Blue-Eyed Soul by Fae Sutherland, Chelsea James

to get along at the very least, if not be friends... or more.
    "Hi, yourself," Aleks said after a few beats of silence, and Remey's smile widened. "You didn't have to come all the way out here in the cold just to say hello, you know."
    Remey bit his lip and glanced down, fiddling with the trailing ends of his scarf before he looked up and met Aleks's eyes again. "Well, I know I didn't have to. But I wanted to. Besides, I'm having fun. They sound pretty good. I might've been more interested in joining marching band in high school if our band director had done pop music." He considered mentioning he'd simply wanted to see Aleks again, but he didn't think it would get him anywhere,
    Aleks lifted a brow. "Do you actually play a band instrument?"
    Remey shook his head. "No, but I could've learned. I've always wanted to learn the saxophone, actually. But I thought band was boring, so I stuck with orchestra, which was possibly even dorkier than marching band. Do you play any instruments?" It was obvious Aleks knew and loved music, that it was important to him, and Remey wondered if maybe Aleks had tried to have a musical career of his own, if maybe it hadn't worked out and that was another reason he'd come back to Haven after living in New York for so long.
    Aleks glanced down at the field, as if gauging whether or not he could take a few minutes to talk. Remey hoped so. The kids were all gathered around a table on the sideline, where the very nice couple who owned the café near his house had hot chocolate urns set up to keep everybody warm.
    Aleks must have decided he had a few because he shifted up a step and sat next to Remey.
    "I do, actually. I play piano."
    Remey beamed at him. "Really? I play piano. It's my favorite next to the guitar."
    Aleks nodded. "I dabble a little with sax and trumpet, but I'm not very good. Only good enough to occasionally back up singers at the club if I needed to, pretty much."
    Interest perked in Remey. "So you've been on stage before? I never would have guessed. You seem like you hate the spotlight or something. Did you ever think about pursuing a--"
    "No." Aleks's voice was curt, and Remey stilled instantly.
    "Oh. Sorry." He'd put his foot in it again. How did that keep happening? Normally, he was good talking to people. He did enough damn interviews.
    Aleks looked guilty and shook his head. "No, it's fine. You didn't know." He shrugged. "It's kind of a touchy subject, that's all. I don't play much of anything anymore, though, so it's mostly moot."
    Remey was dying to know why, but he was sure asking would only prompt Aleks to back away from him again, literally and figuratively. "I've been thinking about getting a piano for the house. I have a keyboard, but it's not the same." He slid a glance over to Aleks. "Maybe you could tell me where I should look."
    Aleks shrugged. "Carl's your best bet. He's got a couple in stock, and if you're looking for something different, he could probably special-order it for you. Why don't you have a piano, if you play?"
    "I never got around to getting one for the place I have in L.A. In truth, I never got around to getting a lot of things, mostly because I wasn't there enough to have any use for it." Remey paused, then glanced over at Aleks, trying to judge his mood. He wanted to ask Aleks to go someplace with him, even if it was just to the little café across from the town square Remey had already fallen in love with, but Remey figured he probably had to pick Willow up as soon as practice was over. He'd never dated anyone who had kids before... not that he was dating Aleks. But, oh, he wanted to be.
    "It couldn't have felt much like a home," Aleks commented, and Remey shook his head.
    "No, not really. But it's part of the reason why I bought a house here... it feels so much more like home than L.A. ever did. I'm not a city boy at all." Remey tilted his head at Aleks, curious. "Do you really not play at all, ever? I mean... I know I couldn't stop playing, unless