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Nora had raced to church after school that day and found Søren praying here by the shrine to the Virgin Mary She’d told hirateful Jordan was, how shocked the whole school was, how nobody knehy the coach had left so abruptly

Søren hadn’t smiled He’d only lit a candle

"Was that hard to do?" She re hily easy to put the fear of God into him," Søren had said "And almost enjoyable Why do you ask, Eleanor?"

She’d zipped up her hooded sweatshirt and plucked nervously at the ragged cuffs "I thought it ht be hard for you You know, since you’re in love with me"

Søren had ed to catch hihteen years she had

"Eleanor, there are suicide boerous than you are" He started toward his office She followed hioing to take that as a yes," she’d said when they arrived at his office door

"I’ve always been an admirer of the Cistercian monks" Søren stepped into his office "Especially their vow of silence" And he’d closed the door in her face

She’d smiled nonstop for the next teeks

Nora opened her eyes and stepped away from the shrine and out of the rown slick and shiny with age She thought she’d find Søren in his office working But she paused outside the sanctuary when she heard the sound of a piano wafting through the heavy wooden doors Inhaling the muted notes, she slipped inside the nave and stepped quietly toward the chancel where Søren sat at a grand piano

He didn’t look up at her as she came to the piano She placed her hands flat on its polished black top Closing her eyes again, she let the subtle waves vibrate through her and into her The last note shivered up her arhout the nave and back to the altar Nora opened her eyes

"The Moonlight Sonata," Nora said "My favorite"

Søren smiled and played a few stray notes

"I know it is"

Nora returned the s her hand over the smooth black surface