Page 25 of Perfect Harmony

“It’s so pretty.” Isabelle’s voice,usually cranked to ten on the volume scale, was hushed and full of wonder. “Ilike it, Mr. Preacher.”

“Thank you. Ms. Moore? What do you think?”

Was that apprehension in his voice? Was hehonestly worried about what she thought of the temporary tattoo he’d drawn onher on a whim?

She glanced at the rose before smiling upat him. “It’s the most beautiful rose I’ve ever seen. Thank you.”

The line between his brows smoothed out. “You’rewelcome.” His voice was gruff, but she was pretty sure she saw a pleased lookon his face before he turned away.

The final bell rang, and the kids scatteredlike seeds. They ran to the back of the room to gather their backpacks and puton their jackets. Addison followed them. “What do you say to Mr. Preacher?”

“Thank you, Mr. Preacher,” the children holleredin unison.

“Let’s give him a round of applause fordoing such a great job at teaching us about being a tattoo artist,” Addisonsaid.

The kids clapped their hands and stompedtheir feet before gathering up their stuff. Addison zipped up jackets, tiedshoelaces, helped little hands tighten backpack straps, and stuffed nearly forgottenlunchboxes into backpacks.

When the last of the kids had trickled out ofher classroom, she was surprised to see Preacher still in the room. He packedup the last of his equipment into the tackle box and closed it, latching it shutas she closed down her laptop and retrieved her purse and cell phone from thebottom drawer of her desk.

She joined Preacher at the table. “Thankyou so much, Mr. Preacher. The kids really enjoyed hearing you speak today.”

“It’s just Preacher,” he said.

She flushed. “Right, of course. Well,thank you again. You were really good with them.”

He made a sound of disbelief, and she said,“I mean that. You were a natural. Kids can tell when people are being phony aroundthem, and they don’t respond like they did to you if they think you’re beingfake. You did an amazing job describing what you do and answering their questions.”

He leaned one hip against the desk. “You alwayslike this?”

“Like what?”

“Little Miss Sunshine.”

“Well, I… I believe that having a positive attitudeis the key to a good life,” she said.

“Right.” He looked her up and down, hisgaze lingering on the pearls around her neck before studying the flush that hadrisen in her cheeks. “See you around, Sunshine.”

He picked up his tackle box and headed towardthe door, stopping when Grace stepped into the classroom. “Preacher, hey, whatare you… oh right, career day.”

“Hey, Grace.” Preacher nodded to her and leftthe classroom.

Addison sucked in a deep breath and smiledat Grace. “Hi. What are you doing here?”

“Just wondered if you wanted to have anearly dinner before we head over to the ball diamond. Harrison’s playing tonight,right?”

“He is. I’d love to have dinner. Is Kirameeting us at the restaurant?”

Grace smoothed her hand over her curly hair.“Uh, actually, I thought maybe just the two of us could have dinner together.”

“Sure,” Addison said. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Five

Grace poked at the foodon her plate. She’d asked Addison to dinner so she could clear up what she’d seenbetween her and Gideon, but she couldn’t figure out a way to casually bring upthe subject.

“Hey, Grace?” Addison said. “You okay?”

“Yeah. How did career day go?”

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