“Hello. Are you one of Francie’s guests?” she asked.
“Ahri!” Lessa jumped up and ran to the woman. “She’s not a guest. She’s Janna’s mom.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She strode over and extended her hand. “I’m Ahri Shen.”
“Sara Fortune. I’m a neighbor.”
“And Lessa’s favorite piano teacher.”
A flush of pleasure at the comment washed over Sara. She glanced at Francie who was nodding.
“So this is where you disappeared to,” Ahri said, turning to Rafe.
“Just working with Ez on volunteering for some group piano lessons.”
The woman’s brows shot up in surprise, and Sara could tell Ahri was struggling not to look at where Ezreal was obviouslynotlooking at her. Interesting. Were they an item? Or a wannabe item?
“Ahri works for Rafe,” Francie said. “She’s a friend of the family and is staying with us for a while. Ahri, are you ready for that cooking lesson?”
“Yes. Let me change, and I’ll come to the kitchen.” Ahri said to Sara, “It was nice to meet you.” She then hurried up the stairs.
“Mrs. Fortune, I’m curious why you want to do this music program,” Rafe said.
“Call me Sara, please. It’s because I wanted to learn to play when I was a child but couldn’t. It would have meant the world to me to have access to a program like this.”
“What do you need to have in place before you can start your lessons?” Rafe asked.
“I’ve received a donation from a local tech compa—” She broke off. “Would that, by chance, be REKD Gaming?”
Rafe shrugged but nodded his head toward his business partner.
“I mentioned it to them one Sunday,” Francie said. “I hope that’s all right.”
Sara blinked. While still silently playing with the boys, Ezreal’s body language had shown that he was listening to the conversation.
“Of course it is, Francie. Thank you, Mr. Wallach,” she said.
Ezreal gave a slight shrug of a shoulder while signaling to Brand to put a block into place. The man could apparently do multiple things at once, which would be important with a class full of children.
“Do you have a place for the lessons?” Rafe asked.
“There’s an old workshop next to my house that I’m fixing up for it.”
Rafe looked at Ezreal who’d perked up. The two men exchanged glances, but Sara couldn’t see if they verbalized anything. What was it with the musician? She knew he wasn’t mute because he’d spoken to her earlier.
“Ez, here, would like to help with that.”
Ezreal’s body gave a little jerk, like someone had hit him, but Rafe merely grinned.
“He doesn’t have to—” she started.
“No, Ezwantsto. He was just complaining that he wasn’t getting enough exercise. A little grunt work will be just the thing.”
“Isaidhe doesn’t have to help.” Sara didn’t try to keep the irritation from her voice. It surprised her that Francie’s son would bully his partner like this.
“I’ll d-d-do it.” Ezreal still didn’t look at her, but the back of his neck and his ears had gone red.
Rafe shot Sara an apologetic yet unrepentant look. There were dynamics going on here she didn’t understand. Francie nodded encouragingly.
