Maestro by Thomma Lyn Grindstaff Read Free Book Online Page A

some excuse, and high tail it for Antipasto Central to get cozy with his ex-wife.
    Ever-so-gently, he touched her cheek, and she jumped. She hadn't realized there were tears in her eyes until she looked up at him and had to blink them back.
    “Yes, there's something about you, Anna,” he said, more to himself than to her. Anna . It was what Maestro had always called her in her time, too. Her tears spilled over, and with one of his big fingers, he wiped them away. “Come on. I'll take care of you.”
    Yes indeed, this was her Maestro, however young and accustomed to luxury though he might be in this time. Underneath the tie and tails and elegance was his same fine and generous heart.
    As she put her hand in his and stood up, and the warmth of his large hand enfolding hers brought the heat to her face again. She'd often tried to imagine Maestro as he had been during his years as a famous concert pianist, and she had always prided herself on doing a good job – she had a good imagination, after all – but anything she had imagined didn't even come close to doing justice to the Maestro she now saw. She couldn't help but wonder more intensely, as she had already done over many years, how on earth – and why on earth – a man like Maestro, well-traveled, urbane, and a man of the world and for the world, would have wound up settling down for decades in Appalachian East Tennessee.
     
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Chapter Four
    When Maestro and Annasophia exited Carnegie Hall, she had to pinch herself to keep from gaping at her surroundings. She had never considered herself a rube, but she had never been in a city whose size remotely approached New York City. Sure, she'd seen plenty of images of New York City on television and on the internet, but images couldn't compare to the real thing. She felt as if she were in a concrete kingdom, and the sheer size of the buildings that surrounded her stopped her breath for an instant as she gazed up. She hadn't realized she stopped in her tracks until Maestro gently touched her shoulder. When she glanced at him, he gave her a sweet smile. While she'd been lost in reverie, he had already hailed a cab.
    Maestro took Annasophia to Lili's 57, where she tried sushi for the first time. It would certainly not be the last, either, not that delicious stuff. There were restaurants in Johnson City that had sushi bars, but Annasophia had never worked up the nerve to try it. In Maestro's company and with his encouragement, she thought she'd be open to anything.
    Of course, that was how she had always felt about him. In the past, though, sushi had never entered the picture. The warm, melting feeling that suffused her every time she looked at him or he at her hadn't been part of the previous picture, either. Well, it had been, but in a different way.
    While they ate, Annasophia worried about what would come next. Would he bring her back to his hotel room like a lost puppy dog? She'd told him that she had nowhere to go, which she now regretted. She didn't want him feeling sorry for her.
    On their way out of Lili's, Maestro hailed another cab. A person wouldn't have any use for a car here. They climbed in, and she lightly touched his arm. “Maestro... I mean, Mr. Dahl...” Good grief. She had to stop calling him Maestro . To him in this time, she must sound like an idiot.
    To her surprise, he chuckled softly. “Wilhelm will do, but I have to say, I like how Maestro sounds when you say it. But please, no Mr. Dahl .”
    She flushed again. If she didn't stop all this flushing business at every word he said that made her tingle, she would render herself permanently red in the face. “I just wanted to say, when I told you I didn't have anywhere to go, I meant – well, I haven't got a hotel room yet because I basically just arrived. So I'd really appreciate any suggestions about a good place to stay...” She trailed off. How much money did she have in her pockets, anyway? Sixty dollars? Fat chance she'd find a