Page 9 of Share with Me

As for Ivan, he couldn’t imagine not being self-made. All his life he had worked hard. It had paid off with a full scholarship to Juilliard. For a season he was here in a small coastal orchestra instead of being in the Atlanta Symphony or Boston or Vienna, but only for a season. Ivan was proud that he’d worked hard and made a living and was taking care of his grandma. Grandpa Otto, now walking the streets of gold in heaven, would be happy to know he was keeping his promise.

Still, Ivan hoped it hadn’t been a mistake to introduce a fellow orchestra member to his brother who had dropped out of cosmetology school at least twice. Maybe it worked out after all in Ivan’s favor. It was Zoe’s twenty-fifth birthday today. And she had paid SISO generously to add this event to their December calendar. Conductor Hank Petrocelli hadn’t minced a word when he said they’d be able to keep renting their rehearsal studio for months to come. That much, huh?

Well, as long as the Brooks family paid SISO for this gig, that was all that mattered to Ivan’s financial well-being. Five concerts and soirées done since the Thanksgiving weekend, they had about seven more to go with the last SISO performance on New Year’s Eve at the City Hall in downtown Brunswick. After that he had five days off before the winter season began. A small town orchestra, SISO only paid its musicians for rehearsals and performances, so the more events they had, the more Ivan got paid.

Thank God for my music studio or we’d be out in the streets.

Still, his exposure as a member of SISO would go some ways to get him back on the world stage. For that, he had Petrocelli to thank for. The conductor had put a lot of faith in him to promote him to concertmaster.

“Vivaldi,” Petrocelli spat out at Ivan.

Nervously, Ivan lifted his borrowed 1850 Vuillaume to his left shoulder and placed his bow on the strings. The music sheets were in front of him on the music stand but all he saw was the face of a certain lady superimposed on Vivaldi’sWinter.

He blinked but her face was still there.

Focus, Ivan. Focus.

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