"My name isn't gonna bring anyone in. It's going to be you."
"Maybe people will hear you and you’ll get offers."
He shook his head. "I'm not sure I want that. Honestly. Once upon a time I did. I had to give up my Juilliard offer, and that was really hard. But my family came first. Now that they're gone, I could travel all over the place, but I'm not interested in that anymore. Not really."
He seemed like he was thinking about something else, but he didn't say.
"This could be a really amazing thing, but I can't do it by myself."
"And I can't either. But I've already told you I'm scared, and I'm not sure I can."
"I'm confident God will give us everything we need."
"I wish I had that confidence. But I'll trust you, and I definitely trust Him. Just go slow, okay?"
He reached out and took her hand and squeezed it.
He let go immediately. It was just a simple gesture, one of solidarity and friendship. But, long after she left, and long after she had gone to bed well after midnight, she thought about it. Thought about working with Noah, his confidence and his ability to get things done. His protectiveness and his willingness to give up himself in order to be a blessing to others.
Those were things she had always admired, and she'd never found them in such a concentrated way in a man.
She snuggled under the covers and held her hand close.
She didn't know where this was going to go, but she did know that she would enjoy every second of working with Noah Parker.
Chapter 17
"Thanks for fixing us up with a room, Kate," Noah said.
"Of course. It's for the community. And the school is paid for with taxes from the folks who live here. It's really everyone's building."
Kate smiled and then waved as she hurried away to the meeting she needed to attend after school, leaving Noah in the room by himself.
Grace would be there any moment. They'd been texting back and forth, and Noah had let her know that he had secured a room with Kate Henderson for them to practice in, since the lesson room behind the shop wasn't nearly big enough.
They still had sign-up sheets out all over town for the groups they were putting together, but the elementary and high school music groups had already been practicing with the teacher who left. It was just a matter of them taking over where the music teacher had left off.
"I'm sorry I'm a little late. You know Aunt Vivian is watching your store while you're gone and she had asked me to switch thelaundry and check the crockpot, and I was almost here before I remembered that I had forgotten to do that."
Grace arrived, breathless, unwrapping a scarf from around her neck, her cheeks a becoming shade of pink and her eyes sparkling. That crazy purple hat brought out the blue in them, and he was tempted to take it off, to touch her hair.
He shook that feeling off and smiled instead.
"You're plenty early. The kids shouldn't be arriving for another fifteen minutes or so."
"I know. But I wanted to be here to help you set up. This is supposed to be both of us working together, not just you."
"You bring more to the table than I do, so it's only right that I do more behind the scenes."
She waved a hand in the air, like her name recognition really didn't matter, when they both knew it did. They would not have been able to do this without it. Of course, she probably wouldn't have had the courage to volunteer without him beside her.
So maybe they just needed each other. He liked that. The two of them facing the world together.
They spent the next fifteen minutes arranging chairs in a circle, talking about the best ways to place them, how they would lead off, and what they hoped to convey and accomplish.
He felt like they were ready when the first student arrived.
Grace was excellent at putting them at ease and chatting with them naturally. He wanted to stand back and just admire her. Because she did it all so well.
