Hello! I'm sorry that this update took a little longer than I anticipated. Life was busy for a bit, and I needed a break from writing, but I'm very happy to be back. Hope all is well with you and yours!
Chapter 15: Let the Lessons Commence!
On Thursday evening, fallen leaves crunched beneath Christine's boots as she walked up the path to Erik's house. The man hadn't done much to spruce up the old Leroux place, but light glowing in the windows and music drifting through the cracks did wonders toward bringing life back into the forgotten bungalow.
Christine climbed the staircase to the front porch and raised her fist to knock on the front door, but she paused. Should she knock? After all, Erik was in the middle of a lesson with another student, and Christine would hate to disturb them, not to mention she was still traumatized from the last time she knocked on Erik's door.
That settled it. She'd wait outside. Not even the freezing November winds nipping at her nose could sway her mind. Christine plopped herself down on the front steps and shoved her hands in her pockets to protect them from the cold.
"Hi, there, Christine!" a voice called out in front of her.
The shivering Christine jumped to her feet as Luke Sorelli's mother walked up the front path toward the house. The woman gave a neighborly wave, which Christine returned timidly, terribly embarrassed that she'd chosen to sit outside in the cold rather than just knock on Erik's door.
"I'm just picking up Luke from his lesson," the boy's mother said. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh…I'm taking singing lessons with Erik," Christine mumbled. "I'm thinking of returning to opera…but, I guess we'll see," she added, though she wished she hadn't shared her pipe dream with someone who was practically a stranger.
"Oh, how wonderful!" Luke's mother exclaimed. "Good luck, but I must say, we'll be very sorry to see you go at the elementary school."
"Thank you," Christine said politely. "Nothing's definite yet, but I just thought I'd keep my voice in shape."
Luke's mother replied with her usual cheerful nature about a friend of hers who was a gifted singer, or perhaps it was a friend of a friend; Christine had quickly lost the thread of the woman's scattered rambling.
"And Erik leaves his door unlocked, too," Luke's mother explained as she let herself into the house. "He doesn't want us waiting out in the cold."
Christine nodded and followed the woman inside. Erik had sent her a rather lengthy text message earlier that day. From the first few lines, it appeared he was giving her instructions for their first lesson, but Christine had been rushing out of work and had forgotten to read the rest.
It was surreal stepping into the house that had scared her for decades. As a child, Christine had only ever gawked at the outside of the dwelling, but as she looked around the foyer, she was severely underwhelmed; the house needed a great deal of work and some personal touches from Erik, but on the inside, the spooky old Leroux place was just like any other house after all. Her entire childhood had been a lie.
Luke's mother leaned against the wall and pulled out her phone to pass the time as she waited for her son to finish his lesson. Luciana Sorelli, her name was; Christine had known her when they had been girls, but not very well. They'd never been close friends, and neither had kept in touch when they'd left their hometown, never expecting to return permanently. Looks like both their dreams had failed, but while Christine had returned to Gothenburg in worse shape than she'd left and without much to say for herself, Luciana had left as a lovely girl and had returned an even more beautiful woman: tall with olive skin and hair cut stylishly just above her shoulders. In fact, she was far too glamorous for the dull streets of belonged on runways and magazine covers, not behind the counter of a clothing boutique in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
When Christine accidentally made eye contact with Luke's mother, she tore her eyes away from the woman and glued her gaze to the ground. She snuck one last side-eyed glance at the woman before tuning into Luke's violin lesson in the next room. Christine was amused to learn Erik used a "teacher voice" with his students too. It wasn't sugary sweet like her own, but was kind and patient, much like the way her father spoke to his students.
"That's very good, Luke but you forgot the F-sharp," Erik said.
Just like you did the last five times, Christine could hear Erik thinking.
"Why don't you try it again?"
I swear to god, does this kid even practice?
"No. Luke this one."
Are you listening to a word I'm saying?
"Alright, I think my next student has arrived." Erik was losing his patience. He slipped out of his teacher's voice for a moment.
Luke chatted excitedly as he packed his violin in its case, while Erik remained silent. Christine couldn't see them, but she guessed Erik was mechanically nodding to whatever Luke said. The sound of chattering grew louder, and Luke appeared in the doorway, the spitting image of his mother. He'd inherited her dark curly hair and vibrant green eyes, and he mimicked the woman's carefree gait as he skipped to her with his violin bouncing dangerously at his side. She took her son's burden from his hand and bid Erik goodnight. He replied with a nod, and the Sorellis were gone.
"Rough lesson?" Christine teased Erik.
"That kid does not stop talking!" Erik replied with a groan. Christine nodded; she was all too familiar with that fact, but what Erik said next surprised her: "I suppose, he's really not a bad kid though."
Christine's eyes widened. She'd always thought Luke was a troublemaker, but perhaps Erik was right. Luke wasn't a bad kid. He didn't bully his classmates or sass the teachers. He just couldn't shut up. Maybe he'd grow out of it. One could only hope.
"I'm very glad you've decided to take lessons with me, Christine!" Erik led his newest student into the living room and down at an upright piano in the corner of the room.
"I'm very excited as well!" Christine replied. Even if she didn't return to her career, the thought of singing opera again brought a surge of hope inside her.
Warm ups and scale revealed Christine's voice hadn't fallen into the irremediable state she feared. She was rusty from a year without singing, but with dedicated practice, she'd be back to her old standards in no time.
"Would you like to work on the 'Queen of the Night' aria?" Erik asked. Christine agreed, grateful for the chance to redeem herself after her mistake in the car. Though she'd never performed as the Queen of the Night, the celebrated aria had been a main repertoire piece and Christine was disheartened it was no longer in tip-top shape.
Erik's hands danced across the keys of the piano. His expert playing was a distraction, but Christine fought hard to keep focus. The fast runs of the aria were more difficult than she remembered, but the adrenaline rush brought back the thrill of being on stage. When she closed her eyes, Erik's living room dissolved into a grand opera house, more grandiose than anywhere she'd ever performed. The solitary piano was a full orchestra with her voice soaring above. Erik was but one of many audience members holding on to every note she sang. How she missed performing! But then Christine arrived at the section she'd butchered in the car. Her voice barely squeaked out the highest note of the aria. She sang to the end, side-glancing to see if Erik had noticed her mess-up.
"Not bad for the first time," said Erik as he flipped through his sheet music.
"Yes, but not good." Christine had made at least one obvious flub and there were numerous areas where she had no breath support or forgot an articulation or made some other mistake that reminded her how long it'd been since she last sang.
"You'll get there, Christine." Erik smiled over his shoulder, and Christine's lips formed a small smile in return. "Why don't we start from the beginning and we'll go over some of the places that need work."
The hour was up in the blink of an eye. Since Christine was Erik's last lesson for the night, no students came in the front door to signal the lesson was over. It wasn't until Christine stopped for a sip of water that Erik looked down at his phone and saw their time was up. Actually, he had seen earlier that the lesson was nearly over, but he'd refused to look at his phone to confirm the official end.
"I forgot to ask you earlier, but how much do you charge for lessons?" Christine asked as she pulled her wallet from her purse.
"You don't have to pay," Erik replied, bewildered, as if it were immoral for a teacher to charge a student for music lessons.
Christine's eyebrows jumped in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I won't charge you...Think of it as friends making music together instead of lessons."
"Well, if you're sure…Thank you!" Christine hesitated, but replaced her wallet in her purse.
"No problem. You can repay me with tickets to your Metropolitan debut!"
"We'll see about that, but if it were to happen, I'll be sure to get you a ticket." Christine winked.
The pair said goodnight at Erik's front door. Christine walked down the path and got into her car parked on the side of the street. Erik didn't turn from the window until he'd seen the last of her vehicle disappear from view.