When Lexi finished, she gasped a deep breath and sighed dramatically. She reclined across the length of the seat, arms dangling at her sides, fingertips skimming the floorboards. It wasn’t hard to miss the way the corners of Lexi’s lips curled at Tilly’s enthusiastic clapping. Tilly and Kate shared a knowing smile.

“And you’re being graded next week?” Tilly asked.

Lexi turned her head and looked over at Kate. “Unfortunately.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “It’s only me grading you.”

“Yeah,” Lexi remarked. “That’s the problem.” She turned to face Tilly. “Do you know how well she plays? She can’t sing to save herself, but she’s like Chopin on the keys.”

Tilly smiled. “Yes, I know.” She locked eyes with Kate. “When we were your age, she used to play every Sunday morning at St. Gerard’s.”

Lexi snorted. “Seriously? Kate played at mass?”

Tilly looked to Lexi. “She even wrote her own harmonies and played them at the end of communion.”

Kate’s face heated. “Tilly…”

“Do you know Leonard Cohen’s song Hallelujah?” Tilly asked Lexi.

Suddenly, Kate’s throat grew tight.

Lexi nodded.

“Well,” Tilly started, her eyes drifting back to Kate, “We studied music performance together, and we performed Hallelujah for our final.”

“You and Kate?” Lexi asked.

“Yes,” Tilly said softly. “Sister Hattie, my aunt, used to say that Kate was just like King David—she knew the secret chord.”

“King David?” Lexi asked. “The guy who killed Goliath?”

“Yes,” Tilly said, her eyes trained on Kate. “And he also happened to be the only one who could soothe Saul with a song—”

The second the bell rang, Lexi shot up, the legs of the piano seat screeching against the floorboards. “Thanks for coming Tilly, soz, gotta run, gotta pack…”

Kate looked down at her watch. “You still haven’t packed?” The four-thirty car ferry to Mornington would be pulling in in no time and Lexi was a prefect—Kate relied on her to escort the younger boarders across to meet their parents, or buses, at the end of each week. “You have twenty minutes before the van’s leaving,” Kate called after her. She crossed the room to the window. In the driveway, a few boarders were ready with their bags. Kate looked across the room. “The end of that class passed quickly! Sorry if she pulled you away from your writing.”

“I don’t mind at all.” Tilly joined her at the window. Smiling, she bumped her shoulder playfully against Kate’s, then leaned so close Kate could feel the heat radiating off her bare arm. “Do you still play piano?” Tilly asked.

“Not as often as I used to.”

“That’s a shame.” She turned. “I suppose I should get back to writing…”

Kate’s fingers reached out and curled gently around the fine bones of Tilly’s wrist, stopping her. “By the way, I finished your books.”

Tilly’s eyes glossed over with surprise. “You did?”

Kate nodded.

Tilly settled against the windowsill. “But I only gave you the set last week?”

“I’ve been reading one a night.”