Page 44 of Legally Mine

"What's that?" Brandon pointed at the piano in the corner. It was still closed and covered with a blanket; I hadn't touched it since its arrival.

"My mother sent it," I replied. I sat down on the corner of my bed. "A graduation gift, I guess."

"Your mother? You mean the one who..."

"I don't talk to very much because she abandoned my dad and me? Yeah, that's the one."

Brandon frowned at the instrument, then walked to the piano, as if touching its sleek surface through the faded blanket would make it more real.

"Why do you think she gave it to you now?" he asked.

I kicked my shoes off and pulled my knees up under my chin, tucking my skirt up behind them. "I don't know, to be honest. She says she's coming to town next month and wants to see me."

Brandon nodded. "Yeah, there are a lot of events going on in July." He looked up, suddenly alert. "They aren't involved with the DNC, are they?"

I raised my shoulders. "I have no clue. Why?"

"No reason."

We fell into an awkward silence again as I was reminded just how little I still knew about the world Brandon inhabited most days. I had thought I knew him so well, but the reality was that the few months we had together occurred inside a cocoon, a world encased in his luxurious house on the Commons, consisting mostly of his couch or his bed, where we alternately worked, studied, made love, and only occasionally emerged for a meal or two. I hadn't met any of his regular friends and acquaintances, and he had only ever met Jane, my best friend, once or twice.

I sighed. I didn't know what we were doing right now, but if it was actually going to work, there was some serious truth-telling to be had. At least, the truths we could share, I noted with a pang.

Would it have had blue eyes or green? Red hair or blond?

The questions rose in my mind before I could stop , and I shuddered. My heart contracted as I willed the thought away. I hated keeping something so big from Brandon, but I didn't even know where we were going right now. I wasn't ready to take the chance that something I did could push him away again. Maybe I'm too selfish, he said. Maybe I was too selfish too.

"You're awfully quiet over there, Red," Brandon said. "Could I convince you to play for me? It's been a while."

I blinked, surprised by the request. Slowly, I shook my head. "Not now."

I hadn't actually played since the last night I'd spent at his house, when he'd surprised me with a lavish piano before asking me to move in with him. And I'd said yes too, but less than twelve hours later had met his wife, when she had walked in on us in a fairly compromising position. And by compromising, I mean completely naked and all over each other in the middle of his kitchen.

"What happened to the piano at your house?" I wondered.

Brandon sat down at the far end of the bed and leaned back into a stack of throw pillows. He chewed his lip for a moment before replying.

"I had it sent back. You said it was too big anyway, remember?"

I nodded. It had been insanely big, a concert grand fit for Carnegie Hall, not someone's living room. Easily the most insane of all the crazy gifts he'd tried to give me. My fingers strayed to the silver cuff, the only one of those gifts I'd accepted, the one he'd given to say goodbye.

"I guess your mom beat me to the replacement," Brandon said regretfully, watching my fingers.

I looked back at the piano. "Well, don't worry about it. I'm not sure I'm going to keep it anyway. It feels funny to accept such a massive gift from her."

Brandon smirked. "I'm glad I'm not the only one you have a problem accepting gifts from."

I rolled my eyes. "Nope, just the one I refuse them from the most."

"Come here."

Brandon sat up and tried to tug me next to him, but I pulled my arm out of his grasp, opting to stay at the end of the bed and face him instead. He watched carefully.

"You want to talk," he observed. "Why don't you just say what's on your mind, Red?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"She's on the chase now," Brandon mock-narrated my thoughts.