“I might be late, but I never miss.” April had on the most beautiful yellow dress with big puffy sleeves and a fitted bodice. Nora made a mental note to ask if it would be for sale in the shop the following week. It would be the perfect attire for an upcoming photo shoot for her honey website launching at the end of the month.
The piano picked back up and the worship team took their positions on stage, guitars and percussion accompanying the intro music.
“Let’s get to our feet and lift our voices this beautiful morning,” the lead guitarist cued into the microphone. Everyone stood, their clapping hands joining in.
Nora closed her eyes as she belted. She loved to get lost in the sweet sounds and words, swaying to the beat as she sang her heart out. She couldn’t contain her joy; even her body wanted to dance, but there was limited space to do so. Still, that didn’t stop her.
Her shoulder bumped the person next to her.
“Sorry,” she started to apologize, but froze when two dark eyes peered back at her. “What are you doing here?” she hissed.
“In church?” J.P. clarified. He straightened the knot on his tie, something she never dreamed she would see him wear. “I wasn’t aware I needed an invitation.”
Nora’s lips pinched together. “You know what I mean.”
An older woman behind her shushed them.
“Sorry,” Nora said. She turned back to J.P. and whispered, “Why are you sitting here?”
“Was this seat taken?”
“No.” She whipped her head. She didn’t have a suitable response.
“It was an open seat, so I took it.” He inclined his face closer to hers, his voice a hush. “But if you need more room so you can do whatever it was you were doing, I can stand in the back.”
“I was dancing,” she whisper-yelled. Tillie gave her a sidelong glance.
“Oh.” J.P. snickered under a quiet breath. “Is that what that was?”
Nora wanted to stomp her feet for an entirely different reason. “I am allowed to get my groove on in church,” she said and instantly realized the absurdity of the bizarre statement. “Just…” Her head twitched. “Just pretend I’m not here.”
“Done.” His eyes fixed forward.
The song transitioned into another, but Nora had lost all focus, which was a shame because this one was a real toe-tapper.
She looked at J.P., all haughty, with his powerful jaw and crisp collar. He cleaned up so much better than she imagined he would, and that made her even more unjustifiably angry. Honestly, she almost wished he’d woken her up early today. At least that would mean he would be at the property doing construction work and not seated directly next to her in church, a distraction in the most aggravating of forms.
Something soured the pit of her stomach. Was that the type of person she was now? Someone who didn’t want a guy attending church simply because he irritated her? With her luck, Pastor Blakely’s sermon would be on loving your neighbor. She figured that would absolutely serve her right.
Up until now, J.P. hadn’t been singing along to the contemporary music, but when they changed gears and the first chords ofAmazing Gracepeeled from the timeworn pipe organ, something in his posture shifted. The hardness of his features went soft, and when the soloist started in with the first verse, his lips parted as he sang along.
His voice was deep and rich, like a cup of cocoa on a chilly winter’s night. Soothing and warm. Nora tried to tune him out, but with their squished proximity on the pew, he was practically all she could hear.
She let her eyes fall shut.
She didn’t dance. She didn’t clap. She just stood there, surrounded by the presence of what sounded like angels singing around her. Even with J.P. at her side, she could find peace. It was fair to say he even contributed to it with his strong, comforting baritone.
And it hit her squarely in the chest that maybe that’s exactly what she needed to give him…a little grace.
Chapter Twelve
Pastor Blakely closed the leather-bound bible and lifted his head a notch.
“What’s that?” he murmured to someone just offstage. “Oh! That’s right. Thank you.”
His hands clapped on the podium as he returned his attention to his congregation.
“I’ve just been reminded that we are still in need of volunteers for Harmony Ridge’s Sunshine Days Festival, held at the end of the month. Signups have been uncharacteristically low these last few weeks, but we’re hoping to change that. If you haven’t registered to volunteer yet, we encourage you to take a slip of paper from the tithe buckets our ushers are about to pass around. On it, you will find the name of an activity that still needs volunteers to head it up.”
