Improvisation by Karis Walsh Page A

fact, she faced it square on at the beginning of every semester. “There are some interesting studies being conducted about the connections between geometric forms and music.”
    “Really?” Tina asked. “I’ve heard of mathematical principles associated with Bach’s works, but I never got how numbers and shapes had anything to do with music.”
    “Hey, Chloe,” Jan called across the divided table. “Do you have a pencil? And something to write on. Thanks.” She turned Chloe’s shopping list over and started to sketch. “So let’s start with a simple scale.”
    “In what key?” Tina asked. Jan waved her hand vaguely.
    “I don’t know. Pick one,” she said. “It’s not important.”
    Tina coughed as she choked on a sip of her whiskey. “Not important? Are you kidding?”
     
    *
     
    “Hey, Jan.” Chloe interrupted the heated discussion Jan and Tina were having about atonal music.
    “What?” Jan asked, holding the pencil out of reach as Tina tried to grab it.
    “I should get going. It’s getting kind of late.”
    “Really?” Tina asked, sounding as surprised as Jan was when she checked her watch. She and Tina had been talking for over two hours.
    “Oh, sorry,” Jan said, gathering her coat and getting up. “I didn’t realize. I need to get home to check on Dad. Well, this was fun.”
    “It was,” Tina agreed, standing up and shaking her hand quickly. “We should try not to do it again sometime.”
    Her tone was teasing, though, and Jan laughed as she put on her coat and said good-bye. Peter had gallantly, and annoyingly, offered to walk them to the car, and Jan expected Tina would take this opportunity to go after one of the single women in the bar. Instead, Jan watched her head straight to the elevators without a backward glance. The plan to have two neutral people there as buffers had failed, but they had managed to get through the evening with only limited insults and with no public scenes. Brooke would just have to be satisfied with small victories.

Chapter Five
     
    Jan was halfway across the hotel lobby when she spotted Tina curled up in an oversized leather chair, a book on her lap and a paper coffee cup on the table next to her. Jan barely recognized her—she looked so different from the slick, sexy woman of the night before. No less sexy, of course, but her beige sweater looked moth-devoured and her jeans were faded, with frayed seams along her calves and thighs. She wasn’t reading but was watching Jan walk toward her, an unreadable expression on her face.
    The chairs were placed in square-shaped groupings of four. Jan sat in the one next to Tina and sighed as she nestled into its depths and felt herself relax. She had left her house to give her dad some time to himself after she’d spent the morning following him around and overreacting every time he seemed remotely confused. They were both going to need time to adjust to the situation, and she needed to learn how to help him without taking away his dignity. So she had come in search of Tina, but she wasn’t sure how to ask for help. She looked around the lobby while Tina continued to watch her in silence. The arch-ceilinged room was inlayed and adorned to the hilt. Where the ornate carpet ended, marble tiles began. A fountain with a statue of cupid decorated the center of the room, its bowl filled with large flowers.
    “We have our year-end student award ceremony in one of the ballrooms upstairs,” Jan said, gesturing toward the balcony. “I’ve always loved this place. It’s a bit gaudier than my usual style, but it works here.”
    Tina hesitated a moment before speaking. “We stayed here every time we came to see my dad’s parents,” she said, staring up at a chandelier. “Mom and I would sit down here, and she’d tell me stories about what the hotel was like when she used to come here when she was young.”
    Jan watched Tina’s expression soften as she talked, and she wondered, briefly, what was in the coffee cup