[#204] Concerto for Solo Piano (Little Women)

[freevistas]

Theme Prompt: #204 – Reminiscence

Title: Concerto for Solo Piano

Fandom: Little Women

Rating/Warnings: PG

Bonus: No

Word Count: 454

Summary: Jo waits for Laurie's concert to begin and thinks about what could have been
Notes: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

 

Jo looked at the program in her lap and smiled at the name printed in block letters across the top: Theodore Laurence, Pianist. It was Laurie’s first performance in the U.S. since his European tour, which, if the size of the audience at the Boston Music Hall was any indication, had been quite successful.

 

Not that Jo would have known. Sure, Laurie still kept in touch with Amy, but Jo always found something to distract herself with as her sister read aloud from his letters when Jo and Fritz visited the March home on holidays. As for herself, Jo had never lifted a pen to write to Laurie, and he seemed to sense that any envelope addressed to her would be left unopened.

 

Jo glanced at the program again, mostly to keep her eyes from straining toward the stage, hoping to catch a glimpse of Laurie emerging from the wing before anyone else did. It would be her first time seeing him since he left for Italy. She wondered if he was finally going by “Theodore," now that the threat of schoolboys calling him “Dora” had passed. Maybe he’d left “Laurie” behind when he moved to Europe.

 

Like he left you behind. The bitter thought caught Jo by surprise, and she tried to swat it away like the cloud of perfume emanating from the woman in the Lamballe bonnet who’d plopped down in the seat beside her. Jo knew it was unfair–after all, what did she expect Laurie to do back then? How long did she expect him to wait? And to wait for what?

 

No–Jo was proud of Laurie. He’d had the courage to pursue his passion for music, even if doing so had nearly cost him his relationship with his grandfather.

 

Even if it had cost him his relationship with her.

 

Another thought to bat away. No–Jo told herself she didn’t begrudge Laurie anything. She just wished she’d been as brave as him when she had the chance, wished she’d tried harder to make a go of it for herself as a writer before settling for Fritz and Plumfield.

 

Fritz.

 

Plumfield.

 

That was her life now.

 

What would she have been able to buy for her students with the money she’d spent on this trip? She’d emptied her purse for a ticket to this concert, and all she’d been able to afford was a seat with ripped upholstery in the hall’s last row. Right near the exit.

 

The applause rippled backward from the front of the hall as a figure made its way across the glossy planks of the stage. The woman in the Lamballe bonnet stopped her clapping to reach for the program resting on the now-empty seat beside her.

<

Comments

[badly_knitted]

Sounds like Jo is regretting her choices.