Page 117 of Not Another Love Song

After dinner as they were washing dishes, Gwen said to Alex, “Did you know Mabel and your mom wrote music together?”

“The symphony? Yeah. She played it all the time when I was growing up.”

“I’d love to hear it one day.”

Gwen smiled up at Alex, and found Ava on the other side of him, setting down more dishes for the sink. Ava turned to look over her shoulder. “Mabel, do you…do you have the sheet music still?”

There was a still silence, where only the water from the faucet sounded. Mabel pressed her lips together and stared down at her salt and pepper shakers. “Mm-hm.”

Gwen stared at Mabel hopefully. Mabel heaved herself up from her chair and moved to her upright piano. She pulled a binder out of the piano bench and placed it on the piano before taking a seat.

Ava moved to help her turn pages before Mabel slapped her hand. “I can turn a page perfectly well, you know—”

“Why do you have to be so crotchety all the time—?”

“Go be useful and grab that old violin.”

Ava paused, taken aback. Gwen looped her arm through Alex’s as Ava pulled one of the violins off the wall, feeling like she was about to see something magnificent.

Mabel started a beautiful tune on the piano—something grand and sweeping. Jacob cooed from the couch, laying his head on Declan’s shoulder. Ava came in over the top with the violin. They laughed when Mabel messed up and cursed, and when Ava came in too early on a section, Mabel snapped at her playfully.

Alex left her side, and Gwen watched as he pulled the other violin off the wall and joined the two of them. She sat next to Lenny at the table and listened as Alex took second violin. Ava stared at him with tears in her eyes, and Mabel yelled at him when he tried to show off.

Eventually, Jacob asked if he could take over the piano.

Mabel huffed. “Fine. Alex? There’s a cello in the closet.”

“I’m fine on violin, but you should hear Gwen on cello.” He grinned at her. “She holds it like a subway pole most of the time, but I think she’ll do okay today.”

Gwen glared at him and bumped his hip as she went to grab the cello. She took a few seconds to tune it and peeked over Mabel’s shoulder.

Ava was openly crying, refusing to stop playing.

Mabel found an old viola, Jacob was on piano, the Fitzgeralds were on violin, and Gwen was on cello. Declan asked if anyone needed him on tambourine, to a resounding no.

It was beautiful. They played pieces of the symphony, and Mabel would yell out things like “The trumpets take this!” and “We’d have a piece connecting these two.”

Lenny nodded happily to the sound of five musicians filling the apartment, and Declan sat there in awe.

After dessert, Gwen convinced Alex to play what they could of their love song. Ava cried throughout, and Mabel closed her eyes. Lenny fell asleep with a smile as it started to snow.

CELLO SUITE NO. 6

Alex would never get used to interviews. Even as a kid when he watched his mother speak to audiences, he wondered how she was able to become another person and yet stay exactly the same.

He thought the same about Gwen.

Alex watched Gwen shake Mark’s hand—which reminded him to do the same—and then reach for his own to lace their fingers together.

“Thanks for sitting down with the Times again. It’s great to see you two,” Mark said with a grin as he settled into the chair across from Gwen and Alex on the patio. “It’s been about a year since we last talked, right?”

“Yeah,” Gwen said. “Almost.”

“And how would you say things have changed for you in the past year?” Mark flipped open his notepad and sipped his cappuccino.

Alex started, “Well, I made a decision last winter to leave Thorne and Roses. I wanted to focus on family and my composing career, and I found that difficult to do in my existing lifestyle.”

Gwen smiled, encouraging him. They had practiced the right phrasing together so as not to anger Lorenz’s lawyers.

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