Starting From the Top (Starting from 5)

“Yeah, uh…one sec.” I moved to the far end of the studio and grabbed an acoustic guitar from the wall.

T raised his brow, but he got distracted when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

“Dec is still talking to his mom. She wants to buy an investment property in LA and wants him to look at it. He’s having a hard time reminding her that he’s not in the family business. He feels like he has to be nice because she helped out with our place. Family,” he sighed, typing a quick message on his cell. “How’s your house coming along?”

“Pretty good. Smells like paint, though. I’m trying to stay out of the way while they finish up and keep the windows open for as long as possible.”

“Hmm. When will you have furniture?” T asked conversationally.

“Eight weeks.”

“Why so long?”

“It’s all brand-new and special order. I didn’t have anything worth a shit, so I had to get all new stuff.”

“Sounds expensive.”

I shrugged. “YOLO, baby. What’s your deal? Why are you stalling?”

“Dude, if I go in there, I’ll end up offering to help her out just to get her off Dec’s back. I don’t want to look at any fucking houses,” he griped.

“I see. So, you’re a pussy.”

Tegan gave me a dirty look, then inclined his chin toward the instrument in my hand. “What are you doing with that old thing? You have nicer ones at home.”

“True. But it has the same sound as the one I gave Sean to pass along to his son. We have a guitar lesson tomorrow.”

“No shit.” Tegan widened his eyes in surprise. “You’re teaching Parker?”

“One lesson. He might hate it,” I replied off-handedly.

“How come you didn’t mention it?”

Gee, was there a kosher way to tell your friend that you’d sucked his ex off? Tegan was a happily married man. I highly doubted that he’d care, but selling my own ambivalence was the tricky part. Hey, I wasn’t in love with the guy or anything. But I was attracted to Sean for sure. It would have been a bold-faced lie to claim I’d agreed to teach his son guitar out of the goodness of my heart.

I shrugged. “I got busy with the remodel and forgot about it. It’s an hour out of my day, and I don’t really have anything else going on. No biggie. What’s he like?”

“Parker?” Tegan blinked a couple of times. “I have no idea.”

“You never met your ex-boyfriend’s kids?”

“I met them twice. The first time, Sean and I bumped into the nanny and the kids at the market, and the other time his ex brought them to his house an hour early. Both times were very awkward.” He tugged at his collar in a universal “yikes” gesture.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. He was uncomfortable, I guess. Whatever. We had fun while it lasted, but it feels like a million years ago. I don’t think of Sean as anything other than a friend.”

“Same. And that’s probably why I get to meet the kids. I’m the guitar-teacher-slash-friend-of-an-ex. I’m not a threat,” I commented, following T into the now empty sitting room between Zero’s and Jealousy’s studios.

“Hmm.”

I stared at Tegan’s broad shoulders when he turned to lock the door, thinking this might be an ideal time to confess that I’d crossed a “friend” line with Sean. Of course, I’d also have to mention that if I had a chance to do it again, I would. For some reason, I didn’t want to share. I didn’t want to be told I’d made a mistake. I didn’t want a well-meaning warning not to expect anything from Sean either. I never expected anything from anyone. Sean was no different. My attraction to him might have a lot to do with timing and opportunity. It was like I told him…sex was just sex.

However, I was more curious than ever about the kids.

“So what are they like?” I blurted.

Tegan squinted as he straightened, slipping his key into his pocket. “It’s been a few years, but I remember them being small. The girl is younger, but she was as tall as her brother. And she was super chatty. I don’t think Parker said a word. Then again, Sean didn’t say much either. It was kinda tense.”

“Oh, great.”

“It won’t be like that for the music teacher,” Tegan assured me with a lopsided smile. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

I wasn’t worried.

This would take no more than one hour out of my life. It might go down as my good deed for the day or a forgettable blip before I headed to Home Depot to check out power tools and house shit. Besides, even if the kid hated me, his dog was firmly on Team Johnny. And his dad…yeah, I wanted to see him again too.

I knocked on the door and rang the bell for good measure, then switched the guitar from my right hand to my left. The sound of Lullah’s manic barking put a smile on my face. See? Someone liked me, I mused as the door swung open a moment later.