Hearts in Harmony

When Pastor Ron drew his sermon to a close, just before everyone was instructed to bow their heads for the closing prayer, Adrian touched Celeste’s arm. He tried not to feel hurt when she flinched. “Please,” he whispered as he leaned closer to her. “I’d like to talk to you after the service. I have to go up to the front now for the closing hymn. Promise me you’ll wait. Don’t be so nervous. I don’t bite.”

Her eyes drifted to the front, then back to him. “All right,” she whispered.

He was the last one to arrive at the front, and he played terribly. Paul kept turning away from the congregation and toward him, going as far as nodding his head in rhythm to get Adrian to slow his tempo to match everyone else.

Adrian fought to slow his pace, repeating in his head that the music was to help everyone in the congregation center their thoughts on God; they didn’t want to be distracted by an impatient guitar player.

Still, instead of watching his music, he watched Celeste. The closer they got to the end of the song, the more Celeste kept glancing at the door. On the last repeat of the chorus, she began shuffling in her chair.

After the last chord, Pastor Ron closed the service and dismissed the congregation. Adrian should have kept playing as the sanctuary emptied, but he dropped his guitar into the holder and walked off as his friends stared at him. This time, he couldn’t let her get away.

He arrived beside Celeste just as she tucked her bulletin inside her Bible. Her purse was already slung over her shoulder. All the bravado he’d worked up dissolved into a little puddle at his feet.

She looked up at him. “I really enjoyed the service. Your pastor is quite a dynamic speaker.”

Adrian nodded. A neutral topic. Perfect. “Yes, he is. Since this is your first time here, I’d love to introduce you to him.”

“Maybe another time. I think it’s time for me to leave.”

Adrian stepped aside, but he couldn’t let her go. He cleared his throat. “If you’re not busy, why don’t you join me for lunch? My treat. So we can talk.”

The chatter, background music, the scraping of chairs, and the voices of little children echoed behind Adrian, but between the two of them, the silence was almost tangible. She looked up into his eyes and studied his face as he’d never been studied before.

Finally, she gave him a weak smile. “That would be nice. I’m new to the area and obviously new to this church. I do have some questions.”

He tried not to appear too eager or too relieved. “Great. I just have to go get my guitar before we leave.”

Back on the stage, Adrian mumbled a quick apology for not helping pack up the sound system, slipped his guitar into the case and hurried away.

This time, Celeste’s old car was running fine, and she insisted on meeting him at the restaurant. Since he’d left the building sooner than he’d ever left before, they arrived before most of the regular church crowd, and got a table right away.

The waitress quickly took their orders and left them with a decanter of coffee. Adrian folded his hands on the table, and smiled at Celeste. “Welcome to the neighborhood. I think you’ll like it here. It’s very peaceful. The residents are mostly people who have owned the same homes for years and have retired here, or younger families starting out with their first home.”

She nodded. “That sounds nice. Have you lived here long?”

“It depends what you call ‘long’. I bought my house five years ago, and I’m still here. Maybe I’ll be the next generation to stay until I retire.”

“What about your church? What’s it like?”

Adrian smiled politely. He felt more as though he was being interviewed than having a friendly chat. At least now, unlike a week ago, Celeste was talking openly. Interview or not, anything was better than the scared rabbit she’d been last time they talked.

“It’s a good church, with good people, good fellowship and the pastor delivers a strong message. It’s a church plant, started from the big church where I grew up, not far from here. We’ve only been in this building a few months, but I guess I’ve been with the same crowd all my life. As I understand it, my mother brought me to my first service at the parent church when I was one month old. I became a Christian when I was twelve. When they started the church plant, the associate pastor at the old church, who is now the only pastor here, asked me and my friends if we would go with the core group and put together a worship team, because we all grew up together in the church and all play an instrument.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow… You’ve been a Christian for seventeen years. And always been with the same people.”

He almost asked how she figured out the time frame, but then he remembered she’d been in possession of his driver’s license. The math was easy. He tried not to be flattered that she’d memorized his birthday.

“For the most part, yes, it’s really been a great church family. All of us guys on the worship team grew up in this neighborhood. We’ve been together all our lives, except Paul, briefly. He moved away for a while, but came back. Do you remember him? He was at my house when you dropped by with my driver’s license.”

Celeste nodded. “Yes. He’s the one who plays the bass guitar right?”

“Bob and Randy live close by, too. Bob’s the drummer. He’s as Italian as he looks.” Adrian grinned, thinking of his friend. “But don’t tell Bob I said that.”

Her eyes widened, and Adrian hoped he hadn’t given her the wrong impression. All the guys teased Bob endlessly with jokes about his large family and ethnic roots, but Bob, being Bob, took it all in stride.

“Randy’s the one on the keyboard. I should probably warn you about him.”

“Warn me? Why?”

“He tends to fool around a lot, and most people don’t take him seriously, but he’s a great guy. He just needs to settle down a bit.”

Since he’d mentioned Bob’s ethnicity, he tried to think of some way to set Randy apart. If he had to narrow it down to one thing, he would have said that Randy’s most striking feature was his blue eyes. Personally, Adrian didn’t think Randy’s eyes were a big deal, but women seemed to be drawn to them. That was exactly the reason he was not going to draw Celeste’s attention to Randy’s big baby blues. Besides, Randy was just… Randy.

“That’s so nice that you and your friends are on the worship team together. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what do you do for a living?”

Now, more than ever, he felt as if he was being interviewed.

Adrian stiffened. “Actually, my job is changing. Last year they promoted me to management, and they’re changing my job description again, so I don’t know what I should call myself.”

She kept staring at him. Fortunately, before she had the chance to ask him anything else, the waitress appeared with their lunches.

Adrian folded his hands in front of him on the table. “Would you like me to lead with a word of prayer before we eat?”

She turned her head from side to side, taking in the people at all the nearby tables. “Here? In a restaurant? You would do that?”

Adrian’s mouth opened, but no words came out. He’d never thought about not praying just because he was in a public setting.

Before he could think of something to say, she broke out into a wide smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”

Abruptly, she folded her hands in front of her on the table, bowed her head, closed her eyes and waited.

Adrian’s mind went blank. He cleared his throat to give himself time to compose his thoughts.

“Thank you, dear Lord, for the food we’re about to eat. Thank you also for new friends with whom we can share. I ask for Your continued blessings in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.”

He’d barely finished his first bite of fries when Celeste started again with the questions. “If you came with the same people from the other church, and you’ve been attending for so long, this must be a really nice group of people. Stable and everything? No surprises?”

Adrian nodded while he swallowed his mouthful. “I’ve got an idea. If you actually want to meet some of the people, rather than just sitting next to them, come to the evening service. Attendance is always lower, but it’s a great opportunity to talk in a more relaxed setting. If you’re nervous, I could pick you up.”

Time stretched on forever as she glanced at him, then over his shoulder to the door, then back to him.

“I’ve never been to an evening church service; that sounds like a good idea, but if you don’t mind, I think I’ll take my own car.”

Adrian felt his smile drop, but he quickly forced it back. He tried to convince himself that it was better she came on her own, because he had to be early to set up and practice. However, unless he picked her up, he couldn’t be assured she would actually go. He hoped she would keep her promise.

They made pleasant small talk for the remainder of lunch. When they went their separate ways in their separate cars, Adrian couldn’t help but smile. She’d been careful to avoid telling him exactly where she lived, but he knew her car. He couldn’t miss that eyesore of a vehicle, no matter where it was, unless she parked it in the garage every single time she got home.

Starting Monday, it would be a good time to change his route when he took out his bicycle. Instead of the bike trail at the park, he might just cruise the neighborhood. Slowly.