Hitting the Right Notes (9 page)

Every disaster in her life had had that same root. Such a simple little thing – just a very human desire to be loved. It had been the powerful force which had led her to so many destructions in her life caused by her own self.

“What happened afterwards?” she asked, impatient and at the same time too eager to hear the end of Eric’s story.

Eric’s gaze fell to the floor and he observed the patterns on the wood for several long moments before he took a deep breath and looked back into her eyes. The bitter memories of past but yet unforgotten hardships filled his deep dark eyes again.

“Then I had problems,” he started and quickly tore his gaze off her eyes – as if even looking at her was a painful reminder of what he had been through. “I have always had very sensitive and fragile nervous system, and after struggling for several months to find some other purpose in my life – when my only dream had perished, I fell into depression.”

Darya saw his hand on the table; he was clenching and unclenching his fingers in several nervous movements. She hesitated, but eventually stretched her hand to cover his trembling fingers with hers. She had never thought that her own life disaster could have caused so much pain to others – to a fragile teenager, who wholeheartedly loved her. In a strange way, Darya now felt herself responsible for all of that. While she had wished for the whole world to forget about her existence, it was her who had forgotten about so many fans, who were looking forward to her, cherishing her, admiring her.

“How long did you suffer depression?” The word tasted too bitter on her tongue. Darya had had her own chance to get quite close to it after her nervous breakdown. She could only hope it had not been that bad for Eric, yet she could not stop blaming herself for it in some way.

“Long enough,” Eric answered. She could feel the tension in his body as he spoke and probably remembered those dark days. Darya could feel how much pain that was causing him, but she wanted him to talk. She wanted him to trust her with the deepest and the darkest parts of his life. Maybe that could be a key to overcoming the past…for both of them. “It was years actually till I forced myself to try to get back to my life. By then I had only Alison and Margo left by my side. Even my closest family members had given up on me, so the two of them became my true family.”

“Yeah, you never get to choose your family,” Darya said dryly and shivered as she remembered her own cousins looking at her with so much pity in their eyes that she dreamed to peel her own skin or vanish or anything just to avoid those hurting stares. “My mother was the only one who stayed by my side when I quit. At the time, though, it felt like torture. She would drag me out of bed every day for months…” Darya was surprised she started talking about her mother. She usually avoided mentioning Lucia Blake’s name as long as she could, but at this moment of complete honesty with Eric she wanted him to know more about herself – the real her – just a woman with unhealthy eating habits, an overprotective mother and lots of unsorted memories of past.

“Tell me more,” Eric urged her and Darya paused considering where to start. The buzzing of Eric’s phone interrupted her thoughts. His face froze as he heard the caller talk. Darya could not hear what they were saying, but the person sounded commanding.

“Uhm, yeah, she…she’s here…Just a moment, please.” He covered the speaker part with his palm and looked at Darya with surprise. “She says she’s your assistant Kiara. She has been trying to reach you since yesterday. The woman sounds almost
mad
…”’

Darya shook her head with amusement and picked the phone from Eric’s hand. Mad Kiara didn’t sound very promising, but she could not hide from her forever.

“Kiara? How did you know Eric’s number?” She tried to sound cheerful – she did not need Kiara to know what was happening between her and Eric. Not yet.

“Oh Darya, I was so worried. I’ve been calling you every five minutes since yesterday! I have even called all the hospitals and…” She didn’t continue, but Darya knew quite well how far Kiara could go in her search mission.

“Was there an emergency? And how did you get this number?”

“Well, you know my theory that I can reach any person on this planet via three phone calls. Everyone knows someone who knows someone… So, it was not that hard to find out who was your
mysterious companion
.” Kiara sounded smug and quite pleased with her research. She had probably found out a lot about Eric while she had tried to find out who was the unknown man that Darya had left with. As to the “theory of three calls” – it had been Kiara’s so-called personal measurement of successful search. She was sure that it never took more than three calls to find any person needed. Everyone knew someone and once you had the right network to put at work even three calls would get you anyone’s contact info. “I don’t want to interrupt your romantic weekend or whatever it is, but this is an emergency. There have been new meetings and business developments and we cannot delay with making decisions. There is a big deal on the table, but he refuses to wait.”

Darya rubbed her forehead. She could not concentrate on business now. More importantly – she did not want to. This conversation with Eric – talking about the past and maybe finally finding a way to deal with it instead of hiding from it was too important to abandon now for the sake of some investors and big money. She didn’t consider long before she made her decision.

“I give you full permission to act on my behalf. Have the lawyers prepare papers to authorize you sign any documents for me.”

Kiara fell silent for several long moments. Darya knew her smart assistant was trying to estimate how serious were her words and was there a possibility that she could change her mind anytime soon. “Darya, this is no joke. I can’t take such responsibility. What if I do something wrong?”

Darya felt Eric’s arms wrap around her shoulders protectively. As he placed a tender kiss on her head, she knew he was trying to be supportive and encourage her. It made her heart melt. “I am sure, Kiara and I trust you. Do whatever is needed. I’ll be back in two days and call you.” She didn’t give her assistant much time to argue. Some decisions needed to be made quickly and without much consideration, while others were too delicate and needed more time. She would let herself concentrate only on her life right now. Darya leaned back over Eric’s chest. His heart was beating so fast – he was still anxious about their interrupted conversation.

“Are you sure about what you told her?” He whispered in her ear. Darya nodded. Truth was – she was not. But this was a priority at the moment.

“Shall he go for a walk?” she suggested, trying to lighten up the mood.

Eric took her hand and laced their fingers. It felt so right holding his hand. The rain had stopped and the air was fresh and moist. As they walked admiring the emptiness of the surrounding landscape the feeling of complete rightness and belonging filled her heart.

They mostly walked in silence, but then Eric stopped and looked into her eyes.

“I still think you were too harsh on yourself when you quit music. You can’t deprive yourself from breathing and music is your air.”

Darya opened her mouth to say something, perhaps to protest, but she had no words. Eric had this innocent way of speaking the truths which everyone else tried to avoid.

“You don’t have to answer it now. Just think about it, please,” he placed another tender kiss on her forehead, which filled Darya with warmth. Something in that kiss promised that everything was going to be alright.

They both stayed mostly silent as they walked around the cottage holding each other’s hands. The silence between them was not an uncomfortable one, it didn’t hang heavily above them, it was rather a silent understanding that both of them needed some time to process the events of the day and everything they had been through.

Eric had been considering Darya’s decision to delegate all the responsibilities for her work to her assistant. In many ways, it pleased his heart to know that she had made the decision partly because she wanted to give them a chance and to fully concentrate on building their relationship. That flattered him immensely. He felt important in her life – something he would never dare to even dream about before.

Though happy with that, deep inside himself Eric could feel that she was making a mistake abandoning her work and the whole life she had been building all this time. He knew it had been a hard path for her – she had never talked about details to him yet, but he could feel it in the way she was now.

Eric knew he was being selfish. Though he knew that maybe it would be fair to advise her to reconsider her decision, he kept silent. It had been such a long and rough road to his happiness that he wanted to indulge into it now with her. She had had her own share of hardship, so why not take a vacation of all work, even if that meant some loss. Darya didn’t mind that, and all he wanted to keep his woman only for himself – not ready to share her with her work and the rest of the world.

As they lay in each other’s embrace that night, Eric stayed awake. So many thoughts filled his mind that even though his eyes felt heavy and his eyelids fell shut, his mind was racing still digesting the events of the day.

For the first time, he was so sure about his wants and dreams – for the first time since his teenage dream was crashed Eric allowed himself to make a new dream. He wanted Darya. He loved Darya and he knew there was a possibility of Darya returning to the music world and gaining back her place as a rock star. As much as Eric wanted her back on stage for his own self and his motives were quite selfish, he believed that Darya was born to be on stage - music pulsed in her blood, rushed through her veins, filled every cell of her body.

He wanted the real Darya – the one who was not afraid to be her true self and he was sure that Darya was the one who didn’t deny music from her life. He wished that for both of them. Maybe deep inside his heart he knew that was a mistake. He could already imagine Margo and Alison lecturing him for hours, but right now, he needed to make his desires clear for himself – he was going to fight for the woman he loved, even if that meant fighting against that very same woman. He wouldn’t let her deny her true self forever and hide behind the mask of carelessness.

Darya stirred in her dream. Eric worried that she was replaying all of the conversations in her sleep, or maybe even worse remembering whatever had made her quit her music career. He kissed her temple gently and held her firmly against his chest. He thought she could feel his attempt to protect her from everything that troubled her. After some time, her body relaxed and peaceful smile spread on her face.

“Dream of something beautiful,” he whispered to her, planting tiny kisses on her temple and shoulder. Eventually, his own body also relaxed and let the sleep bring some comfort to his tired ragger thoughts as well.

*

The last day in their hidden love nest was much happier. They had decided not to get back to any difficult conversations until they were back home. For now, they simply tried to enjoy each other’s company and learn to be next to one another.

It was a beautiful day. Eric felt such a harmony in this type of relationship that he didn’t doubt even for a moment that they were going to make things work between themselves.

“Let’s give it a real try,” Darya said eventually as they were driving back to Milwaukee.

“I’m happy you think we really deserve a chance,” he said. He knew he was smiling sheepishly at her, but there were things he simply couldn’t help around this woman.

“Yeah, well, see I never really believed in destiny and things like that, but what would you call it other than destiny that we accidentally meet in Milwaukee after so many years, at DaBlazers concert and out of thousands of other people notice and start talking to each other.”

“I’d definitely call it a destiny,” he loved where her thoughts were heading and urged her to continue granting her a beaming smile and a light kiss – enough to fuel her faith in destiny, but not too much to distract them from the road.

“So I thought, maybe if none of us have really reconciled with our pasts and now we have met – due to that destiny or whatever superpower there is,” she threw her hands into the air trying to depict whatever supernatural force she believed was influencing them at that moment. “So, let it be. I’m choosing my life or my destiny and letting it guide me to maybe even more foolish steps than I’ve done before, but hail, we’ll live it at its fullest.”

Eric could feel heavy tears burning his eyes. Would this woman ever stop fascinating him with her wonderfulness – everything Darya said felt so passionate, so real, so deep from her heart, that he wanted to pick those words one by one not letting the air carry them away. He wanted to keep all of them to himself –
all of her to himself.

Eric was truly selfish. He had finally admitted to himself. Right now he was an endlessly happy selfish person, as they were going to give themselves another chance. He would not let this fall apart this time. He would do everything in his power to build this relationship on the right basis.

“I love you,” he whispered to her, as those seemed the only words that felt right at that moment. “I love you,” she said in return.

Eric purred like a big cat. He loved lazy mornings, when he got all the time in the world to cuddle with Darya and do nothing but enjoy each other’s company.

It had been over two weeks since they had been back and he had practically been staying at Darya’s place ever since then. Not that they had decided to move in together, but Eric felt as if they had been together for years already. He had loved her for so long that at times his own mind played tricks with him confusing the years of loving her with the handful of days they had actually been together.

None of that truly mattered. All that Eric cared about was that he was now opening his eyes in the mornings and seeing a smiling Darya in his arms.