The Tchaikovsky Affair Read Online Free Page A

answered.
    Gallo narrowed his eyes, seeing through her lie, but gestured for her to sit down. “You rest for a minute and I’ll work with Jackie on one of her passages.”
    Shannon nodded and began to flip through her score, marking areas where she needed the most help. She was so deep in concentration that she was finally able to ignore Jackie’s sensual playing mere feet away from her. Every once in a while she idly ran the eraser of her pencil along her lip, only to be replaced by her tongue when she needed to mark something.
    While in the middle of a particularly long note, Jackie looked up briefly, intending to meet Gallo’s gaze for some validation. Instead, she saw Shannon’s brow furrowed in the most adorable way possible. Her lips were slightly parted, as her tongue traced a small line over the light pink flesh. Jackie’s breath hitched in her throat and she felt her palms begin to sweat, as her bow fell from her hand and clattered on the floor.
    “What the HELL is going on with you two?”
    Both women’s heads shot up at the sound of Gallo’s booming voice. Clearly he had had enough.
    “Seriously, I don’t know what is going on here. You either both hate each other so much that it’s making you lose focus or there’s some weird sexual tension thing going on. Frankly, I couldn’t care less what the reason is, but it has got to stop! I cannot work with either of you right now.”
    Thinking he was done, Shannon began to say something in their defense, but stopped when she saw Gallo whipping out his wallet in a grand gesture. He slapped a bill on the table.
    “There. That’s $100. Go get dinner and drinks on me and talk through this situation or fuck each other senseless or whatever the hell you want to do. I don’t care! Fix it!” After that last crass remark, Gallo swiveled on his heels and strode out the door, Michael following close behind, looking bewildered and probably wondering what he had gotten himself into.
    After a few moments of collective stunned silence, Jackie began to speak, “Sooo…I guess we should, um, I mean, we don’t have to…if you don’t want to.”
    “We could just donate the money to the Philharmonic and pretend we’ve worked everything out,” Shannon said, only half-joking.
    “Oh, I don’t know, I wouldn’t want to see a perfectly good $100 go to waste, would you?” Jackie asked with a glint in her eye, a smile crawling tantalizingly slowly across her perfect lips.
    Shannon ’s eyes widened imperceptibly. Was she…flirting?
    “No, of course not. And Gallo would know if we were lying. So…let’s go. To O’Leary’s,” Shannon said, mustering up a dimpled smile.
    “To O’Leary ’s!”
     
    *              *              *
     
    Thankfully O’Leary’s was packed, the noise and bustle providing perfect distractions to the conversation they weren’t having. After ordering, the pair continued to sit in an awkward silence, each of them replaying Gallo’s last words to them.
    “Can I ask you a question?” Jackie finally asked.
    “Of course!” Shannon replied brightly.
     
    “Why do you hate me?”
    “What?” Shannon breathed, her smile faltering. “I don’t hate you,” she whispered.
    “Because, I understand why you’re upset. I’d be upset if I were in your position, too. It wasn’t fair what they did to you,” Jackie continued, ignoring Shannon’s protest, “but that wasn’t my fault, and you seemed to dislike me long before any of this happened. I know I’m a newcomer, but I just – ”
    “I don’t hate you, Jacinta!” Shannon said forcefully, cutting of Jackie’s rant. “I don’t hate you,” she said for a third time.
    “Then what is it?”
    “It’s just…there’s a lot of pressure on me to succeed, to be perfect, to be poised and professional and cheerful at all times, and I’ve been taking that out on you. I’m sorry.”
    Jackie got the distinct feeling that this was a slight cop-out, but