Page 60 of Echoes of a Silent Song
What, if anything, could loosen her up?He’d seen glimpses of what lay underneath all that cool professionalism, but only glimpses.What would it take for her to let him see more?
Couldn’t think about that right now, though.He had to get his head right.He couldn’t be in here thinking about Blair.He shoved open the door and stepped out into the bright lights of the hallway.He could continue his prayer just as easily in the choir room, couldn’t he?
Given his new job and new location, a new preconcert ritual suddenly seemed quite appropriate.
Despite everything, Blair had been looking forward to the concert.She always anticipated them, though her enthusiasm had dimmed with each passing year.Each new director.Each time she and the students had to start over with someone new.
Callum, to his credit, had done more with the kids than most of his predecessors, but despite the intense work they’d put in this week, the music was still short of where it needed to be.So after Freshman Choir filed onstage, blue robes gleaming in bright lights, and she strode out to take her place at the piano, she was uncharacteristically on edge.Her hands were shaky.So were Callum’s.
And he started the first piece faster than they’d ever rehearsed it.
She should’ve been prepared for that, of course.A collaborative pianist should be prepared for anything.Be able to adapt to anything.Be able to adjust to anything.But all those years of adapting and adjusting had taken its toll.And tonight, at the downbeat of the first concert of the year, her adaptive skills ran out.She was rattled.And she completely flubbed the introduction.
She had to move on.Forget about it.Keep pressing forward.And as aprofessional, she did.But the kids were shaken.For the rest of the concert, it showed.The freshmen sang so quietly Blair could barely hear them, even from the stage.The treble choir forgot everything they’d ever learned about diction.Mixed Chorus managed the unintentional yet difficult feat of singing in two keys at the same time.And when Madrigals took the stage, they were terrified.Their performance had no glaring errors, but it sounded tight.Insecure.She saw the stress on their faces, and she heard it in their voices.
By the time the concert ended and the audience showered them with uncertain applause, Blair was blazing mad.Half an hour of hobnobbing with parents did nothing to take the edge off.
Especially not when she saw Makayla backstage in tears.
Once Blair had comforted and sent Makayla on her way, Blair was practically in tears of her own.She hauled the heavy quilted cover to the grand piano and wrestled it onto the instrument’s ebony surface.What would she even say to Callum?He’d probably already left, and he hadn’t even bothered to turn the lights off, so that was yet another thing she had to do before she went home, and—
The stage door opened, and there stood the man himself.He’d shed his jacket, and his tie hung loose around his neck.Despite everything, he was still devastatingly handsome, and that just made her madder.
“That could’ve gone better,” he said as he approached.
She yanked the cover over the back of the piano.“Understatement of the century.”
“Whathappened?”
“I don’t know, Callum.Maybe you’d like to explain why you started the first piece so fast.”Arrrggh.She’d put the piano cover on backward.Again.
“We’d taken it almost that fast in rehearsal.”He took a spot on the opposite side of the piano and picked up the edge of the cover, helping her rotate it clockwise.“What’s another notch or two on the metronome?Given preconcert adrenaline, they were going to take it faster anyway.”
“Directing a high school choir is like steering a cruise ship, Callum.Maybe you’re used to driving a speedboat, but we are not that.You can’t just change the tempo on us.”
“Well, you’re a professional, at least.”
“A professional who does not appreciate surprises.”
“Noted.”
Blair yanked the cover into place and stepped back.“Wait, are you blaming me for how things turned out tonight?”
“The piano is the foundation of the entire performance.If that’s not secure, then it can affect things.”
“And why in the world do you think it wasn’t secure?You’re the one who charged in here and acted like you knew what you were doing when it turns out you definitely did not.”
He flung an arm skyward.“Okay, Blair.You’re right and I’m wrong.You know everything and I know nothing.I should just let you make all the decisions from here on out.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what you implied.”
Oh, what a ridiculous, frustrating human being.“So sue me, Callum.Sue me for loving these kids.For caring about them and wanting what’s best for them.”
“Did it ever occur to you, in all your self-righteous pontificating, that you aren’t the only one who cares about them?”His eyes shot sparks.
“Well, given that you’ve set them up to fail from day one, you’ve sure got a funny way of showing it.”
