Love Like Crazy. Crystal B. Bright

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СКАЧАТЬ it into a side pocket that Avery had made to hang from the rolling cleaning cart that housed all her supplies.

      Her father carried the same warm honey skin tone color, but on long days like today, he looked ashen and tired. His gray coveralls stretched tight over his rounded belly. The scowl that masked his expression spoke volumes. He, nor Avery’s mother, could easily hide their expressions.

      Avery bent down to roll the cuffs on her oversized coveralls to keep from tripping on them while she walked.

      “You get that end and I’ll get this end, and I think that’ll be it.” Clinton nodded to the area behind Avery.

      “Yes, sir.” She watched him walk away before she pushed her cart to the end of the top floor where she knew magic had to happen.

      Avery scanned her identification badge over a reader to open the door first. As soon as she stepped inside, her shoulders relaxed. The place already smelled like flowers and fragrant candle wax. She loved stepping inside Charisma Music’s studio.

      She got the studio on a good night. The section sat empty, which lately had been a rare occurrence. On the nights when artists filled the studio space, Avery tried keeping away from the area. She didn’t do it out of embarrassment because of her job. She worked and worked hard. However, she didn’t like seeing others going for a dream that had been hers at one time.

      Avery left her cart in the center of the room so that she could start her work. No use lamenting about what could have been. She dusted the surfaces. When she got to the control boards, she dragged her fingers over the knobs and buttons.

      “Maybe.” She snickered. “Probably not.”

      After dusting, she adjusted her headscarf over her hair, styled with two-stranded twists all over. Then she tackled the thick glass panes that surrounded the recording booths. She let her hand rest on the glass rumored to have been smashed with a chair by country singer Laura Smalls. Strange what people will do for love, or even lust.

      To make sure she didn’t leave any handprints, she examined the glass thoroughly. She didn’t need her father catching her slacking on her duties again.

      When she got by the piano that sat to the side, Avery hung around it longer than she should have. Like the control board, she danced her fingers over the keys, allowing one to dip down on one key so that the sound reverberated throughout the compact space. When the sound came, so did the involuntary hum that rattled her chest.

      Avery peered up to make sure her father didn’t pop up all of a sudden. When she didn’t see or hear him, she took a seat at the piano bench. She took a breath before tickling her fingers over the keys. She tried doing it ever so lightly, but then she got into playing a Stevie Wonder song and found herself getting into it more and more.

      She smiled and her body didn’t feel like her own. It felt both relaxed and on autopilot as she played the melody first. Before she knew it, Avery had started singing.

      She closed her eyes and imagined her life recording music in a studio like this and with people like Chantel and Truman Woodley. If Chantel could make it out of her humble beginnings to be a major power player in the business, Avery held out hope that maybe one day after finishing her business degree and getting a job her parents would be proud of, she could really pursue her dream. She could finally be Destiny Starr. If she did that, would they still be proud of her?

      When the thought hit her, she stopped playing. She hovered her hands over the piano keys. What was Avery doing besides torturing herself? This life could never be hers. She had made up a fake name to go with her fantasy life.

      Avery stood from the piano and returned it to the condition she had found it. She vacuumed the carpet and made sure to empty out all the trash bins around the recording studio area. With that done, Avery started to push her cart out to meet with her father. Getting done by two a.m. seemed like a gift. She would have some time to go home, study a bit more, go to work at the diner, and still get to class on time.

      Thinking about her schedule had her sighing. She shouldn’t complain. At twenty-two, she had time and energy to burn to go without sleep and work hard.

      Right when Avery opened the main door to go back out into the hallway, her father met her face-to-face, which startled her. She had hoped with the soundproof walls that he hadn’t heard her playing only moments ago.

      “All done in here.” She smiled to ease his concern and keep the conversation going in a different direction. “I would say you don’t have to check behind me, but I know you.” Avery laughed.

      “I should have had you do the business offices and I should have taken care of this area.”

      Busted.

      The relaxed feeling Avery had felt earlier behind the piano disappeared. She felt her shoulders tense up around her ears. She balled her hands into fists. When she realized the position of her hands, she shoved them in her pockets.

      “I didn’t—” She had almost said she didn’t touch anything, but she couldn’t lie to her father…again. “I didn’t break anything. Everything in there is fine.”

      Clinton nodded toward the bank of elevators. “I’ll check your work. Go put your cart away and wait for me downstairs.”

      “Dad, do you want me to—”

      He pointed. “Go.”

      With a single word, her father reduced her to a trembling child again.

      On the elevator ride down, Avery thought about the situation. Sure, she had made mistakes as a teenager. Who hadn’t? Since her breakup with Kenan, she had done everything she could to get in her parents’ good graces with one exception. She moved out and got her own apartment, despite her parents wanting her to stay while she pursued her degree.

      Avery realized years ago that she needed to take some responsibility in her life. She no longer needed to feel shame for her past mistakes. She worked hard. She earned her own money and paid her own bills. She hadn’t had a serious relationship in six years. She needed to be cut some slack.

      She secured her cart in the storage closet on the lower level. Avery removed her coveralls and hung them on the crook of her arm to take home and wash. She tried making the garment smell like something other than bleach and ammonia.

      Avery had her arguments ready in her head by the time she heard the elevator doors ding and she saw her father coming out of the darkened location. The sounds of the wheels going over the tile floors echoed off the walls until he got to Avery at the closet.

      She took a deep breath before she prepared to tell her father to respect and understand her. Despite past mistakes, she could be trusted. Even though she had her eye on a more professional career, that didn’t stop her other loves.

      “Dad, I—”

      Clinton cut her off. “You want to sing? You can do it in church. You are still going, aren’t you?” He shoved the cart in the closet and locked the door before he closed it. “You move out and we don’t see you there anymore.” He placed his fists on his hips. “This life, the one you desire that involves music, will only break your heart. It’s not a business that can guarantee you’ll get to eat every day or have a roof over your head.” He held her shoulders, which made her gasp. “Promise me that you won’t think about pursuing a life in music.” He shook his head. “I’m СКАЧАТЬ