“Relax.” Mark put his hand on Gabe’s shoulder again. “It’s okay. Take a deep breath.”

Gabe nodded, took a deep breath, and let it out.

“Better?”

“I’m fine.” Gabe suddenly felt dumb for being so nervous. “I’m okay.”

“Good. First of all, who have you studied with?” After Gabe rattled off a half-dozen names, Mark asked, “What happened? You kept outgrowing teachers?”

“Yes, that happened. And I was sort of at my parents’ transportation whims since we didn’t live in the city—in Manhattan. I’m from back east. We lived about thirty minutes away in the burbs.”

Mark looked at Rina. “How are you two related?”

“We’re not,” Gabe said. “I’m a foundling—”

“You’re not a foundling,” Rina said. “His parents are unavailable at the moment. He’s staying with my family. When he hurt his hand, I thought of Matt. We go to the same synagogue and he’s the best.”

“You make me blush,” Birenbaum said. “But not too hard.”

Mark smiled. “You are the best.” To Rina he said, “How long is Gabe staying with you?”

“That’s up to Gabe and his parents. As far as I’m concerned, he can certainly bunk down with my family, especially if it means having the teacher he wants.”

“Where are your parents?”

Gabe turned bright red, but Rina was very calm. “That’s at issue right now. We don’t know where his parents are, but his parents do know that Gabe is staying with us. Professionally, what can you do for him?”

The boy slapped his hands over his face. Mark smiled. “I said relax, okay. It’s not a prerequisite of American citizenship to know who I am.” He turned to Rina. “What I can do for him…is…this. I want you both to know…that I’m not looking for students. With my teaching at the university, my composing, and commuting each weekend to and from Santa Fe, I don’t have a lot of free time.”

“I can move to Santa Fe,” Gabe blurted out.

“You’re not moving anywhere,” Rina said.

Again, Mark laughed. “I have a waiting list a mile long and to bump him to the top would be unfair.”

“Of course,” Rina said. “Maybe you can recommend someone?”

“Hold on a minute. I said it would be unfair…if I decided to take him on full-time. But since this looks like a temporary situation, I’d be willing to see him for a few lessons.”

Rina said, “That would be really nice of you.”