Page 22 of The Sound of Harmony

“I need to hear this,” Brooke said. “After he moves here, we should hang out.”

“No.”

“Why not? He doesn’t know anyone here, right? What’s wrong with being friendly?”

“I’m not ready to be that kind of friendly. Now isn’t the time.”

“It’s not the timing that’s the problem,” Brooke said.

“I’m busy, okay?”

Brooke threw her arms out. “We’re all busy. I know you’re afraid of men, but—”

“I am not afraid of men!” Emma said. Heads swiveled in their direction. She glared the customers down until they turned away, then stormed off to the other end of the row, away from the keyboard-banging children. Away from the jabbering salespeople. Away from Brooke. She threw her tape measure across the top of a piano she knew was too big.

Brooke tried to take the other end. Emma snatched it away from her and moved to the next. Too big. Brooke beat her to the third one and pointed. She held out her hand for the tape measure. After a moment’s hesitation, Emma let her take the tab at the end, and she unwound it over the top.

“I’m sorry,” Brooke whispered.

Emma let her shoulders fall. “I fought my way free, thank you very much.”

“Bad choice of words,” Brooke said. “We’re all proud of you. I mean that. But honey, you’ve been on your own for three years and not all men are like Jonah.”

“I know. Believe me, I know. I’ve moved on.”

“And now you have a crush. Baby steps, right?”

“God, it sounds so dumb when you say it like that.”

“It’s not dumb. Crushes are fun. Enjoy it.” Brooke raised her eyebrows and leaned her elbows on the piano, her chin in her hands. “I do have one question though. What are you going to do when Kendrick moves here? It’s easy to have a crush on someone far away, when everything is distant and abstract. What are you going to do when this man is right under your nose?”

“I don’t know.” Emma closed the lid over the keys. “I’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

Brooke gasped. “You have no plan? You have a plan for everything. Why don’t you have a plan for this?”

“Because I don’t need a plan for this. This is harmless. I’m enjoying the attention of an unavailable man. Nothing more.”

“But he is available.”

“Not to me.” Emma stowed her tape measure and legal pad in her bag. “Even if I was interested, which I’m not, Kendrick Bell is not the kind of man who falls for a woman like me. And I am not the kind of woman who falls for a man like him. Not anymore.”