Read Online A Sound Like Hope (Fallen Tuesday #3) by Karolyn James - Free Book Online Page B

not. Does it matter? ”
    “ Why
the hell did you buy such a nice house? ” Jake asked. “ I mean, you
don ’ t have a secret family
or anything, do you? ”
    “ Not
that I know of, ” Mack said. “ I liked the house so I
bought it. Maybe someday there will be other people in it. Maybe not. But I don ’ t think we came here to dig into
my personal thoughts. ”
    “ No, ” Luke said. “ I think we ’ re here to play some tunes. ”
    “ I ’ m ready to go, ” Trent said. “ Well, at least for a little bit
before I have to get my stuff together. ”
    “ What
time are you out of here? ” Mack asked.
    “ Tomorrow
morning, ” Trent said. “ Going to meet the kid. ”
    “ The
kid? ” Luke asked. “ Are you going to talk like that
around him? ”
    “ I
have to be myself, brother, ” Trent said. “ He ’ s in a lot of trouble himself.
And he ’ s only ten. ”
    “ What
kind of trouble? ” Mack
asked.
    “ He
burned down the neighbor ’ s
barn. ”
    Mack laughed. “ Damn. My old man would have beat
my ass raw if I did something stupid like that. ”
    “ Yeah,
well, he doesn ’ t have a
father. Or a mother. ”
    “ Shit, ” Luke said. “ He ’ s
in the system? ”
    “ No, ” Trent said. “ He lives with his aunt. She has
a hard time getting control of him, I guess. I don ’ t know what I ’ m
supposed to do. I ’ ll just
talk to him, figure out what ’ s
going on. This is what Frank wanted. ”
    “ It ’ s what you wanted too, ” Luke said. “ Don ’ t forget that, Trent. You could make a difference
in a kid ’ s life. Like you
always wanted …”
    “ That ’ s enough of that, ” Trent said. “ If we ’ re playing, let ’ s
do it. ”
    Trent brushed by Jake on his way to
the steps. Part of him was really pissed off that Jake skidded by in all this.
Just like always. But Trent made a promise to himself that he would follow
through on this mentoring gig. He would try to help this kid out and maybe even
find peace for himself.
    Upstairs, Trent marveled at the
music room Mack had created for himself. A normal person would have used the space
as some kind of formal dining room. Not Mack. It was nothing but instruments.
From drums to guitars to keyboards. It was a beautiful sight. They gathered up
the necessary instruments and started back downstairs. Luke was in front of him
and Mack was behind him with a bass drum and a kick pedal. In just a few
minutes, there was a basic drum kit in the basement and the rest of Fallen
Tuesday sat, tuning up instruments.
    Trent held an acoustic bass in his
hands. It had been a while since he played onr like it and he was excited. The
strings were much thicker than guitar strings. Once he was tuned up, he began
to play around the neck of the bass, stretching his fingers and loving the
deep, hollow sound of the acoustic bass.
    Mack perfected his sound as he
always did. Luke and Gray had guitars, each taking turns to make sure they were
in tune. Finally, Trent looked at Jake. Just like always, Jake was ready to
play. He nodded and Trent did the same.
    “ Count
it, ” Trent said.
    Jake announced a song and tapped
his guitar pick on the body of his guitar. He and Trent began to play in
perfect unison. He wished it could just be this all the time. Just music. Just
playing. Why the hell did real life had to creep into the band? When they
played, Trent didn ’ t look
at Jake the same as when they weren ’ t
playing.
    They continued to play and waited
for the rest of the band to come in. Mack chose a spot to come in on and the
drums sounded good in the basement. He used instrumental brushes instead
of drumsticks, which helped to muffle the sound and make sure the drums didn ’ t overpower the song. Mack
stopped a few seconds later and adjusted his snare drum.
    Gray strummed a few chords and
watched Jake ’ s fingering carefully,
waiting for the right moment to come in with the lead. When he did, the song
had even more life. Trent found his foot bouncing