Page 13 of Finding Tane
Back in the living room the silence stretched out again. I was right about to ask him about New Zealand when he picked up his guitar. “Mind if I play something?”
I could barely breathe. He was being so damned romantic. “I’d love that.”
Damn me and my not being able to conceal anything. I blushed and he chuckled as he sat, checking the tuning on the guitar. He held the guitar as if it was a precious object, and for all I knew it was. I didn’t know the first thing about musical instruments, or what was expensive.
He cleared his throat, hesitated for a moment, then started to strum.
I nodded a little, feeling the rhythm, but I stopped moving altogether when he started to sing. His low speaking voice transformed into a pure, dreamy tenor as he sang in a language I didn’t recognise, but could guess was Maori.
It was a sweet, lilting song, yearning but infinitely pretty. I wondered desperately what it meant, transfixed by his voice, and the open way he held my gaze. Any shyness I’d seen from him previously was entirely gone, lost in the confidence of his beautiful singing voice.
He smiled, and I saw the way it played across his features. At the pinnacle of the song he raised his voice loud and fine, filling my apartment with the notes and tears prickled my eyes.
I quickly grabbed the dregs of my beer and downed them, trying to create distance from the emotions he was drawing out of me. I swiped at my eyes and swallowed hard.
He finished with a last strum and I set my bottle down to applaud him.
“Tane, that was incredible!”
“Ah, it’s okay. It’s a song I grew up with, everyone back home knows it.” He was deflecting, acting like what he’d done wasnothing special. I leaned forward on my knees and shook my head.
“No, you were amazing. Your voice is so pure! So pretty!”
Tane chuckled and strummed the guitar again. “Thank you.”
Something surged inside me, a desperate need. I wanted to go to him. I wanted to move the guitar aside, sit in his lap and kiss him hard. I gripped the couch cushions to stop myself moving. I didn’t know what his preferences were, and I’d invited him over like this to be friendly, to offer a tiny bit of community.
I cleared my throat. “So um, do you have a girlfriend?”
Tane lifted his head to answer and we both heard the clatter of someone coming up the stairs. My stomach sank. Ivy had ignored me and come home even though she knew I’d asked her not to.
“That’ll be Ivy,” I said. “I’m sorry...”
“It’s fine.” In an instant Tane had packed his guitar into its case and was standing up. “I should be heading back anyway. This was wonderful, thank you for the meal, Dill. I really appreciate it.”
I stood up, accompanying him to the door. A wild, desperate part of me wanted him to kiss me goodnight, but the door opened just as we approached.
Ivy stood there, dishevelled, her eyes red with tears, or something like it.
“Catch you later,” Tane waved and sidled past Ivy.
“Goodnight!” I called out, reaching for my sister. “What’s up?”
“Ah just stupid stuff,” Ivy sounded like she was annoyed, and didn’t want to talk, but she also shoved herself bodily into my chest. “Sorry for ruining your night.”
I wrapped my arms around her, frowning. “You didn’t. What’s going on, Ivy, you look like you’ve been crying.”
Ivy shook her head and hugged me tight for a moment before letting go. She swiped her sleeve over her eyes.
“It’s fine. Just a weird night, is all. I’ll be okay, I’ll just go to bed.”
“Did you eat? There’s leftover chili if you want it.”
But Ivy was already heading to her room. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me!” She closed the door forcefully.
Telling me not to worry when she’d turned up out of the blue and looking upset had the exact opposite effect. But I knew not to try and follow her, not right away anyway.
I busied myself with cleaning up the dishes from dinner, packing away the leftovers and cleaning the kitchen. Once that was all done I made up a hot cocoa and went to her door. Knocking gently on the door I called out. “Ivy, I made you cocoa...”
