A LIFE SO CHANGED
Chapter Two
Sarah walked into Richard’s with
Rose the next evening. She saw that it was just starting to rain outside when
they went inside. She prepared herself for a roll of thunder any second.
Per usual, Sarah followed Rose
onto the stage. Where was the boy who played the piano? He had to be here!
Sarah looked forward to seeing a sixteen-year-old Jack Dawson look-alike whom
she had admired from afar for two months. She didn’t dare even talk to the boy.
Cal hadn’t allowed her to talk to boys at all, so at the risk of being stupid,
she avoided them. Even though he had never told her so, she had been sure that
he was going to marry her off to the first rich man he saw.
Any man who had heard the name
Caledon Hockley even once knew not to lay eyes on his daughter.
No, she told herself. You are not going to
keep going in circles with Cal. Everything is over. You won’t ever see him
again. He’s dead, after all.
"I don’t know where he
is," Rose said to herself.
"Where who is?" Sarah
asked.
"Oh, the piano player,
Joey," Rose said absently.
Joey. So, that was his name.
"What’s wrong?" Sarah
asked. "Thinking about something?"
Rose shook her head. "No.
Just tired. I don’t feel like singing songs about Jack, either."
"Then don’t. Sing Heart
of the Ocean."
Rose sighed. "I don’t feel
like singing about Cal, either. It’s just one of those nights, I suppose."
Sarah nodded in understanding.
"Hey, Miss Dawson," the
Jack Dawson look-alike said. "Sorry I’m late."
"Don’t worry, Joey,"
Rose said. "Go have a seat, Sarah. I’ll talk to you in a while."
Sarah took a glance at Joey. He
had the same blue eyes as Jack, the same jaw...he was practically a replica of
Jack. She felt her face flush. Every day, for two months, she had tortured
herself by not saying one word to him.
Sarah sat in a spot in the back.
Her mind occasionally wandered from time to time as she thought of a song
possibility for Rose. She cursed herself for not having paper.
Sarah looked around the cabaret,
people-watching. As much as hearing Rose sing made her happy, it got a bit
boring a few hours into it.
Joey stopped playing halfway
through Rose’s shift. She noticed that this was usually when he stopped. She
saw Joey walk off the stage and scan the room. Sarah and Joey’s eyes met, even
though Sarah was the one to break the gaze.
She heard the chair across from
her getting pulled in and out. She looked up, trying to hide her nervousness.
"Hey," Joey said.
"Hi," Sarah said.
There was a silence between them.
She saw a woman around Rose’s age walk onto the stage and take Joey’s seat at
the piano.
"You’re good at that,"
she said. "Where’d you learn to play?"
"My grandmother," Joey
replied. "She’s like my mother, though." One beat of silence.
"Hey, since we’re on the topic of mothers, are you Rose’s kid?"
"Sort of. Adopted daughter.
But I love her like she’s my mother."
Joey chuckled.
"What?" Sarah asked,
unconsciously touching the necklace that Cal had given her for her last
birthday.
"Nothing. We just don’t get
a lot of prim and proper young girls–excuse me, ladies–in this neck of the
woods here saying mother and whatnot."
"I can’t help it."
Joey smiled that same exact Jack
Dawson smile. Sarah felt her heart starting to melt. She couldn’t help but
smile like the idiot that she felt like she was at the moment.
"So…uh…I’ve seen you around
here a lot, Miss Dawson," Joey said, relaxing in his chair.
She smiled even wider. "It’s
Sarah, Joey. Not Miss Dawson."
"All right, Sarah. You never
did answer my question, though."
It took her a minute to remember
what he had actually asked in the first place. She felt so stupid for at times
being silent around him, but now she felt a ramble coming on.
"Well, no one else is home
and I’d be lonely. Don’t want to go back to that, now, do we? Besides, the
music isn’t horrible. And you play the piano really good...I mean, great...I
mean..." She got all of that out in one breath. Her cheeks felt flushed.
"I’m sorry."
Joey chuckled and leaned forward.
"What are you sorry for? Other than not making sense, which you didn’t
make a whole lot of, but you don’t need to apologize." He caught her eye.
"I get a break from 5:30 to six o‘clock, right before your mother comes
here to work. If you ever want to do something before then, like just talk...or
ramble as you just did..." He smiled. "I’ll listen."
She smiled back. "I’d like
that."
*****
As Sarah lay down to sleep that
night, her mind swirled around Joey. All she could think of was the way he made
her feel. When would she be able to see him alone? She was positive that she
would be able to see him tomorrow after his shift. Maybe they could talk then.
Maybe outside, too, if the weather was good.
Oh, this had to be love she was
feeling. If this wasn’t love, she didn’t know what this was. Whenever she
thought of the color of his light blue eyes, her heart skipped a beat, or how
he smiled…it didn’t have to be anything he did, really. It was just...Joey.
Sarah expected only pleasant
dreams that night, but all she got were nightmares.