Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(35)

She hated being nervous. She wanted to be cool and confident, but essentially, she was panicking.

Damon opened the front door, and Trihn followed him into the one-story house.

“Mum! I brought you a surprise,” Damon called.

A disjointed song being played on a piano could be heard down the hallway. Damon winced as whoever was playing had missed a few keys.

“In the music room,” she called back.

The house was cozy. Pictures lined all the walls. Photographs of Damon at every age looked back at her. Random theater props took up a large portion of the space. As they walked down a hallway, they passed several musical instruments. The space was the perfect testament of the love a mother had for her son and her more creative passions. Trihn already felt at home.

They entered a massive den that had been converted into a music room. A boy no older than ten sat in front of a grand piano positioned in the corner. It completely dwarfed him as he mashed at the keys. Next to the boy sat a middle-aged woman with her hair held back into a bun by a pair of pens.

Damon cleared his throat. “Mum?”

The woman swiveled around on the seat, and the boy stopped playing.

“Damon! Perfect timing.” She turned back to the boy. “No, don’t stop playing, Joseph. Keep going.”

The boy sighed heavily and started up on the piano again. Damon’s mom hopped up from her seat.

“Mum, this is the girl I’ve been telling you about,” Damon said.

“Hi. So nice to meet you,” Trihn said, extending her hand.

“Don’t mind me. I’m more of a hugger,” his mom said. She pulled Trihn into a quick embrace. “Trihn, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Trihn said.

She was surprised that Damon had spoken about her. She wasn’t that close to her family, and with them so far away, she hadn’t discussed anything like her dating life with them. They didn’t even know she and Neal had broken up.

“I’m Melanie, but feel free to call me Mel. Everyone does.”

“You have a beautiful home, Mel.”

Mel snorted. “It’s a disaster.” She tugged at a loose lock of dark hair. “Don’t judge me for it. It’s the curse of a creative type. Projects everywhere!”

Trihn laughed. “I like it. Feels very homey.”

“Probably for the better. If I haven’t changed by now, I’m not changing anytime soon,” she said with a smile. “Now, Damon, come take over my lesson with Joseph.”

“Mum! Do you only invite me over, so I will teach your lessons for you?” he asked, his British accent thickening around his family.

“Free labor, kid,” she said with a wink.

Damon huffed but sat down at the piano. Joseph looked up at him with hero worship. They must have done this before. Damon started helping Joseph with the piece he had been botching.

“My son, the prodigy musician, wasting his talents on a soundboard in nightclubs,” Mel said, shaking her head.

“Not wasted,” Damon called over his shoulder.

With a smile, Trihn admired the easy flow of him playing the piano as he and his mom teased each other. There was a quality to his music here that resembled his DJ work. It wasn’t so much that he just mixed music, but he made masterpieces from existing songs.

“He’s so good at that, too,” Trihn said.

“She doesn’t think it’s wasted talent either,” Damon said.

“He’s right. I wouldn’t have spent years in small productions in London if I didn’t love it. I know he’ll do what he loves, too.”

“I think he already is,” Trihn mused.

Mel nodded. “Play your girlfriend something cheerful.”

Trihn opened her mouth to protest that she wasn’t in fact his girlfriend but quickly shut it when Damon hadn’t said anything. Instead, he started playing an upbeat tempo.

“Good,” Mel said. “Now, while he’s distracted, let’s slip out. I need to start making dinner.”

Trihn laughed as Mel pulled her toward the exit. Damon must have heard their retreat because he switched from his cheery song to Darth Vader’s theme song “The Imperial March.”

Trihn followed Mel into the kitchen, and her nerves set in all over again. Mel seemed nice and chill, but that didn’t mean that Trihn wanted to be alone with her.

What if Mel wanted to get me alone so that she could ask me a bunch of questions about myself?

Trihn had a good family background, excluding the fact that her stupid sister was engaged to her ex-boyfriend.

“So,” Mel said, “what do you think we should make?”

“Um…I’m not sure.”

“Anything in particular you like? Any allergies?”

Trihn shook her head. “Nope. I’m allergic to penicillin, but I don’t think that counts.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if you get strep throat,” Mel said with a smile. “I’m thinking roasted chicken and potatoes with corn on the cob.”

“Sounds amazing.”

“Great!” Mel pulled a wine-colored apron over her head with lettering in white that said, I cook with wine. Sometimes, I even add it to the food.

She started pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards when Trihn’s phone began buzzing. Trihn grabbed it out of her bag and silenced it. She winced when she saw that she had already missed two additional texts from her mom.