Hearts in Harmony (7 page)

Being very businesslike, Adrian calculated her income against all her expenses and spending habits, told her how she could save a little money, how much she could afford, and suggested a couple of types of loan plans that would give her the best bang for her buck, should she be accepted for credit.

On the down side, Adrian now knew not only how little money she made at her job, but she also had to tell him that she only worked in the mail room, a lowly position with a pay scale to match. Younger people she worked with held positions far above her in the structure of the company, but they had more years of working experience. This was the first office job she'd ever done, and the first real job she'd had since a few years past high school, when the only jobs she'd done were at the local fast-food outlets. Fortunately, Adrian didn't ask how she'd supported herself over the last nine years. She continued to tell herself that she'd lost a lot of years, and she had a lot of catching up to do. This was one of the many prices to pay.

But, everything she was doing was worth it.

Tomorrow, after work, she was going shopping.

 

Randy Reynolds straightened the stack of remote control trucks and stood back to admire his handiwork.

The hour around supper time was traditionally the slow
est time at the store. Fortunately, since it was his week to come in early and open up, he only had half an hour left, and he could soon go home.

“Nice job. Very artistic,” a familiar voice sounded from behind him.

Randy spun around. “Hey, Adrian, Celeste. Good to see you.”

They both smiled in unison at him.

Randy smiled and straightened his tie. He'd found the perfect computer for Celeste. It was an older, reconditioned model with not enough memory to play all the games kids wanted to play, but for the average adult who didn't play games, it had more than enough RAM, a good sound card, a fairly new CD ROM drive and an internal modem.

Since Adrian and Celeste probably weren't there to invite him to join them for dinner, that meant Adrian had found a way to fit the computer into Celeste's budget, if the price was right, and Randy knew it was.

Celeste glanced at the brand-new display for the latest state-of-the-art computer, sighed, then turned back to Randy. “I signed up for night school today, so I'm going to need that computer you told Adrian about.”

Randy smiled back. “It's all fixed up and ready. Let me check the book and I'll see how much I can let it go for.”

While Randy paged through the book, out of the corner of his eye, he watched Adrian and Celeste together.

Of course he liked Celeste—they all did. All of the guys spent random amounts of time with her, and they always enjoyed themselves when they did.

However, it had recently come to light that the time she spent with Adrian wasn't as random as was the time with
the rest of them. For starters, every Friday, without fail, Celeste and Adrian went to the library together. Also, lately, whenever one of them wanted to talk to Adrian and he wasn't home, they somehow always found him at Celeste's house. When they couldn't find Celeste, they usually found her at Adrian's house.

For years, the four of them had all joked that Adrian would probably be the first of all of them to settle down. It looked as if their predictions were coming true. However, the situation gave Randy cause for concern. No one, Adrian included, knew much about Celeste. While she was the answer to their prayers for a talented musician to help them with the worship team, it was as if she had appeared out of nowhere.

As much as Randy liked her, he didn't think God had suddenly created Celeste out of dust just for them. He wanted to know where she'd come from, even if Adrian didn't. In fact, it was making him nervous that Adrian seemed unconcerned about the past details of her life. It wasn't like Adrian to be content to know nothing. He was always the first to clamor for information about any given topic.

When Randy's life had been at its worst, it was Adrian who had been there the most for him, more than Paul or even Bob, because it was in Adrian's personality to be helpful, regardless whether Adrian understood the problem. When Adrian didn't understand the problem, it was in his nature to dig deeper. Randy would never forget what Adrian had done for him. Adrian had been more help to him than he would ever realize. And now, because Adrian wasn't behaving in his normal patterns, Randy wanted to dig deeper to help Adrian, especially if Adrian didn't know he needed it.

Adrian's voice broke Randy out of his mental musings. “Well? How long does it take to look up a price? Do you have bad news?”

Randy shook his head. “Sorry. I was thinking about something and got distracted.” He mentioned the lowest price the manager said they could let the unit in question go for. When he saw Celeste's raised eyebrows, he told the story of how he convinced his manager to let her pay in three installments, with no interest, something they usually only did for preferred customers.

Celeste narrowed her eyes. Randy could see her figuring out if the numbers could fit into her budget.

“I think I can do that.” She turned her head and looked up at Adrian. “Adrian showed me how I could squeeze that into my budget, and I've been really trying hard to save money. It's close, but it's under the magic number since I can do it in payments. So…” Her voice trailed off, she smiled, and pulled her checkbook out of her purse.

Adrian smiled as if Celeste buying an old reconditioned computer was a major triumph. “Of course you can do it. I knew Randy would give you a good deal.”

She turned back to Randy. Her smile was so heartfelt and so beautiful, the required suggestion of the extended warranty for an extra cost didn't come out. She reached forward and rested her fingers on his arm, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

He shuffled back, lowered his head, and made a note in the book that he'd sold the unit. “Don't worry about the extended warranty,” he mumbled. “If anything goes wrong, I'll fix it for you.”

“Thanks, Randy. You're a pal.”

Randy looked up at Adrian. Randy might have been a ‘pal,' but he wondered what Celeste considered Adrian to be.

“Can we take it home now?”

“Sure, except I'm alone in the store for another twenty minutes, so I can't help you carry it to the car.”

Celeste paused and again looked up at Adrian.

Adrian turned and smiled down at Celeste, who was smiling back up at him. “That's okay. I think we can manage.”

Randy narrowed his eyes. It wasn't Adrian who was giving her the good deal on the computer, it was him.

If he'd suspected earlier that there was something big going on between Adrian and Celeste, this confirmed it.

Naturally Randy didn't mind, if that was what his friend really wanted. But, Adrian was acting so out of character, Randy wasn't sure if Adrian knew what he was doing. Adrian always went with the sure thing, never took chances. He always told them more than they wanted to know about any woman he might have considered dating.

Adrian hadn't said a word about Celeste. And for the time he'd spent with Celeste without Adrian, she hadn't questioned them about him, either.

Randy punched the information for the bill into the computer, and waited for Celeste to make out the check for the first payment. As he typed, his boss's words echoed through his head, stressing that his friend had better pay on time, or he was holding Randy personally responsible for the cost of the unit.

He told himself he was doing the right thing as he hit the print button, and handed the invoice to Celeste.

“I guess you can wait out here, and I'll take Adrian into the back to get the computer.”

Both of them nodded. Like Chip and Dale.

“Come on, Adrian. This way.”

Adrian waited one step inside the doorway, while Randy searched for the unit on the stockroom shelves. “You want a box, or do you just want to take it as it is?”

“We're going straight to Celeste's place, so we don't need a box.”

Randy reached behind the monitor and gathered up the cord, not facing Adrian as he spoke. “You're sure doing a lot with Celeste lately. Is there something going on between you two that I don't know about?”

“I don't know how to answer that. Why are you asking?”

“Didn't your mother ever tell you never to answer a question with a question?”

“Maybe. But it's a brilliant way to avoid answering.”

Randy turned around. After a response like that, Randy expected Adrian to be smiling, but Adrian was more serious than Randy had seen in a long time.

“What's up with you two? While we all like her, I'm not saying I want to date her. She's not my type. At least I don't think she's my type. What I'm trying to say is I don't know what type she is.”

“If you're trying to warn me that she might be a scam artist, I can tell you that she's not. She hasn't singled me out to try to take me for my money. Except for meals, she outright refuses to accept anything from me, especially financial help. I offered to loan her the money for the computer, since it's really cheap, at least from my perspective. She refused.”

Randy instantly felt better. “I know what you mean. She wouldn't let me buy her a ticket for that concert Bob and I went to a few weeks ago.”

Adrian nodded back. “I tried to give her a few books I thought she'd like. She was very insistent that she was only borrowing them, not keeping them. I've seen her bank balance, too. She really is as broke as she looks.”

Randy glanced to the door, just to make sure that Celeste hadn't wondered what was taking so long, and decided to check on them. “Yeah, but that electric grand piano she's got isn't cheap. I wonder where she got it?”

Adrian stiffened. “I hope you're not inferring that it's stolen. She would never do such a thing.”

“Are you sure? What exactly do you know about her?”

Adrian glanced toward the doorway, then back to Randy. He paused for a few seconds before finally speaking. “I don't know much of her history before we met, but I do know that she's honest and honorable, and she continues to grow in her walk with the Lord. We enjoy the same things, and we like the same books and movies. She laughs at my jokes and I laugh at hers. Even when we don't see eye to eye on things, which we don't all the time, we can agree to disagree, and move on. She sounds like she works hard at her job, and she's doing well at school, despite what she says about how hard she has to study. It's a difficult course she's taking. She really has more potential than she gives herself credit for. I just feel we've made a connection. Yet at the same time, she seems so lost…and alone.”

Randy stared at his friend. This was much more than he needed to know. It also told him that Adrian was in way over his head, and there was nothing Randy could do about it, except be there to pick up the pieces.

Randy cleared his throat. “I hope you know what you're doing.”

Adrian didn't reply, which unfortunately gave Randy his answer. Knowing he wouldn't get any more information out of Adrian, Randy turned around and picked up the tower and the keyboard. “This doesn't come with a printer. She'll probably need one.”

“I told her to put her data on a disk and use mine when she needs to print something. She really can't afford it. I just wish she'd open up to me. I've got a gut feeling there's something she needs to talk about, and she won't.”

Together, they turned toward the door. Randy wanted to wish Adrian good luck. He had a feeling Adrian was going to need it.

“W
hat's this?”

Celeste nearly dropped the spoon into the pot. She spun around to see Adrian standing in the doorway, holding up her attempt at a hobby.

“It's called cross stitch. Can't you tell? Or is it that bad?”

He laughed softly. Something in her stomach fluttered, telling her that she was more hungry than she thought.

“It's not bad, and of course I can tell. But I didn't want to go snooping through that plastic bag you've got on the floor, so I don't know what it's eventually going to look like. These flowers are nice, but they look like a border, rather than the main theme.”

Celeste groaned out loud. “For a border, it's harder than it looks. A few weeks ago Paul took me to a craft store so he could buy some extra stuff for the kids in his class. While I was waiting, I was looking at something the owner had hanging on the wall. She called it a sampler. That's when you've got words, surrounded by flowers and designs and stuff. When I told her how much I liked
hers, she showed me how to do it. She said it's really relaxing. She was very nice, and said she would make the pattern for me on her computer if I bought all the thread and stuff at the store. So I did. I picked my favorite Bible verse, and this way I can have something to hang on the wall that's really mine. Also, it gives me something to do in my spare time.”

“As if you have extra time between…” Adrian raised his hands and started counting on his fingers, “…Bible study on Mondays, night-school classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, let's not forget time to study, and worship team practice on Wednesdays. I hope you don't intend to stay home and do this on Fridays instead of going to the library with me. And when exactly do you have time to read those books we get at the library?”

“Actually, I take a book to work and read on my breaks.”

He smiled. “I see you're taking my suggestion seriously, that taking a lunch from home instead of going out saves major money in the course of a month.”

She nodded. Adrian didn't know that she always stayed in the building during her lunch breaks, but it wasn't strictly to save money. The money was a side bonus, not that she didn't need it. The real reason was because the high-rise office tower was enclosed and safe from prying eyes.

“Yes. But even if I don't have any spare time, I do my cross stitch for about half an hour every night, before bed. When I read, it gets me thinking of so many things at once, it's hard to focus in on one subject. Every day I need the reminder that in God's eyes I'm a new creation, especially after I've had a bad day and feel like giving up. It's not a simple ‘God loves me' type of verse. Pastor Ron explained
this to me. When I accepted Jesus as my Savior, my soul was restored, and I was made new.”

Celeste smiled from ear to ear. She was glad the old Celeste was gone. Admittedly some days were better than others, especially when her thoughts drifted back to Zac and the way she used to be with him. She knew she wasn't good enough to be in God's presence. But God Himself promised that her past sins were washed away when she gave her heart to Jesus. From that day forward, she could start over and not look back.

Except she did look back. Often. She was hoping having the sampler in plain sight would help her get her head back on straight again. She could believe it, because God had promised. And unlike men, God didn't break His promises.

She cleared her throat and turned around to continue stirring their supper. “But you know that cross stitch isn't as relaxing as the woman claimed, especially when I make a mistake and have to take a section apart. But the more I do, the more I want to finish. In a way, it's almost addicting.” She didn't know much about crafts and cross stitch, but she was learning the hard way, just as she'd also learned about other, more serious addictions the hard way. Only this addiction, she could handle.

“My mother does this kind of thing. You should see some of the stuff she's done. In fact, you should come over to my parents' place one day. Although, I have a sneaking suspicion that once you tell her you've started a cross-stitch project, she'll never let you go. My mother would love to meet you, crafts aside, of course.”

This time, Celeste did drop the spoon into the stew. She
pressed one hand over her heart and spun around. “You want me to meet your parents?”

He shrugged his shoulders, and his expression suddenly turned hesitant. “Mom's been teasing me because every time she calls lately, she gets my voicemail. She's curious to see who I've been spending so much time with. I have to admit I told her a little about you. Remember, when you first joined the worship team, the whole church was talking about you, and word naturally traveled back to the home church.”

Her stomach lurched. Suddenly, instead of feeling hungry, she felt sick. “The other church is talking about me? The big one?”

Adrian moved toward her, laid her cross-stitch project on the table, and continued until he was only one step away. “Don't worry, it's only good things. They're saying how you've added so much to the service, and how badly we needed you. I heard that the music director wants us to do a guest visit at the home church, because the congregation wants to see us in action.”

Celeste's head swam. While she knew she was putting herself on display, she had thought the church was a closed circle. She hadn't considered that the bigger parent church would also have an interest. In hindsight, it only made sense.

She took a few deep breaths to calm down. Even though she was a new creation, now and for the future, she couldn't yet forget about her past. She had to be realistic when putting herself on display. She told herself every time she went up to the front that Zac didn't know anyone who attended church or in any way considered the name of God to be anything other than one of many creative and colorful curses.

Again Celeste begged God's forgiveness. Not long ago, she'd been no different than Zac. Yes, she was new, but she wasn't that new.

“Celeste? Is something wrong?”

“No, it's okay. But I was wondering, how long has this talk been going on?”

“People started talking about you after the first service, but don't worry. No one would ever say anything except nice things.”

Her blood ran cold. Not that Adrian knew of, anyway.

He stepped closer. Very gently, Adrian rested both his palms on her shoulders. One corner of his mouth tilted up, in a warm, half smile. “You seem so comfortable up at the front, I would never have guessed you'd be so nervous with a bigger congregation. They're all very nice people, but it's okay. I'll just tell him we're not ready, and we'll do it some time in the future.”

Celeste was shocked by the sudden and unexpected sensation from the warmth of Adrian's hands on her shoulders. In all the time they'd known each other, they'd never touched. She'd made sure of it. But now, the gentle way he held her showed his inner strength. If she wanted to move away, he would release her in a second. She knew it.

She tilted her head up to look into his eyes, where all she saw was tenderness and concern.

She couldn't help it. Her lower lip started to quiver.

At the slight quirk of his eyebrows, she could tell that he noticed. “It's okay,” he mumbled. “Come here.”

Slowly, his arms slipped down her back, but he didn't draw her closer. Instead, he hesitated, and she knew he was waiting for an indication of what she wanted, and how far
she would allow him to go. By his actions, or lack thereof, Celeste knew without a doubt that Adrian would never force her to do anything she didn't want to do, and he would never press her beyond where she felt comfortable.

To answer his unspoken question, Celeste slipped her hands around him and leaned into his chest. Adrian tightened his embrace slightly, then pressed his cheek to her temple. Slowly and gently, he rubbed tender circles on her back. Knowing that he would do no more than hold her filled Celeste with an unbelievable case of the warm fuzzies, comforting her in a way she'd never felt in her life.

It felt so good, she didn't know what to think. She'd never felt this way with Zac, not even when things were good, or at least when she thought they were good.

But one thing she did know; being like this now forced her to admit to herself that she'd never known real trust. If she'd had any doubts before, she now knew for sure that she had fallen in love with Adrian Braithwaite: accountant, mediocre musician and all-around nice guy. For a minute, she let herself fantasize that she could have a normal life with him—marriage, a house, kids, even a dog, as he wanted. However, she knew it couldn't happen. He wasn't perfect, but he was still too good for a woman like her. But for a few minutes, she could pretend it was possible.

Adrian's voice broke her out of dreamland. “I think it's time to stir the stew, and we should eat or we're going to be late.”

He released her and stepped back. A rush of cool air replaced the warmth where they'd been pressed together, immediately making her regret that they were both obligated to be elsewhere very soon.

Before he could read anything from her expression, Celeste turned and used a ladle to scoop out the spoon she'd dropped into the pot. “Bring me the plates, and I'll just fill them up from here.”

“Good idea. That way we'll also have fewer dishes to do.”

He was so good to her; he even helped with the dishes. He never yelled at her. Instead of becoming impatient and calling her stupid when she didn't understand something, he explained what she needed to know, slowly and gently.

She didn't know why God had put Adrian in her life, but she thanked Him daily.

As he did every time they ate together, Adrian said a short prayer of thanks for their food. They ate quickly and dashed off to the Sunday-evening service, with Adrian insisting that he would come back when everything was over and help her clean up.

Unlike every other time he made the offer, this time, she didn't argue.

 

“Bye, Adrian. See you tomorrow night!”

Adrian waved back at Paul as Paul slid the microphones into the padded case.

Tonight had been a good night, not much different than any other Sunday-evening service. The worship time had gone well. Pastor Ron had delivered a good message, and Randy got his favorite kind of donut before one of the youths beat him to it.

But tonight,
Celeste
had been different. The evening service was always more relaxed than the more formal morning service, but Celeste was tenser.

Something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, he only knew that something was bothering her.

Adrian watched Celeste throw a cord into the case and snap the fastener closed.

He stepped beside her before she could think of a way to change her mind about their earlier agreement. “Let's go back to your place now. The rest of the guys are going to pack everything into the closets.”

“But—”

Adrian raised his palms in the air to stop her protests. “They don't mind, I've already asked. This way we don't have to rush. I know we only have a few dishes, but I think we both need a little time to relax tonight.”

She smiled weakly. “Okay. I guess.”

He almost said that he would be content to just sit and watch her do her cross stitch, but he didn't think she was in the mood for jokes. Besides, the way he was feeling, he really would have sat and watched her do something so mundane, just to be with her.

As on every other Sunday evening, Celeste picked up Adrian's guitar case, Adrian picked up the case with Celeste's electric piano, and they began their trip to the parking lot and Adrian's car.

The trip back to her home was made in silence. They barely talked at all during the short cleanup. It wasn't unusual, but this time, it bothered Adrian.

He tucked the dish towel over the oven handle, and watched Celeste as she drained the sink.

Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. He moved toward her until he was so close he could have touched her, but he didn't. “Celeste, what's wrong?”

She spun around quickly. When she tilted her head up to look at him, her eyes made her look like a deer that had been caught in the headlights.

He waited for well over a minute before she finally spoke. “Nothing's wrong. I just have a few things to think about.”

Something about her lost expression tied his heart up in knots. He thought about how he'd held her in his arms earlier, and how it had made everything feel better, at least temporarily. She'd been a perfect fit, and he hadn't known a hug could feel so good. He couldn't not touch her now.

He reached forward to gently rest his hands on her shoulders. It wasn't enough.

Just like before, he started to draw her in for a hug, but this time, he knew how good it was going to be. As she came to him, he looked down at her.

That was his mistake. Her eyes drifted halfway closed, and her pouty little mouth showed just the hint of a contented smile.

He couldn't not kiss her.

Instead of pulling her close toward him, he kept one hand on her shoulder, and with the other, he tilted her chin up slightly with one finger. He wanted to kiss her, but he wouldn't without permission. Her eyes opened, and he stared into them, lost in their depths, hoping that he didn't look like a besotted fool, as he tried to think of something appropriate to say.

Celeste's voice dropped to a ragged whisper. “Oh, Adrian, I—” Her words broke off as she raised herself on her toes. Her palms cupped his cheeks, she leaned in closer and kissed him. Deeply and fully.

Adrian froze, but not for long. As soon as he got over the shock, he lowered his hands to embrace her fully and matched the enthusiasm of her mouth on his, kissing her back with all his heart and soul. The gentle touch of her soft hands on his face made his heart pound as she kissed him passionately, holding him captive in a way he'd never experienced before.