Back With Baby, Ex Regrets Deeply novel · Chapter 24 of 32

Chapter 24: Home

"Left," said Alistair's grandmother. "Your left, not mine. Now a little more. No. Back. Stop."

The four men holding my mother's piano stopped in the middle of the drawing room on Heriot Row and waited, red-faced.

Gran stood in the doorway with her cane, which she pointed instead of leaning on.

She'd put on her best red lipstick for the occasion.

"By the window," she said. "Where the light comes in. A piano wants to be looked at."

They carried it to the window.

They set it down on the old carpet with a thump that made every glass in the cabinet ring.

The men left.

Gran walked across the room and lifted the lid and looked at the yellowed keys for a long time.

"It's out of tune," she said.

"Every note."

"Good." She shut the lid. "I can't abide a piano that's too pleased with itself."

Teddy came in at a run in his socks, with the bus held over his head like a trophy.

He saw the piano.

He stopped.

"Mama's," he said.

"That's right, my wee man," said Gran. "Your granny's piano. Your other granny. Come here and we'll make a terrible noise."

She lifted him onto the bench beside her, which I'd never once seen her do with anything, and put his hand on a key.

He hit it.

She hit one an octave down.

He hit his again, harder.

She did hers, harder.

They went on like that, the two of them, escalating, until it sounded like a tugboat being murdered, and Teddy was laughing so hard he slid sideways into her lap.

Alistair stood in the doorway with his arms folded and watched them.

"She hasn't let anyone touch that window seat in twenty years," he said to me, low.

"She's let him touch everything."

"She's let you touch everything too. She just doesn't say it."

That afternoon I went up to the top floor.

There was a little room at the back, up under the slates, with a skylight Gran used for storing hatboxes.

Alistair had cleared it while we were in Boston.

The hatboxes were gone.

There was an easel by the window, an old rag chair, a long table, and a jar of brushes.

On the wall, in a new frame with plain glass, was the thirteenth painting.

← Chapter 23 · All chapters · Chapter 25 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend