Page 103 of The Other Side of Green

“Grams,” I shouted down the stairs.

“Uh-huh?” she called back.

“Can I go on the internet? I want to look up violins.”

Her satisfied silence gave me the answer I needed. The woman’s silences were louder than her words.

I played, not thinking of music, scores, composers, all the little things teachers had put into my head and told me I needed to keep there. I just played, letting one note lead me to the next, my ear automatically correcting a wrong note before I moved my fingers.

It flowed, moving through me, taking me from Boston to a plane of being that only existed for me.

I stopped when I blinked up and noticed the room had pitched into shadows. Hell, what was the time? Glancing down at my cell, I cringed; half seven? What?

Shit, I’d be late for work.

Hell, I was late for work.

Five missed calls had rung through on silent. Two from a number I didn’t recognize and three from Jack. My heart pounded in my chest at even the four letters of his name on the screen.

As I typed a quick message to Evan apologizing for being late, I glanced down out of the window, checking the weather. Cold. There you go. One word to describe Boston in Fall.

A movement down by a tree across the small campus roadway made me look closer, my heart skipping a beat.

Jack.

He stared up at the window, hands shoved in his pockets, a grin on his face. I waved down and then picked up my cell.

You stalking me?

I watched him laugh as he pulled his cell from his jeans—he’d got changed into my favorite kind of Blue outfit: jeans, hoodie, and sneakers.

Blue…

That was the first time I’d thought of him as that since I’d found him again.

Pushing away what that could mean, I waited for his message to arrive.

Listening to pure heaven.

My cheeks burned.

You can hear me all the way down there?

He shook his head.

Look outside your dorm door, Lyra. And hurry up for work. I’ll wait out on the road for you. Tell Fred you are going to work and will be back at half eleven.

I blinked down rereading his message which didn’t make a huge amount of sense, while my stomach growled. When had I last eaten? Breakfast? Grams would kill me if she knew.

I took a moment to remember that Grams had died. I still couldn’t accept it. why I still couldn’t look in her box of things she’d left for me, or read the letter I’d taken out of the box. Lost my nerve again.

Pushing the pressure away I quickly typed back.

Who is Fred?

Jack had started to walk away toward the staff parking—his dark clothes blending with the shadows.

The security guard? Seriously, Lyra, what have you been doing since you arrived here?