Tom Foster has his life planned out, and he's systematically pursuing his goals. At twenty-two, he's been organist and choirmaster at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd for three years, he's working on his doctoral thesis, and he's beginning a secondary career performing in concert. There is no room in his schedule for romance ... until Noah Webster, a gorgeous green-eyed blond, walks into the church one evening to audition for the choir.<br><br>What starts as an arrangement of convenience -- Tom's usual page turner is unavailable, and Noah agrees to do the job-soon turns into a fast friendship. Then Noah, who is saddled with an obnoxious roommate, rents the spare bedroom in Tom's house, and ultimately the two men become lovers and partners in life.<br><br>But before they can ride off into the sunset together, they must face one major obstacle: Noah's violent, homophobic Southern Baptist father.

Love Turns the Page

“Do you know who I was talking to?” she said.


“Then get your butt down there and grab the brass ring while I sit down at that little piano in the corner and put this young man through a few paces,” she said.


He went. Thirty minutes later, he was back in Dr. Ambrose’s office, in a bit of a daze. She and Noah were sitting on a sofa, deep in conversation, when he walked in the door. When she sensed his presence, she looked up at him and said, “Well?”


“I’m in,” he said. “As soon as the fall term begins, she says—subject to approval through the regular channels.”


“Regular channels! Gertrude is a nervous old spinster. I’ve spent a decade building a world-class faculty for this department, and the powers that be, up to and including the board of governors, know it. As long as I continue to deliver excellence, they give me whatever I ask for, as long as it’s within the budget.”


Chapter 42