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

They slept late the next morning but were up and dressed in time to go to the eleven fifteen service at St. Philip’s. After the service, they went up to the console while Raymond was in the middle of the postlude and paid their respects when he’d finished.


“How did you like the service?” Raymond said.


“It was okay,” Tom said. “A little too low church for my taste, but okay.”


“I know what you mean,” Raymond said. “When we were in Asheville, we went to St. Mary’s on Charlotte Street the Sunday before we heard you at All Souls’. You drive right by it on the way to the Grove Park Inn, and it’s unabashedly Anglo-Catholic in its worship.”


“Sounds like my kind of place,” Tom said.


“They actually said a Hail Mary at the end of the service,” Raymond said.


“Wow,” Tom said, “that’s over the top.”


“Anyway,” Tom said, “we’re going to take sandwiches to our hotel room and relax for two or three hours until showtime.”


Chapter 81