If I don’t calm down, I’m going to put Linnea in danger. Linnea, who has nothing to do with this, but who has stayed in the lion’s den, for us.

I look up. Kate and Lucas look tense. Linnea is standing a few feet away from them.

Why aren’t they acting normally? You can see from miles away that something is wrong.

I play the first notes. They boom so loudly around the room that I pull my hands away in shock.

It’s as if the entire hotel is filled with my C chord.

The piano in the school music room is a joke compared to this thing. This piano is the real deal.

I look at my friends again. Kate gives me a forceful nod, so I have to go on playing.

I hit the C chord again, but this time I continue.

I play cautiously at first, but my fingers soon get used to the instrument. They become one with the keys, as if they’ve been friends for years.

A song begins to take shape under my fingers.

A song I played before.

For her.

I glance up. The balconies are empty, but I’m sure Claus is up there somewhere. He’ll be waiting for Linnea to come to him. Our sacrifice.

An elderly couple pauses in the lobby, by the piano. They smile at me and nod approvingly. The receptionist even steps out from behind her desk.

It gives me the courage to keep playing.

A group of Japanese tourists stops too, and one of them takes a photograph.

A family with young children lingers at the entrance.

It’s working!

I start singing. Without thinking about it, I sing the song for her. She used to love it. It was her favorite song of mine.

I sing as if my life depends on it. Or actually, Linnea’s.

More people come to stand around the piano.

I sing as if she’s standing behind me again, with her arms around me. Her warm breath on the back of my neck.

There are millions of musicians all over the world, but when I played, she looked at me as if I was the only one who could do this.

As if I was unique.

I play as if she’s here. I have goose bumps on my arms when I start the chorus. The tempo goes up a bit, and my fingers find it tricky to keep up with the rhythm, but I get there.

I play as if she’s lying under me on the bed. We used to spend hours just looking at each other and kissing.

When her dad called us for dinner, we often realized we’d missed lunch.

More people come and stand around me. The lobby is filling up and people are stopping to listen from the balconies too.

I see Kate standing in the audience. Linnea and Lucas have left.