Chapter 16: Chapter 16

As the pianist, Mrs. Agnes Watson, who couldn’t have been a day younger than ninety, began to play the opening bars of “Away in a Manger” Melody gave all of her attention to Michael. If she was looking at him, she couldn’t possibly dwell on the times her father had played that very song on the piano, and she’d sang from the bench next to him in their parlor at home. He’d join in on the harmony, and her mom would listen and applaud when they were finished.

Michael was standing in the middle of the stage, beaming. He seemed to know all of the words, even though this was his first rehearsal, and as soon as the song was over, he waved at Melody, and she waved back. As Mrs. Watson began to play, “Go Tell it on the Mountain,” Melody started to wonder what Reid might be doing. It seemed strange that he wasn’t there. Why didn’t he bring Michael himself? While the voice of self-doubt in her mind worried that he might be on a date with some other woman, she thought surely Michael would have mentioned anyone his dad was seeing. Was Reid sitting at home alone while Michael was here singing, and if so, what did that mean for him as a parent?

She knew it wasn’t her business, but at least thinking about Reid gave her something else to concentrate on as the carols continued and each one tugged at her heart. When Michael stepped forward to say his line, with Mrs. Gregory’s coaching, Melody snapped a picture. He was so cute, pulling the microphone down so that he could speak into it, and his loud, clear voice was adorable as he recited a familiar scripture from the Book of Luke. As soon as he was finished, Melody raised her hands in the air and tapped them together in a silent clap. He grinned at her from ear to ear and took his place in line next to a cute little girl with long brown pigtails.

Unable to stop thinking about Reid, Melody decided it might be nice for him to see how cute his little boy looked up there on stage, so she sent him the picture. She didn’t send any text, choosing rather to wait and see what he had to say—if anything—before she commented.

A few seconds later her phone buzzed, and she looked down to see his message. “Oh, wow! He really looks like a natural up there. Is he having fun?”

Relieved that he had responded so quickly and positively, Melody replied, “He is! I wasn’t going to stay for rehearsal, but he talked me into it. He’s quite persuasive.” She read it over several times before she sent it, wondering if she’d spelled anything wrong or said anything that sounded ridiculous.

“You’re telling me,” he sent back. “That’s why I have five boxes of cereal in my pantry and every single one of them has a cartoon character on the box.”

Before Melody could even reply, another message came through. “I’m really glad you’re there with him, Melody. I bet he was so happy to see you.”

“He was,” she assured him. “I was happy to see him, too. Are you working?” She knew she shouldn’t pry, but she couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn’t there.

“Something like that.”

She wasn’t sure what that might mean, but she decided not to meddle anymore, and looking at the time, she saw that rehearsal was almost over. “Can I call you later to talk about Saturday?” she asked, hoping that didn’t sound lame.

“Sure. Michael will be in bed by 8:30 so I should have some time after that.”

“Okay. Talk to you later.”

“Sounds good. Thanks so much for the picture.”

“No problem,” she typed and hit send before she put her phone down and returned her focus to Michael whose expression seemed a bit annoyed now, as if he couldn’t do without her undivided attention. She smiled at him, and his countenance shifted back to his naturally happy self. Melody hoped that this song, “Joy to the World,” would be the last.

She wasn’t so lucky. The last song they sang was “Silent Night,” and even though the voices of thirty children aged four to ten made it sound a lot different than it had when her father used to sing it with her, she felt a tear in her eye. This rehearsal couldn’t end quickly enough.

As soon as the last refrain was over, Melody rose and approached the stage. The children were running about, many of the parents having come to retrieve them now, and Michael ran right for her. “Did you like it?” he asked.

“Yes, Michael, I loved it,” she assured him. “But I have to go now, okay? I have a lot of work to get done.”

“Okay,” he said, his face showing he was doing his best to understand. He opened his arms wide. “Goodbye, Miss Melody.”

“Goodbye, Michael,” she said, dropping to her knees to hug him. “I’ll see you really soon.”

“Promise?” he asked.

“I promise,” Melody replied, his soft hair rubbing against her cheek.

As she stood, Mrs. Gregory came up behind Michael and said, “That was wonderful, my boy! You are a natural!”

“Thank you!” he said, his face beaming.

“Now, we don’t have too many more rehearsals before the festival, so you’ll have to practice that line every day, okay?”

Michael nodded his head ferociously, his face still beaming.

“Good night, Mrs. Gregory,” Melody said with a smile.

“Melody, I’m so glad you stayed,” Mrs. Gregory said, resting a wrinkled hand on Melody’s upper arm. “Have a lovely evening, dear.”

“You, too.” She nodded and turned to make her way to the exit, Michael having bounded off to run around with a few other children.

***

Melody saw her mother standing in the back of the sanctuary, a questioning expression on her face, and when she reached her, she asked, “Why are you here? I thought you’d headed home an hour ago.”

“I was going to,” Melody assured her, “but I ran into Michael on the way out, and he asked me to stay and listen to him sing. So I did.”

Sarah said nothing more, but Melody could tell by the smile she was trying to hide that her mother wanted to read more into this situation than she should. She’d simply been humoring a child that she cared about. Nothing else. This night certainly had done nothing to change the way she felt about music—Christmas or otherwise.

“I’ll see you at home in a little while,” Sarah said, waving at a friend across the room, and Melody nodded before taking off for the door again, hopeful that she could finally escape before anyone else stopped her or talked her into any other uncomfortable situations.

Once she was finally in her car, she took a few deep breaths and slowly released them. She wasn’t sure if her heart was racing because she’d been forced to endure the Christmas rehearsal or because she realized she’d promised to call Reid when she got home. Texting was one thing—you could look that over before you hit send--but having a real-life conversation was something else entirely. She just hoped she wouldn’t say something stupid or somehow mess it up. If she just kept it simple, focused on talking about their plans for Saturday, she should be able to make it through. But she knew she had a tendency to ramble, and as she backed her car out of the parking lot, she started rehearsing her lines in her head, hopeful that she could complete her performance as nicely as Michael had.