Hearts in Harmony Read Online Free PDF Page A

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.
    â€œI’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.
    But for now, he had never anticipated attending the evening service so much.
    Â 
    Celeste walked into the foyer quietly. Instead of standing alone in the growing crowd, she made her way immediately to the sanctuary. She sat in approximately the same place she had that morning and waited for the service to begin. She’d only been sitting a couple of minutes when Adrian looked up at her and smiled brightly.
    Easily recognizing the other men from Adrian’s descriptions, she watched them as they practiced, but she paid the most attention to Randy, the one on the keyboard.
    Randy seemed to be the only one obviously having fun. He would try different things, and with trying something new, he often made a mistake. Whenever that happened, Adrian also made a mistake, and then they both did theworst thing musicians in a group could do—they both paused at the same time in the middle of a song. Every time that happened, Paul, the bass guitarist, shut his eyes and kept playing until they recovered, while Bob, the drummer, struggled not to laugh. Randy would shrug his shoulders, play what he was supposed to for just a little while, then the cycle would start again.
    Watching Randy on the keyboard sent a wave of longing through Celeste. Randy wasn’t bad. He was just a little too adventurous for his own good.
    She shook her head and turned away.
    She was in church to worship God, the God who had pulled her out of the pit. She wasn’t here to critique the band.
    To distract herself, Celeste turned her attention to the others in the sanctuary. Almost everyone there was close to her own age. The evening crowd was about a third of the number who attended the morning service. Hardly any children were present. The majority of the people wore jeans, including the men of the worship team. Even the pastor was dressed casually. There wasn’t a tie to be seen in the entire crowd.
    What appeared to be the youth group occupied an entire section. In keeping with the informal setting, the worship team played only contemporary music, making Celeste guess the evening service was geared to the teens and young adults.
    Adrian and all his friends, this time, joined her during the pastor’s message, though they all returned to the front for the closing. The second the pastor announced coffee and donuts at the back, most of the seats in the church emptied.
    It didn’t take Adrian long to appear at her side.
    â€œIf you want a donut, you’d better hurry. The youth group gets them pretty fast. Sometimes, it’s a real free-for-all.”
    Adrian’s friendly smile did little to quell her rising uneasiness. All he was doing was offering her a donut, and nothing more. She really was trying to follow what she thought