Afra didn’t answer him as she continued to watch the video. “I thought you said Naomi asked Gary to play for you.”
“Gary got food poisoning.”
“And Rosa was going to be his backup?”
“Stuck in traffic.”
“Huh.” She paused the video and raised her eyes. Ari forced his gaze away from her hand. “So who is this guy? Because someone tweeted this video, and it’s trending on Twitter in Ontario. Ten thousand views.” She nodded at the sheet music on the piano top, and Ari’s ears went hot for no reason he could decipher. “And unless my ears deceive me, now it seems like you’re trying to catch lightning in a bottle.”
His stomach twisted unpleasantly. “I wasn’t going to use it for anything.” At least now he didn’t have to worry about trying to capture the music before it faded from his memory.
A beat. Then Afra opened her mouth, closed it, and frowned. “I didn’t think you were. But you didn’t answer my question. Who’s the pianist?”
“His name is Jax Hall. He works at the Rock.” It was safest to stick to bare facts. Every syllable that came out of his mouth would reveal him further. Though really, his sister knew him better than anyone. She’d figure him out eventually. “I was fortunate he was able to step in at the last minute.”
“I’ll say.” Afra hit Play on the video again. “Not a great technical player, but he’s got good energy. And he was able to riff on your song pretty well.”
“He didn’t know it,” Ari said, unable to help the note of marvel in his tone. “He only had twenty minutes to learn the songs.” Perhaps not impressive for a professional, but Jax wasn’t. By his own admission, he’d only taken a handful of lessons as a child.
Afra quirked a smile. “You’ve got a big musical boner, eh?”
Ari shot her a look. “There is no such thing.”
“Uh-huh, sure there isn’t. And you definitely don’t have one for the gorgeous bartender at the Rock. I perfectly understand you.”
Ari scowled and turned to the kitchen. His throat was suddenly very dry. “Would you like a glass of water?”
“Sure.” Afra followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the breakfast bar. “So. Since you’re trending… I’m going to up the social-media schedule a bit. Maybe you could film some ‘in rehearsal’ stuff for Insta?”
He scowled. “You know I hate—”
“Yes, yes, boohoo. But you know Noella’s going to be blowing up your phone in twenty minutes, because that YouTube video isn’t making you any money, but something else could be.”
Ari blew out a frustrated breath and drank some of his water. He knew that Afra wasn’t simply not wrong but was in fact very right. Didn’t mean he was happy about it. It was why she took care of things managerial and he played the music. She was just… better at that stuff.
“Fine. Have her email me a list of what she wants and I’ll make it happen.”
Afra grinned, triumphant. “Excellent.”
Ari waved her back to the couch, and together they settled into comfortable seating.
“So, sounds like the break is helping creativity.” She tipped her head toward the piano.
Ari pressed his lips together. Last night hadn’t just been an electric connection with another person; it was the first music he’d written in almost six months. When the vaccine finally become widely available, Afra had created an intense cross-continent tour schedule that left Ari exhausted at the end of every day. He had hoped some rest might bring the notes back to him, but the past week had been uneventful until last night.
“Ah. Well. Last night was good, right? You obviously haven’t lost it.” She tipped over to bump their shoulders together.
“Indeed.”
Afra’s phone pinged, and she glanced at it before setting it down. “Do you ever wonder if teaching Maman how to text was a mistake?”
“Maman is an extremely intelligent woman who would have figured out the basics of texting without your assistance.” Ari took a sip of his water. Shame he hadn’t made chai.
“Bitch,” Afra grumbled.
Ari didn’t smirk. “What does she want?”
“Dinner. She wants everyone to come over tonight.” Afra wrinkled her nose and twisted her water glass in her hands.
