London Harmony: Minuette (15 page)

Mindy was already home when I reached there after running from Fran.  I burst in, knocking very rapidly my three knocks.  She had concern etched all over her face, “Is everything alright Netty?  What's going on?”

I paced to the sofa a couple times, trying to calm.  I got the right count the third try, she sat down with me.  I exhaled. “They are about to find out.”  I swallowed. “They finished all three levels of melodies and discovered the Morse Code.”  I paused and said, “When did you learn Morse?”

I shook my head, that didn't matter.  “I'm going to be out of a job in the next day or so once they decode the Morse.  The agency is probably going to drop me for improprieties.  What are we going to do Mind?”

I felt tears welling up in my eyes, I loved working at London Harmony, and I loved the people there.  I actually felt like I belonged somewhere for the first time.  No... I looked at my concerned best mate, for the second time.

She hugged me and just held on as I got my breathing under control.   Then she released me and ducked a bit to catch my eyes with hers.  “Just a sec. Hold that thought.”  She went into the kitchen and brewed some coffee.  She just stood there stiffly with her back to me until the coffee was done brewing.

I had to smile as she prepared two cups then started to turn, but stopped then fished a couple saucers from the cupboard and placed the cups on them.  She smiled mirthfully as she brought them back to the couch.  She held her hand up and shook her head when I was about to talk.

“First drink up.  It will help settle your nerves.”

She even tapped her spoon on her cup to get the last drip of coffee off of it.  She was succeeding in calming me just by her actions.

It wasn't until we finished our coffee and she got up to get a second cup for each of us that she asked as she sat back down, “Now then, how do you know they'll figure it out?  And from what you have shared, you work your butt off for them, they have to see that, and how valuable a resource you are to their company.”

I exhaled heavily and caught myself almost smiling as I blurted out, “Bloody hell Mind because you signed it... the music.  Your secret code at the end started with your initials.  Those women are smart, scary smart.  I don't know how they hadn't figured everything out long ago.”

She went pale as a ghost and asked in a voice barely above a whisper, “You saw the final message?  My confession?”

I shook my head. “Not the whole thing, once I figured out the first two letters were your initials I sort of... I panicked and ran.  I don't know what to do... you always know... so I came home to you to see what to do.”

Her furrowed brow softened and she looked at me almost tenderly as she smiled.  She took my hands and led me to the piano and sat us down on the bench.  She kept her eyes on me and she looked almost nervous as she blindly lifted the fallboard and said bashfully, “It doesn't matter does it?  So long as we have each other we can get through anything right lady?”

I blushed and nodded as she started to play a melody I had never heard he play before.  It felt emotionally raw and hopeful and resonated deep down in my very being, where I kept my secrets locked away.  She swallowed and said as she played, “You're going to find out anyway when they share the coded message with you.  I've been so afraid of telling you because I don't want to lose you, Annette.”

I almost snorted.  “Hey, that's impossible.  Always and forever...”

She smiled almost sadly as she responded, “...forever and a day.”

The music picked up a bit as she said, almost carefully, “Nett, I have to make a confession to you.  You might change your mind...”

What was going on, she was scaring me now.  I asked in a choked voice, “What is it Mind?”

She took a deep breath as the music started reaching for a crescendo, she swallowed again and locked eyes with me, “Annette Lenore Corrick...”

Shite, it had to be bad if she was three naming me.  I braced myself for the worst and she started, “I...”

She was interrupted by a knocking at the door.  She exhaled in a great sigh as she was saved.  She kept playing softly as she nudged her chin toward the door.

I nodded and stood, I had a reprieve from whatever was spooking her so much.  I paced to the door and opened it and froze.  Standing there preparing to knock again was June, with Vanessa standing behind her.  Busted.  I just stood there, not knowing what to do.  They found out faster than I would have thought.

She started laughing.  It wasn't a mean laugh, it was full of amusement.  I blushed and looked down sheepishly, afraid to meet her eyes.  Then she chuckled out, “Minuette I presume?”

I exhaled and shook my head as I pointed back at Mindy. “No, but Mindy is.”

Mindy hit a sour note on the keys and stopped playing.  She was almost glaring at me as she lowered the fallboard to cover the keys.  She rasped out, “You are and always have been Minuette, Nett.”

I shook my head, forgetting about June and Vanessa for the moment. “I'm only your voice.  The music is yours.”

I blinked and turned back when June spoke, reminding me they were there, “Mindy and Annette... Minuette.”  She actually face palmed, I didn't know people actually did that, I thought it was just an expression.  “How could we have been so dense as to not have seen it?”

I blinked at her and the expectant look on her face.  Finally, she grinned and prompted, “Are you going to ask us in?”

Oh... etiquette!  “Umm... yes, umm, please come in.  Make yourselves comfortable.  Can I get you a coffee or water to drink?”

The smile never left her face.  Were they not mad at me?  She inclined her head as I moved aside for them to step in.  “Coffee would be divine.”  Van just smiled at me and held up two fingers as she walked in behind June.

I shut the door, closed my eyes tightly as I rested my forehead on the door frame for a second before scurrying off to the kitchen to prepare two more coffees.  Mindy had stood and just moved out from behind the bench as they sat on our little couch.

June looked around as I handed them their coffee on saucers.  Van raised her cup and looked at the saucer with great interest as June said to her, “The place is immaculate, you can certainly tell our Squirrel lives here.”

I blushed again as Mind stepped up beside me and clasped my hand in moral support.  I let the warmth of her touch wash through me.  June put her cup on her saucer and motioned with a hand to the oversize chair we had for company we never had in our place.  “Please ladies, sit, you're making me nervous.”

We sat, it was extremely cozy for two.  I was acutely aware of our legs and shoulders pressed together.  She didn't let go of my hand, she had it in a welcomed death grip.  Van smiled at our hands.

I blurted out, “I'm sorry I deceived you.  I'll pay back all the money you paid me.  I promise!  It will just take time.”

June's smile was growing bigger and bigger as I rapid fired my nervous plead.  She was genuinely amused at what I was saying, I was in deep shite wasn't I?  She exchanged an incredulous look with Vanessa and then asked me, “Why in heaven's name would you do that?  You're the best office assistant we could have ever wished for.  You put in more effort than most of the people at either London Harmony locations, Squirrel.”

I blinked and exchanged looks with Mindy.  Then June paused and furrowed her brow.  “Just why do you think we are here today Annette?”

I shrugged and asked, “To sack me?”

Van made a surprised explosive sound and covered her smile.  Mindy, always braver than me moved slightly forward in a protective gesture as she tightened her grip on my hand.  She asked in her divinely raspy voice.  “If not that, then what?”

June was having fun with us, I could tell in her body language and her expressive face.  Instead of answering she asked me, “Why did I hire you?”

I stared at her and then asked, “To find Minuette?”

She wiggled her eyebrows.  “And why did I need your help to find that mystery woman?”

I swallowed.  Was this going where I thought it was?  I said cautiously.  “You wanted to sign her with your label.”

She was slowly making a rolling on motion with her hand as her smile turned into a mischievous smirk.  “And now that I have found Minuette?”  She moved her hand between us indicating she thought both of us were Minuette and not just Mind.

I swallowed and looked at my defiant friend.  “You... want to sign her?”

June grinned and flicked her fingers.  A black plastic card spun through the air to be caught deftly by Mindy's free hand.  I stared at it as she flipped it from side to side.  One side had a gold script J on it and the other a gold phone number.  It was a J-Card.  She was serious.  They weren't there to fire me, they were there to sign Mindy!

My excitement grew as Mind just stared at the card a minute.  I couldn't read her expression.  I whispered, “They want to sign you Mind.”  Then I got the expression, it was anger.  She growled, “You're Minuette.  I wrote the music for you, it has always been for you.”

I protested again in our old, tired, argument, I caught the tinge of anger in my voice when I responded to her, “I'm just your voice.  Everything the music is came from you.”

She looked to be almost tearing up as she whispered, “For you.”

June said in a tone of soft concern.  “You two don't see it do you?  You are both Minuette.  Together you make a whole.  You can hear it in the music, not just the voice but in the piano too... the emotion that connects it all together, to merge into one complete whole that would be found wanting, one without the other.  The two halves of the mystery woman that people have been raving about for years.”

She asked, “What do you say ladies?  Can we talk?”

Mind said breathlessly to me gain, tears welling up in her eyes.  “The music was for you.”  Then she paused and looked over at the women and her tone changed to one of steel, “What exactly are you offering here?”

Then we sat back, Mindy stroking the back of my hand with her thumb, warming me up inside.  I can't tell you how much I yearned for her just then.  June explained the contract she was proposing and said we could even remain anonymous if we wished, like she had done at first with her J8 persona.  She believed that the music had to be shared with the masses, it would be a shame if it wasn't.  Even if London Harmony didn't make a penny.

I just watched how Mindy reacted and followed her lead, it was her music.  She was distracted, what should have been exciting or outright scary seemed to take second chair to something for her.  She had been about to make some sort of confession before they showed up.  She kept searching my eyes.

Did she want us to stop making music as Minuette?  Was she... was she wanting to move out on her own?  I had to tell her how I felt.  Get over my fear and just say something before I lost her.  I bit my lower lip hard and resolved to do just that as soon as June and Vanessa left.  I couldn't live like this anymore, my heart hurt so much all the time.

Finally, when they seemed to be winding down their pitch, I just squeaked out, “It is Mindy's decision.  I'll do anything she says... I'm only her voice.”

We were interrupted by a knock at the door.  I blinked at it, for years it has just been Mind and me, only our parents ever visited.  Why now, when my best mate and I desperately needed to have a serious conversation, did our flat suddenly become Waterloo Station?

I glanced at her and then our hands where she was holding mine so hard I could see white impressions around her fingers.  I gave her an apologetic look and stood,  I could feel blood rushing back into my hand as she released me and I stepped up to the door.

I opened it and a grinning Fran was there.  “Hi Nett, are the girls here yet?”

I looked back at them and then said, “Umm.. yes, please come in.  Can I get you some coffee or water?”

She shook her head as she stepped into our flat. I closed the door slowly and looked between her and the kitchen anxiously.  Mindy called over, “You may as well, it will drive Netty around the bend if you don't.”

Fran looked at her then me and she furrowed her brow then said, “Alright then, water would be great.”

I felt more than a modicum of embarrassment at the fact that a bit of anxiety lifted with that.  I hustled to the kitchen, carefully metering my steps as she walked over to gave my best mate a wave as she settled on the arm of the couch beside her sisters.  I retrieved a bottle of water for her and made my way back.  I handed it to her and she made a half salute with it as she watched Mindy and me.

Mindy captured my hand again and yanked me down beside her.  I gleeped a bit and Fran grinned.  Then before anyone else could say a word, June asked, “So just how did you uncover our Squirrel's secret anyway, Small Fry?”

Fran grinned smugly as she said, “Mindy's declaration of her love for Annette in the Morse Code message.  I verified her initials with their yearbook.”  She looked down at our clasped hands. “I'm so glad you finally told her Mindy, you two make such a cute couple.”

What was she talking about?  She asked her, with excitement on her face, as she smiled at me, “How did our girl react to your confession of love?  I wish I had been here.”

I was feeling a little dizzy and started to hyperventilate.  What was she saying?  I looked at Mindy's hand possessively holding mine.  She was going to confess...  I swallowed and looked at my obsession who had gone still as stone and pale as a sheet.