Page 238 of Sing with Me

“I’ll rent a place somewhere in between. I don’t need a big place since Watt’s for Dinner has test kitchens,” Skye said. “I’ll have to keep my St. Simon’s stuff still in storage for another year until we build a house or…”

She stopped in her tracks.

So did Diehl.

There, in front of them, the whitewashed walls of Brinley’s beach house shone in the morning sun. The French doors upstairs reminded Diehl of the first morning he woke up in the bedroom to the sound of a sparrow flying around in the room because he had left the door opened.

He started to hum “His Eye is on the Sparrow.”

Skye looked away, and then back to the house. “It’s a cozy cottage.”

“It is.” Diehl remembered the grand piano in the house. “I have fond memories of the Treble Trio practices. How are you going to be here for practice when you’re in Atlanta?”

“I’ll fly here when the trio sings at church,” Skye said. “I’m not giving it up.”

“I’ll come here with you. It’s usually on Sundays, anyway. We can fly in for the weekend and then out again.”

“We don’t sing that often unless we’re filling in for vacationing choir members—like we did in June.”

“I enjoyed it. It’s a nice break for me from work.”

“It’s fun work.”

“Yep.” Diehl held her as they stood there on the boardwalk staring at the beach house, backs facing the ocean.

“I wonder…” Skye’s voice faded into the wind.

Diehl’s chin was on the side of Skye’s head. “Wonder what?”

“Could we…uh…live here?”

“Sure. Do we need to build a minimum-required big house on Seaside Island when we can just move in already?” Diehl warmed up to the idea.

“It has a kitchen that I helped Brinley design,” Skye said softly.

“It is small.”

“But cozy.”

“Yes. If we need more room, we could expand it.”

“What about security?” Skye asked. “The kids. I want them to be safe. We’re so close to a public beach.”

“I’ll ask Malik to look into it. Lots of people live on St. Simon’s Island, and we know it’s one of the safest beach towns to be.”

“Maybe we can work with the local communities to make it even safer for families to raise their kids here.” Skye paused. “I guess I’m just a bit concerned, though I am reminding myself now that Elisa was lured away by people she knew and trusted.”

“Exactly. This beach town is not a hotbed of crime.”

“I think Seaside Chapel has a community outreach arm for safety during the summertime when it runs summer camps for kids. We can ask Pastor Gonzalez if it extends to the rest of the year.”

Diehl nodded. “So do you want to ask Brin if she’s still selling this house?”

“Shall we pray about it first?”

“Of course. If this is where God wants us to be, then we can make Brin an offer.” The rustling of trees made Diehl’s eyes look to the side of the house where the yard was. “I wonder who has been filling the bird feeder and bath?”

“I have.” Skye pointed to the trees. “My car’s parked across the street. I brought another bag of seeds today.”

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