My uncle stood on the other side, boxes of his work balanced precariously in his arms. He shifted beneath their weight, sending a USB stick and a pile of papers sliding off the top. They fluttered down around our ankles.
I knelt hastily, tucking the USB stick into my pocket and gathering up the runaway pages. I glanced up at his familiar face. “Before you say anything, just remember, I’m your favorite niece.”
“You’re my only niece,” he grumbled, but there was still a hint of laughter in his voice.
I put the papers back on top, then took the box from him, lightening his load. “Which means you won’t have me arrested?”
He kicked the doors closed behind him. “Well, that depends on how quickly you start explaining why you’re at school on a Sunday night, instead of at Meredith’s, which is where you said you were going. How did you even get in here without tripping the alarm? If you broke a window, I won’t be impressed.” He walked toward his office.
I hurried to keep up. “No, no. All windows are intact. I used the code.”
“What? How do you even know it?”
I snorted, then remembered I was probably about to be grounded until I turned eighteen. Which, admittedly, was only a couple of weeks away. But still. I tried to force my expression into something more suitably chastised. “Sorry. But you’ve been driving me to school and unlocking that door in front of me for the past three years. The code is my birthday. Just like all your passwords.”
That resulted in a withering look, but I knew he wasn’t really angry at me. We wove through the administration offices until we reached Lawson’s, his gold-plated Principal nameplate on the door. He unlocked it, and we both dumped our boxes on the table.
Then he turned to me, folding his arms across his chest, giving me his best principal’s glare. “How long have you been sneaking in here for?”
No point lying about it now. “Months.”
His mouth dropped open. “To do what? Please don’t say drugs. If you say drugs, I swear, I’m going to take you down to that police station myself.”
I sniggered. “No. Something much worse.”
“Sex? Booze? What could be worse?” He narrowed his eyes, but they crinkled at the corners. He was trying not to laugh. “Are you running some sort of illegal cock fighting ring out of the gym?”
I raised an eyebrow. “No, but wow. Thanks for the ideas. If college doesn’t work out for me, I’ll be sure to consider those options. I’ve just been practicing in the music rooms. All alone. No sex, drugs, or farmyard animals of any kind.”
My uncle frowned and grumbled. I’d won him over. He knew how important music was to me. “So. No police?”
His expression morphed into fatherly affection. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. “What do you think? I’m hardly going to call the police when I’d be the one to pay your bail. I’ve got work to do. Go on, go do your thing. But set your alarm and meet me back here in two hours. You know how you lose track of time when you play.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. He so rarely lost his temper, and almost never at me. I couldn’t have stood it if he were angry. I kissed his stubbled cheek. “Love you…”
Not for the first time, the word ‘Dad’ formed on my lips. But at the last moment, I swallowed it down. Instead, I gave him a grateful wave and hurried back to the music rooms.
When I got there, I shut the door behind me and made a beeline for the piano, running my palm over its gleaming black surface. This was my happy place. And it filled something inside me in a way that nothing else did.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I set the alarm so I wouldn’t be late.
Then I pressed my fingers to the keys and closed my eyes, the first lilting notes lifting to the air. Time ceased to exist until a blaring alarm cut through my bubble.
I lost focus, hit the wrong key, and the entire song unraveled. “Dammit!” I slammed the keys hard.
I glanced at my phone and silenced the obnoxious beeping. In the blink of an eye, two hours had passed, and the real world came rushing back in. The sun had set, leaving me in near darkness, and I hadn’t even noticed. Patting the top of the piano like it was a dog who’d just completed a new trick, I murmured, “Until next time.”
In the corridor, I stopped dead as I caught a whiff of something unpleasant. “What the hell…” I murmured, wrinkling my nose. I took a few more steps, then froze.
Smoke.
I peered into the darkness, trying to remain calm while my brain scrambled to find logical conclusions. It was nearing the end of summer. People could be having barbecues nearby, and the smoke might have just blown in on the breeze. Or perhaps a wildfire had started. The smoke alarms weren’t going off. Nor were the sprinklers. I picked up the pace, heading for the admin offices. The entire time, I scrabbled with my thoughts, fighting against the obvious. Pushing myself to believe those excuses, because what was right in front of my eyes was too scary to comprehend. I rounded a corner and stopped dead.