Chapter 6
My feet carried me into the music room, where I lifted the lid to my piano and sat down, naked as the day I was born. Leaning my forehead against the front board, I forced myself to warm up. I shook out my hands and my arms, stretched the fingers, bending them gently backward. I played in the air and massaged my palms.
I’d done the routine a million times and could do it without thinking. I rushed through the exercises because I needed to play. Calm filled me the second I touched the smooth keys with my fingertips.
I played my scales first. Grampa would always scold me if I cheated with them and told me a good piano player needed strong, agile fingers, and there was no other way of achieving that except for playing the scales.
Eventually, they turned into chords that turned i
