Page 30 of The Best Christmas Choir Ever

“Then let me worry about the music.”

“I would argue there’s an element of logistics here. You know…” he tapped his phone “…like getting this little performance on film.”

“Maybe if you weren’t hovering so much,” Charlie said.

“I don’t think me hovering is the problem,” he replied.

Charlie crossed her arms, her nostrils flaring, and he found himself drawn to her intensity, leaning in, thinking about—

“Why don’t we take five?” Doris said, stepping forward. She eyed them both with a raised brow. “Give everyone a chance to hydrate?”

“Sure,” Julian said. “Good idea.”

The moment the group dispersed, Charlie swept him off to the side of the room.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Too what?” she said, ignoring the question.

“Huh?”

“Before. You said, ‘Don’t you think you’re being a little too…’” Charlie said. “What were you going to say?”

Julian lifted his shoulder. “I don’t know. It just feels like you’re being a little critical of the choir. I think they’re doing really well considering all we had last week was a name.”

“I’m giving them notes,” Charlie said. “That’s how they’re going to improve.”

“Yes. Notes are good. But I think we should remember that most of them are in their seventies and hard of hearing. You could dial it back a little. That’s all.”

“Dial it back?” Charlie looked at him like he’d sprouted a third eye. “Do you want to make it into this competition or not?”

“Of course I do.” He let out a heavy breath. “They’re doing the best they can. And for like a week of rehearsals, I think they’re sounding pretty good.”

“Pretty good does not win you twenty thousand dollars.” Charlie prodded him in the chest with her finger. “That’s what we’re doing here, aren’t we?”

Julian batted her finger away before he could do something ridiculous, like take her hand. “Ideally—”

“Then let’s take it from the top!” Charlie called, stomping back over to the front of the room.

“Okay then,” Julian muttered under his breath. “Good conversation.” Apparently they weren’t really taking five.

The residents scrambled back to their places, exchanging looks of uncertainty. Doris’s lips were pulled into a tight line as she settled back on the piano bench.

Julian opened his camera app on his phone again. None of this was going the way he’d expected or hoped. He couldn’t put a pin in why Charlie was so out of sorts today, but it almost felt like she was deliberately trying to make this process more difficult. All they needed to do was film a nice little video so the Elm Springs Arts Council could decide whether they would be performing on Christmas Eve. He wasn’t asking for perfection, just for Charlie to let the choir actually get through the song.

“Gentlemen in the back!” Charlie snapped. “Straighten up, please. Eyes forward.”

Julian got into position, just off to the side of Charlie. He lifted his phone. “Are we ready?”

“Yes,” Charlie said. “Here we go. And one…and two…and…”

Julian hit Record, zooming in, taking in the residents and their smiles. There were fewer of them now.

“Stop! Stop!” Charlie called.

Julian deleted the recording and whirled around. “Now what?”

“The altos came in too late.”