Playing the Maestro by Aubrie Dionne Page B

I’m fighting a small cold.” Melody rubbed her nose.
    “A cold? In the middle of June?”
    Suddenly her chair had turned into the hot seat. Melody’s legs stuck to the plastic underneath. She picked the wrong day to wear her short shorts. But a little looking-good revenge after a breakup couldn’t hurt. She shrugged. “Could be allergies.”
    Carly soaked her reed and cast a glance at her friend’s long, bare legs. “That’s one way to deal with the lack of AC.”
    “All my other shorts were dirty.” Melody kept her eyes on her music, pretending to riffle through the pieces.
    “Mm-hm. Haven’t heard from you lately. Been out on some late nights?”
    Wow, Carly is nosy today. Melody pulled down the edge of her shorts, thinking maybe her revenge fantasy was a bad idea. “No. Just practicing for the concerto competition.” Melody resisted the urge to wince, wishing she’d been doing more practicing and less romancing.
    “Good, because I was so worried about those staccatos in movement two.” Carly’s voice dripped with sarcasm. She nudged her shoulder. “All joking aside, something up?”
    Melody hated how her friend seemed to have ESP, especially tuned to dating. Carly always knew when Melody had kissed someone, and her friend didn’t believe in the don’t-kiss-and-tell policy.
    “My niece got rushed to the emergency room the other night. She’s fine, but it was a big scare for my sister and me.” She hated using Violet as an excuse. But it was partially true.
    Carly’s mouth dropped, along with her haughty attitude. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Is she going to be okay?”
    “Yeah, it’s asthma stuff. My sister’s keeping an eye on her.”
    “Gosh. Poor little thing.” She stuck her reed in her oboe. “Should I send a card?”
    “It’s okay. They’re handling it great. It seemed to scare me worse than her.”
    “That’s because you’re a caring aunt, sweetie.”
    “I try.” Melody settled into her seat, feeling as though she’d been spared Carly’s laser gaze for the time being.
    Wolf took the podium, and his eyes traveled right down to Melody’s bare legs. He took in an almost imperceptible gulp of breath and his eyes flashed wide before dropping to his score.
    Hot damn! Melody gloated as she assembled her flute. Take that, Mr. Let’s Just Be Colleagues.
    Melody’s smiled wiped right off her face when she turned to Carly. Her friend gaped like she’d just seen him blow her a kiss. “Wait a sec. Is there something going on between you and the conductor?”
    Blake chose that moment to enter the stage. Melody squirmed, wishing her music stand could go up three inches further. She’d told Carly everything about her life ever since their college days, so she wasn’t sure she could get away with hiding this whopper of a secret.
    With Blake’s fine-tuned ears, she had to try.
    “What? The conductor and me? That’s ridiculous.” Melody picked up her flute and played the loudest note she could, signaling to Carly the conversation was over. Then, she launched into her Taffanel and Gaubert exercise number four, which should take at least twenty minutes from start to finish.
    Carly grabbed the end of Melody’s flute and pulled it from her mouth. “No one plays Taffanel and Gaubert for no reason. I’ve been your best friend for the last ten years. I know when you’re hiding something. Now spill.”
    Melody glanced at Blake. He picked at a piece of lint on his shirt. Now would be a good time to ask for the tuning pitch. Carly couldn’t talk with her reed in her mouth and the violinist just sat there inspecting his outfit.
    Carly tapped her foot. “So?”
    “I can’t talk right now.” Melody brought her flute to her mouth. “I need to practice. The concerto competition is coming up.”
    “Sure.” Carly spoke over Melody’s scales. “Leave your best friend in the dark. Guess I’m not as important as your new fling.”
    Anger, embarrassment, and guilt ripped through Melody