Page 51 of Echoes of a Silent Song
“I can tell by the way you talk about it.”The caffeinated pep returned to his agent’s voice.“Now.The question is, What changed?What inspired you?I don’t have five years to wait through your next rough patch, so I need the express route to unlocking your mojo.”
Callum grinned.“I don’t think that’s how this works, Ralph.”
“Well, just in case.What’s different now?”
“Everything,” he replied.“I’m in front of a choir every day again.Making music.Digging around in scores and finding what I want to bring out and then figuring out how to communicate that to the group.Seeing the kids make progress, watching them come alive, watching them fall in love with it, watching Blair and how she is with them, and the love these kids have for each other, and—”
“Aha!I should’ve known you met someone.”
“I’ve met lots of people.”
“Don’t be daft, Callum.It’s a woman.Of course it’s a woman.”He could picture Ralph slapping his own forehead.“That’s what got you your muse back.I should’ve guessed.Blair, is it?”
“It’s not a woman.”
“Blair’s not a woman?”
Images of Blair in that formfitting bronze dress surfaced.The memory of how perfectly she fit in his arms.Her sweet fragrance filling his lungs, the ends of her hair tickling his fingers as he held her ...
“No, she very much is a woman.”
“Callum.”Ralph’s voice held a grin.“You sly dog.”
“It’s not like that, Ralph.We work together.”And we talk about everything, and we danced together, and in a moment of temporary insanity I almost kissed her, and I spent all of yesterday wondering what would’ve happened if I actually had.Not that he’d admit any of that to Ralph.
“Callum, you can prance around under that giant banner of denial allyou want,” Ralph said, “but I have not seen you this inspired, this on fire for music, this on fire for life, since you were with Rayne.”
“But when I met Rayne, I was also in Boston directing choirs and making music every day.You can’t separate the two.”
“And you can’t ignore the fact that I’ve known you since you were nineteen years old and I’ve seen you with women who didn’t inspire you.Rayne did.And Blair clearly inspires you too.”
Crap.Ralph was right.Callum had dated a few women, a couple he’d even really liked.But Rayne was the only one to inspire the music that came from his heart, not his head.
Well, the only one until Blair.
“Hey, I’ve got to run, Callum.Do something about the feelings you so obviously have for this woman.Or don’t.Whatever works for you and your muse.Just grab hold of these musical ideas you’ve got back in your corner and don’t let go of them.God has clearly answered your prayers and my prayers and your mother’s prayers.Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop now.”
The line went dead, and Callum sat in his car, sipping coffee and watching students trickle in from the parking spaces around him.He had feelings for Blair, obviously.He enjoyed her company.He found her attractive.He liked her.
Ralph thought it went beyond that, though.Ralph was comparing Blair to Rayne.
Rarefied air.And air he wasn’t certain he was ready to revisit.
But his agent was right about one thing.Callum’s prayers had been answered.Gratitude filled him, and he sat there in his car and thanked God for giving him back his creative muse.
God’s plan for doing that was certainly not one Callum would’ve come up with.Bringing him to the middle of nowhere.Forcing him to take a job he’d have never considered otherwise.
But through that circuitous route, God had introduced him to the people and the music that would give him his inspiration back.Would give him his career back.
And that, in turn, would be his ticket back to Boston and back to his real life.
Blair parked her car on a side street rather than using the staff parking lot, and she entered the school through a seldom-used side door.
She wasn’t avoiding Callum, necessarily.She just wasn’t quite prepared to deal with him.Not yet.Not this early.Not when thoughts of him had occupied all her waking hours yesterday, and some of her sleeping ones.She hadn’t even been able to focus at church, for goodness’ sake.The pastor would talk about an answer to prayer, and she’d see Callum.He’d talk about how God has a way of bringing the people you need into your life at the exact moment you need them, and she’d think of Callum.
When he’d talked about the desires of one’s heart and she’d still seen Callum, she’d forced herself to rein it in.He’s leaving.This is temporary.Nothing good can come of this.
He hadn’t texted her yesterday, which wasn’t unusual for the weekend, and she usually turned her phone off on Sunday afternoons anyway.Doubly so yesterday, since that would also give her an opportunity to avoid an inevitable barrage of questions from Joy.
