Claire looked over her shoulder and changed lanes again,
surging forward into yet another open space left by a car that
had just turned left. They zoomed forward and Haley nearly
gasped. What did her grandma always say? That they weren’t
on a racetrack, so slow the hell down, that was it. Clearly, no
one had ever given Claire that advice. Maybe they had and she
just ignored them. She seemed content to do that in every
other situation.
“I’m not sentimental about it,” Claire said grudgingly. “I
just like living by it. It makes it easy to take the boat out, or
swim in the very small window where it’s not frigid.”
“Do you play piano?”
“No. I do not.”
“Do you like it?”
A muscle in her jaw ticked. “Not particularly.”
“Are you just saying that because I love it and it’s my
instrument of choice and I would die to be able to play
whatever piano you have hidden away, and by the way, can we
please talk about that, because if I could practice at the house,
that would be incredibly helpful. I’ve been wondering what
I’m going to do about it for days now.”
Claire was silent as she took the exit on the right. The car
surged forward even faster now with the raised speed limit, but
Claire was still likely going at least fifteen to twenty miles
above that. “If it’s for school, then I’ll have someone come in
and tune it. If it’s beyond redemption, can’t you get a keyboard
or something?”
Haley gaped at her. “A keyboard? That’s sacrilege.”
That earned her another eyeroll and another press to the gas
pedal. Her grandma also used to say that if she wanted a