How to Save a Life (24 page)

I hurriedly unlocked the door to my apartment and found the perfect spot for it right against the entry wall. I had to move an entryway table out of the way to make room for it, but once it was in position, it looked like it was made to be there.

I finally had to pry myself away from work and my apartment, so Grady let me into Emmy Lou’s so I could check out his piano to see if it needed tuning or not. All I had to end up doing was adjusting the tension of a few of the piano strings and it would be in tip top condition. I also took the time to dust and clean the finish since it looked like it had been forgotten in the corner of the room for quite some time now.

Using a dampened cloth, I was making sure that every little piece of the piano was cleaned to my satisfaction. It may not get used much around here but at least I would be happy with the final product.

I heard some hushed whispers from out on the stage. I was in the backroom which was just off to the back of the stage, so it was really easy to overhear.

“Brock where the hell has Mike been? I called for a mandatory practice and here he didn’t show." That voice sounded a lot like Toby.

“He just got back from St. Louis, he went to visit his dad. Apparently some bad shit went down between him and Sheridan." At the mere mention of my name, I perked up a bit and began leaning my way towards the door so I could hear just a bit clearer. I was leaning so far off the piano bench that I was really surprised that I didn’t go toppling to the floor especially after what was said next.

“Sheridan hasn’t mentioned anything to me about it," Toby almost sounded as if he were a little hurt that I didn’t come running to him about my problems. He had no idea what he would’ve been asking for.

“I don’t know, but when Mike called me to look after Sadie he sounded pissed and he sounded hurt. He has never been one to spill about his feelings, but I could tell that he was really into her. Something bad enough happened to where he kicked her out of his house."

“So that was why she was all gung ho about moving into Maggie’s apartment. I really wonder if Sheridan will stick around here now since things fell apart with them."

I had just about enough of hearing them talk about me behind my back. Why wouldn’t I stay here just because Mike and I weren’t friends anymore or whatever the hell we were?

Now was a perfect time as any to make sure the piano was completely tuned, so I began playing so I could
tune
out the gossiping going on out on the stage.

And they said women gossip, sheesh.

I started playing the first song that came to mind. I would on any given day openly admit my love for this woman, to accomplish as much as she has during her lifetime and career is an amazing feat. So I began playing “You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me," sung by Cher in the movie
Burlesque.
Her voice was my guilty pleasure and I remembered singing to more than one of her songs into my hairbrush while looking into my mirror growing up.

This song was mostly played on the piano with accompanying drums but all I needed was my hands and the eighty-eight keys underneath them.

She sang of not ever giving up on her hopes and dreams. And it pertained to me as well.

They didn’t know me enough to gossip about me behind my back, good or otherwise. I’ve been brought to the end of my rope before and I thought I was doing pretty well for myself now considering the circumstances. Granted things would be complete if I had Benjamin with me and yes, also if I had Mike back in my life once again.

I was so into playing that I didn’t realize that I had begun to sing as well. I haven’t sang in front of anyone or even in public in several years and I had vowed never to do so again. I knew that I wasn’t even close to being up on the same stratosphere as Cher in singing, but I thought I was pretty decent. Pate squashed those dreams when he broke my hands. He told me that I would’ve never amounted to anything as a singer or a pianist and that I sucked and it was better this way.

You didn’t want that type of negativity to sink in but since I heard it so often, I ultimately started to believe him.

I would often be humming or singing to myself while cleaning up the kitchen or cooking dinner because what else did I have to do? He would come up behind me and smack me on the back of my head telling me that I sounded awful and to shut up. So I just stopped singing. I don’t know why I didn’t ever stop wanting to play piano, but the not wanting to sing in front of people always stuck with me.

I finished the song and just sat there staring at the keys with my hands placed in my lap. I didn’t know that I had an audience until I heard several sets of claps behind me. I gasped and swung around on the bench to see Brock, Toby, and Grady standing there with their mouths almost literally hanging open, slapping their open palms together.

My cheeks became inflamed as I felt the blush creep its way up my body.

“I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start singing, I know you are just being nice."

“Doll face, I am nothing if not honest. And that was one heck of a performance." Toby boasted, and he hung a hand out, “Now, I know my Cher and girl you just brought it up a notch," he finished with a snap which caused me to chuckle.

I supposed that I could forget about their gossip fest.

I looked down at my hands and just shrugged my shoulders, “Thank you," I replied ever so softly.

“Hey, I have an idea. The Nation’s Capital is performing Friday night, how about you come on before them and just perform one song?" Grady chimed in with his brilliant to him plan.

I didn’t know how to respond, before this would’ve been a dream come true performing a song in front of an audience for their listening pleasure. But I’ve been out of the spotlight so long I didn’t know if I would be able to calm my nerves enough to go on.

I made a last minute spontaneous decision, “I would love to perform a piece on the piano, but I don’t know if I can sing along with it. It’s been a long time since I’ve sang in front of an audience and I stopped doing so because of one person’s remarks to me. I just don’t want you to be disappointed if I just end up playing an instrumental piece."

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Just the small piece you played a few minutes ago blew me away, I could only imagine what an intricate piece would do." Grady added.

Brock finally chimed in, “Whoever said anything bad to you regarding your singing abilities was a fucking dumbass. You need to know that what we three just heard was brilliant." He sheepishly placed his hand in his pocket and turned and walked out of the room. I knew he would be on Mike’s side once he found out everything that went on between the two of us, but it was nice to get that reaffirmation from him.

Mike

It had only been a few days, but things were just too lonely at home. Sadie was either whimpering or pouting and didn’t even want to play fetch with her favorite yellow tennis ball. I knew we both felt the same, I just didn’t know what to do about it.

I heard what my father had to say, but I still haven’t come to terms on what to do just yet. Brock told me that he ran into Sheridan just the other day so I knew she was still in Brown County, which lessened the brick that was laying on my chest just a little.

Bringing my favorite coffee mug to my mouth, I took a generous sip. It’s still rather hot, but it just tasted bland. Sheridan made the best coffee, it never had a tasteless flavor whenever she made it.
It’s because she made it with love.

Releasing a deep sigh, I poured the remainder of my colored water down the drain in my kitchen sink and watched the liquid swirl around the stainless steel basin until it settled down the siphon.

An idea sprouted in my head and I hoped like hell it was going to work. I had to be at work here in a bit, but on my downtime when I didn’t have a run, I would stop by the diner and get a cup of coffee from there.

Yeah, that would be my exact reason in going to the diner, I needed flavor in my life because this unsavory crap wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

And if I just so happened to run into Sheridan hopefully some spark of a plan would come to mind on what to do.

That was my mantra that I was sticking to, I was
not
going to the diner just to see Sheridan. I just needed a decent cup of coffee. Sounded brilliant and believable to me.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the ambulance, my partner Todd pulled into the concrete parking lot of The Diner and parked in an empty parking space at the edge of the lot.

It had been one hell of a day and now I really was in need of that cup of coffee.

The sun was setting and the gentle glowing of rich amber colors were fading into the horizon. Another day was almost complete. Another day without my Sheridan.

It was almost funny referring to her as mine because I really didn’t have the right to label her as such. She was never ever mine to begin with, so the point was completely moot. Wishful thinking I suppose.

Todd was the first to exit the ambulance, he was a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, becoming more and more salt colored as he continued to work with me. I quickly followed suit, exiting the ambulance and making sure the doors were locked.

We had several runs today luckily nothing being life threatening, which made it all in all a good day, even if we did have to run our asses off. We even had to sign off midway through our shift to restock the bus of things that we had run out of.

Walking behind Todd, I saw the illuminating red neon lights that the outside of The Diner was decorated in, they must have just came on with dusk approaching. You definitely wouldn’t ever be able to miss this place at night. He entered through the front door first and I took my time looking around the establishment to see if anyone I knew was in attendance. I wouldn’t outright admit that I was only really looking for Sheridan. Even if I was, I didn’t see her standing at any of the tables.

“Hey, Deputy Bradley," I heard Todd say to Ethan, but I couldn’t see because he was in my direct line of sight. He inched towards the man, which opened up my view on…Sheridan. But it was what she was doing that had me intrigued presently.

She currently had her open hand covering the top of Ethan Bradley’s. I had to do a double to take to really lock in that what I was seeing wasn’t just a figment of my imagination. And indeed seeing their elusive handholding a second time just twisted that knife that already pierced my heart just a bit further.

Rage boiled deep in my gut and it was almost too much to handle, I felt as if I were a volcano on the crest of erupting. She was now seeing fucking Ethan Bradley? Wow, the connection that I thought I imagined must have been just that, but that didn’t mean that it hurt any less.

“Mike!" Todd snapped his fingers in front of my face startling me out of my delusion.

“Yah," I bit out realizing that I was still looking at their connected hands. I looked up at Todd with my brows furrowed and my nostrils flared. Just then, I turned my line of vision up to meet Sheridan’s wide eyes, the penitence on her face was remarkable, like she was caught doing something that she wasn’t supposed to.

I didn’t know why she would’ve felt that way, we weren’t anything, right?