He thought his warning might scare her, but she threw back her head and laughed. “A murdering loser pervert, huh.”
“You never know, Sandy.” This lady was one of a kind. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who thought so. The man behind them was definitely listening in.
She patted Luke’s arm. “I’m a good judge of character. And it’s not like I invited you to our house.”
“Tara lives with you?”
“Yep. I won’t tell you where, you know, in case of those things you mentioned. But we have lots of fun together. It’s like girl’s night out every night. Tara is a hoot.”
“With the leopard print knitting needles and all that, how could she not be?”
Sandy stared him down, raising one eyebrow. “Now you’re teasing me. But that’s okay. It’s exactly why the two of you would be perfect together. Oh, it’s your turn in line.”
Luke flipped around and put his items on the conveyer belt. If nothing else, this weird exchange had successfully passed the time. He paid and waved goodbye to Sandy.
Once he was safely outside, he crinkled up the address she’d given him and went to chuck it in a nearby trashcan, but hesitated. Somehow it felt disloyal after their conversation, even though he had absolutely no plans to take her up on her matchmaking. He stuffed the paper back in his pocket where it would probably end up in the wash, and wished Tara luck in avoiding her aunt’s blind-date attempts in the future.
***
“All right, my darlings!” Tara looked out over the sweet faces of her kindergarten and first-grade choir. There was no way she’d get them to keep their arms at their sides with Santa hats on their heads. They couldn’t help reaching up and playing with them, pulling them over their eyes or shaking their heads back and forth to make them swing. A few kids were gnawing on the white puff ball ends.
Not that the parents would care, but it was never too early to teach good posture and stage presence. She had them jog in place for a minute and then freeze in funny poses before straightening up.
“Eyes on me. We’re going to run through ‘Jingle Bells’ one more time, and then we’ll start lining up to go on stage.”
Her friend Jill went around, adjusting collars and breaking up wrestling matches, while Tara cued the music and raised her arms. The most important thing was getting them all to start singing at the right time. She dropped her hands as a signal and eighty voices rang out, sometimes shouting the words despite her reminders to sing joyfully and not shouty. “Jingle Bells” would be on repeat in her head for years to come.
“Tara!” Aunt Sandy squeezed her way over and put an arm around her, indifferent to that fact that the song was still going. “You look wonderful! I’m so glad you went with the dress I suggested. And I love your hair straight. Not that your curls aren’t equally gorgeous.”
Tara leaned into the quasi-hug and finished leading the music. “Okay, kids. That was great. Just hold still for a minute.”
She turned to Aunt Sandy and gave her a proper hug. “What are you doing back here? You should probably go get a seat in the auditorium before it fills up.”
“Oh, there’s a young man saving me a seat. I just wanted to see you for a minute.”
Jill came over, her eyes sparkling. She was always game to see what Tara’s eccentric aunt was up to.
“Hello, Jill,” Aunt Sandy said, turning to give Jill a hug as well. “You look nice. I was just telling Tara about this young man who’s saving me a seat. His daughter is singing tonight. He’s divorced, but so handsome and polite. I told him to come up afterwards and I’d introduce him.”
Tara’s eyes widened. “Aunt Sandy! We can’t date our student’s parents, even if we wanted to.”
“Which we don’t,” Jill added in solidarity.
“He’s just going to say hi. It’ll be fine. And um, he might not be the only one.”
“What?” Tara wanted to know exactly what Aunt Sandy meant by that, but the pesky woman escaped, and the kids were starting to mutiny without something to do. Tara and Jill helped put the lines back together, and then they ran through the song one more time.
***
Luke tossed up another basket, satisfied by the swish it made through the net. “Come on, old man. This cold weather is not helping your game.”
Heston grabbed the rebound and dribbled around Luke. “If you played half as well as you trash-talked, this game would be over already.” He pivoted around and went up for a shot, but it hit the rim and bounced into the street.
Luke ran to get it before it could roll under the car parked across the street. It was cold, and he jogged back to Heston’s driveway, stomping his feet to get them to stop tingling. He dribbled back and forth, but Heston blocked him out and stole the ball, turning to make a shot attempt. He was still going to lose no matter what, but not by much.
Heston cheered at his perfect layup. “It’s good to have you back, man. I did not like your renters. Did I mention they played loud music in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason?”
“Nope. But I think Sarah’s mentioned it a time or two. Where are Sarah and Hallie, by the way?”
