She started laughing, “One thing I will admit
is that it made me nostalgic for prom, although I never got to go.
But the idea I have of it in my mind fits that dress
perfectly.”

“
You never went to prom?” Ryan
asked.

“
No, no,” Karina said, “I mean, I was
raised by my grandmother, in the very tightly knit tribe community.
In the life of the tribe, we just didn't do things like that. I
don't know how to explain it. I mean, it wasn't expressly forbidden
or anything...it was just...I don't know...that sort of thing was
sort of looked on as, like, foolishness. Or silliness.
Undignified.”

She sighed, “I'm not explaining this very
well.”

“
No, I think I get it,” Ryan said,
“It's not like my family was exactly the same, but enough so that I
think I understand what you're getting at. Our whole life was
running the ranch, there was no world other than that. No
vacations, no dreams of college, no date night, nothing but the
ranch and the work. Anything that wasn't about furthering the work
of the ranch was considered frivolous. Amusements that we couldn't
afford, and I don't mean financially. They were a waste of time,
time that should be devoted to work.”

“
You're right,” Karina said, “it was
something similar to that.”

Karina never talked about her upbringing, in
fact, she had never even made too much of an effort to understand
it herself.

It felt really good – safe and comforting –
to try to put into words the experience of her childhood, and to be
understood by the person that she was taking the time and effort to
express it to.

She smiled softly at him and put her hand
over his on the seat's arm that separated their two theater seats.
As they looked into each other's eyes, she felt the bond between
them growing like a physical thing, and had to tear her gaze away
as she felt the heat rising from her belly and her cheeks starting
to flush.

“
Next!" she called loudly.

--- ~ ---

The rest of the day was long and frenetic,
and filled with acts more wide and varied than Karina ever could
have imagined. There were plenty of musical numbers, sure, but
there were a lot of people there exhibiting talents that Karina
never would have imagined.

There was one gentleman who had trained his
three dogs to do tricks and routines in synchronized formation.
There was a plate spinner, a stilts walker, and a rhythmic
gymnast.

By the end of the day, her head was pounding
and without even realizing it, she had unconsciously started
rubbing her temples.

“
Are you good for one more?” Ryan asked
with concern, “I'm pretty sure we're down to the last
person.”

She rallied gamely, “For sure. I wanna get
this finished up. I can do it. Bring it on!”

Ryan smiled and called, “OK, Amanda, we're
ready, bring out the last act!”

Amanda walked out on the stage, holding the
hand of one of the cutest little guys that Ryan had ever seen. He
looked to be about 8 years old, and the expression on his face was
one of nervousness, yes – but there was also a very endearing
courageous quality shining through. It was clear that he was going
to make himself do this audition no matter how scared he felt.

“
Hi, Noah!” exclaimed Karina. She
turned to Ryan and explained, “Noah is Justin's little
brother.”

“
Oh!” said Ryan, “It's a pleasure to
meet you. I met your brother the other day.”

Noah lit up, all traces of nerves leaving his
face completely. He said, “My brother's the MAN!”

Ryan laughed, “I agree! I liked him very
much. So, what are you going to be doing for us today, Noah?”

“
I'm saying my poem that I learned for
school,” he said, “It's named Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout and it's
got a moral.”

“
I love that poem,” said Karina and
Ryan in unison, and laughed.

“
There you go, Noah,” said Amanda
encouragingly, “You've got an interested audience.”

“
Yes, let's hear it, Noah!” said
Karina.

“
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout,” he began,
“would not take the garbage out...”

He then proceeded to recite the rhyming story
of how the garbage that she refused to take out spread throughout
her home and then her neighborhood and beyond, and eventually the
entire nation, detailing every disgusting piece of refuse that she
declined to get rid of.

As he proceeded through the poem, his voice
grew in confidence and expressiveness, until he at last reached the
final phrases, which he imbued with a grave seriousness.

“
And there in the garbage she did hate,
poor Sarah met an awful fate, that I cannot right now relate,
because the hour is much too late. But children, remember Sarah
Stout, and always take the garbage out.”

Ryan and Karina both began to clap, whistle,
whoop, and holler.

“
Great job!” Karina called out
enthusiastically.

When they were done clapping, Noah looked at
them solemnly. “The moral of it is always take the garbage out,” he
informed them.

“
That's a good moral,” said
Karina.

Amanda walked up to the front of the stage to
join Noah, looking at her clipboard, and said, “Well, it looks like
Noah was the last audition. So, unless you need me for anything
else, I'm gonna go ahead and take this little guy home.”

“
No, we're good,” Karina said as she
and Ryan joined them on the stage, “Thank you so much for all your
help, Mand. We couldn't have done it without you, seriously. I
can't imagine how the day would have gone without you keeping
everything organized and on schedule.”

“
My pleasure,” Amanda replied, and then
snapped her fingers, “Oh! Ryan, I almost forgot. Noah had something
that he wanted to ask you.”

Ryan looked down at Noah's small, upturned
face, “Really? What's that, Noah?”

Karina noticed this, and liked it. It always
annoyed her when people acted as if children were not quite capable
of carrying on their own conversations, or as if they weren't even
in the room – when they addressed the adults on behalf of the
children, or used an excessively babyish voice to talk to kids.

But Ryan seemed so comfortable addressing
Noah. He looked him in the eye, talked to him directly, and spoke
to him in a normal voice. In short, he treated him like a human
being.

One point for you, Ryan, she thought to
herself approvingly.

Oh, who was she kidding? If she were keeping
score, this would now be approximately point number 143 in Ryan's
favor. But who's counting?

“
Well,” said Noah slightly tremulously,
nervousness starting to show through in his face and voice again,
“I was kind of wondering, because I wanted to learn how to play the
guitar like you can, and my Dad said that he would buy me one, and
if you would, um, teach me, then it could be lessons and you could
be my teacher,” he finished, his nerves getting the better of him
and causing him to rush through the end of his proposal, stringing
the words together quickly.

Amanda jumped in to help, “And, obviously, we
would pay you,” she said, “But, if you'd be willing to give Noah
guitar lessons, we think it would be a really great experience for
him.”

“
I'd love to,” Ryan said, “and please
don't worry about paying.”

“
Oh, no, absolutely. We weren't asking
you to do it as a favor,” Amanda assured him.

“
Well, either way,” Ryan said, “I'd be
happy to. Why don't you stop by the cafe later this week and we'll
work out a schedule?”

Noah beamed. “All right!” he shouted, pumping
his fist into the air, “I'm gonna play the guitar!”

And with that, he ran to the middle of the
stage and broke into some seriously rocking air guitar, channeling
some heavy metal thrashing while he was at it.

Ryan chuckled, “Um, I don't know if you're
going to be playing it exactly like that, buddy, but I can
definitely help you get the basics down pat.”

“
All right!” Noah enthused again,
pumping his fist into the air. He then scampered
offstage.

Amanda ran after him, calling, “Hold up,
buddy! I'm your ride!”

Ryan and Karina waved at Amanda and Noah as
they left, and then were hit suddenly and simultaneously with the
realization of how very alone they were in the big, empty
auditorium.

Ryan leaned down close to Karina's face
seductively. “You know what I always get the urge to do when I'm
alone with a beautiful woman in a big, empty auditorium like this?”
he whispered huskily.

Karina shook her head, her voice disabled,
her breath suspended, every nerve in her body tingling, awaiting
his response.

Ryan took his time, dragging the moment out,
teasing her. Finally, he slowly whispered, “Play my guitar.”

They both started laughing, and Karina hit
him playfully on the shoulder. Then, through her giggles, she said,
“Honestly, so do I.”

“
I don't suppose you have yours?” he
asked.

“
Never go anywhere without it,” she
said firmly.

“
In your car?” he asked.

“
Yep,” she replied.

“
Meet you back here in five?” he
challenged.

She smiled, upping the ante. “Make it
four.”

--- ~ ---

Karina raced back into the auditorium,
carrying her guitar in front of her carefully so as not to bump it
into anything.

To her shock, Ryan was already reclining on a
folding chair up on the stage, his guitar out of the case, and was
noodling around on the strings, conjuring scales and chords and
bits of melody.

“
Where you been, slowpoke?” he asked
teasingly, inclining his head towards the empty folding chair he
had set up for her next to his.

“
How could you possibly have gotten
back and forth to your truck in that amount of time?” she said
incredulously, “Where were you parked?”

He laughed, “Fine, I admit it, my guitar was
here the whole time, sitting under the front row. I only proposed
the race because...well, to be honest, I thought it would be funny
to see your face when you came rushing back in here, only to see me
kicking back like I'd been here for an hour.”

She laughed along with him, “OK, I see how it
is. Nicely done, Ryan, nicely done.”

She set her case down, opened it, and removed
her guitar. She slid the strap over her shoulder and settled
herself into the folding chair that Ryan had brought up on stage
for her. She began plucking notes from the strings, following along
with him, playing a complementary harmony to his melody, and
joining her voice with his, again in harmony, when he began to
sing.

She couldn't remember the last time that she
had had this much fun.

There was no purpose to their playing, no end
game. They weren't writing a song for her next project, she wasn't
auditioning him to play in her band. They were just using their
instruments and their voices to make music, pure and simple, just
for the sheer pleasure of it.

It was almost too sweet to bear.

It was exactly what she had been missing.

As the minutes turned into hours and neither
of them showed signs of tiring, Karina again felt the connection
between them growing and strengthening, like a tangible cord that
was wrapping itself intricately in and around them.

It was fed by the music. It was fed by their
growing trust in one another. And it was certainly fed by the long,
lust-filled glances they continually exchanged as the music filled
the auditorium hour after hour.

Karina was still a little spooked by the
sheer strength of her physical and emotional reaction to Ryan.
After all, having strong feelings puts you into a vulnerable
position with someone, and vulnerable was something that Karina
NEVER was.

But, she was definitely making the switch
from being mostly-freaked to being mostly-intrigued with the
unexpected development of Ryan popping into her life.

Chapter 9

The next morning, in what seemed like the
cruelest instance possible of deja vu, Karina was jerked out of a
deep sleep by the loud pealing of her front doorbells.

Again, she sat bolt upright. Again, she
fumbled for her alarm clock. Again, it was not too far into the six
o'clock hour. And again, it was a glowing and spandex-clad Sam who
stood at her front door, bouncing from foot to foot so as not to
let her heart rate slow.

“
We really need to stop meeting like
this,” Karina grumbled as Sam jogged through the front door past
her, and then into the kitchen.