Page 69 of Embraced in Ink

“I don’t put personal things on social media. It’s all about work, and sometimes, me practicing the cello from the house. That’s all the Instagram they get from me.”

“Well, you’re Bristol Montgomery. People care about you. They care about your personal life, even if you think you’re hiding it.”

She frowned again, settling her cello between her legs. “I don’t think I’m hiding it. I know I am. They don’t need every part of me. Nobody does.” Except for Marcus, but she didn’t say that. It was understood. At least, she hoped so.

“Anyway, where are you having trouble? Show it to me. Let me listen.”

She settled in and picked up her bow, frowning. “The world doesn’t need to know everything. I’m only a cello player.”

“No, you’rethecello player. The face of our generation.”

“That’s laying it on a little thick,” she said dryly.

Colin shrugged, even as he sat down at the small piano she had in the corner. It had been a gift for herself when she wanted to learn the instrument thoroughly. Colin had been the one to push her at it, and honestly, she hadn’t been too worried about that. She had wanted to play, as well. Wanted to make sure that she had more than just one talent up her sleeve.

“I want to be the best. I don’t want to simply be another piano player. I want to be the one that people think of. I want to be the one that those outside our community know. And if that makes me an arrogant asshole, then fine. People will have to get used to it.”

She shook her head. “There has to be a middle ground. I want to be the best at what I do, but I don’t want to be the best in terms of putting other people down along the way.”

“I don’t think you have to do that. But what do I know? I’m a simple piano player.”

She snorted. “You just spent how long explaining to me that you want to be the best, and you already think you are. There’s nothing simple about you.”

“You say the sweetest things,” he said, winking at her. “Now, get to it. I want to hear you play.”

She nodded and closed her eyes, took another breath, and then began to play, not needing to see the music for this first part. She had the whole thing memorized, but that didn’t matter. When she got to a specific part, she would have to open her eyes and look. She flowed with it, knowing Colin was in the room but ignoring him. It was all about her and the music and what she needed to breathe with, but when she got to the part she kept slipping up on, she opened her eyes and focused on the notes in front of her, ensuring that her fingers were in the right places, by feel, by sound, and by a simple sense of knowing. When she finished, she let out a deep breath, any tension she’d had long gone thanks to the music.

She looked up at Colin, who was frowning at her, his eyes narrowed, intense.

“Horrible, right?”

“On the contrary. You’re quite astonishing. But I see that one piece. And I feel like you’re flowing toward a crescendo and then the music changes at that one moment, but it’s not your fingers or the way that you’re putting pressure on them. You’re right, it is in your head.”

“See? And you can’t just change that. I don’t know what to do other than scream at it and tell myself I’m going to be fine. But now I have this mental block in my head, and I can’t get over it.”

“That song has piano on it, do you have your iPad with you?”

She nodded and handed it over to him, unlocking it. He did a search and then groaned.

“I knew I had this. Okay, what if I play with you, at least the harmony line, and we can see what happens? Maybe at that part, if you let go and have fun with it, you’ll get through your mental block.”

“You think that’s going to happen?”

“It could.”

“Okay, let’s try,” she said, and then let out a breath before she got into position.

The two of them laughed, playing decently well the first time, and Colin shook his head.

“Okay, now that we’ve got that crap out of our system, let’s do this again. We can do it.”

“So you say, I feel like I’m just getting worse.”

“This is practice. You’re not supposed to be amazing each time.”

“That is so not something that you would usually say,” she said, rolling her neck.

“Maybe, but I’m attempting to be humble. You know, trying it on for size.”