Page 100 of Something Like Hail

“I’m open to suggestions,”Marcello replied easily. “Is there one you happen to be partialto?”

Noah opened his mouth to answer. Then heshut it again. Marcello already knew which shelter he cared mostabout because the man knew way too much about everything. Itprobably wasn’t a coincidence that Pete had ended up at Jerusalem.Marcello had given him that job. Isn’t that more or less what Petehad said? Noah wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Marcello ownedthe shelter. “Gospel Ministries,” Noah answered at last.

“Pardon me?” Marcellostarted blinking rapidly. “What did you say?”

“The Gospel Ministriesshelter,” Noah clarified. “I stayed there a few times. They makeyou take turns reading aloud from the Bible and you have to praybefore getting into bed. Very wholesome. You’d love it.”

“And you can’t think ofanother shelter that you are—oh, I don’t know—more indebtedto?”

“Nope,” Noah said. “It’sthat one or I’m not interested.”

They stared each other down, a low chucklebreaking the silence. Nathaniel. For once he seemed amused insteadof irritated. “I think he’s got you figured out, boss.”

“Is that so?” Marcellochallenged, attention still on Noah.

“I’ve only connected twopieces of a very complicated puzzle,” Noah said dismissively. Hedidn’t want to be considered a threat. Marcello still intimidatedhim too much. Noah had seen first-hand what happened to people whogot on his bad side. “I figure you either own Jerusalem, or you arefriends with the owner.”

“I shall neither confirmnor deny your theory,” Marcello said. “And yes, proceeds will gotoward its further renovation. To be truly successful, we wouldneed to raise enough to establish a satellite location. That wouldrelieve the burden most effectively, although if this city’shomeless population increases further, I’ll be tempted to leavethem on the streets so that people and politicians alike are forcedto address the underlying issues.”

“I’m in,” Noah said, lovinghow passionate Marcello was on the subject. “I’ll do whatever I canto help.”

“Thank you,” Marcello saidwarmly, standing and patting him on the shoulder. “I’ll leave yougentlemen to your work. I have my own tasks tocomplete.”

Noah waited until Marcello had left theoffice before he turned to Nathaniel. “He owns Jerusalem, doesn’the?”

“Absolutely,” Nathanielsaid. “He enjoys being enigmatic though, so next time, if you wantto make him happy, pretend you don’t see right throughhim.”

Noah sighed in exasperation. “That won’t bea problem. I still don’t understand him most of the time.”

A smile tried to wrest control ofNathaniel’s lips and failed. “You and me both. Let’s get started.We have a lot of people to call.”

The work wasn’t as hard as it was tedious.For each call he had to explain who he was, cover the backgrounddetails, and describe what each person’s job would be. Some weremarked, like himself, to potentially participate in the charityauction. Most were agreeable to the suggestion; some couldn’t makeit that night. Noah was two hours into this task and had just endeda call when he saw the next name on his list:

Harold Franklin.

His stomach sank. Noah always felt a varietyof emotions on the rare occasions he let himself think of Harold.Longing, because he wished they could have been more to each other.Regret, because had he allowed things to develop naturally, maybethey would still be together. Instead he had made his move toosoon, Harold had rejected him, and Noah ran, just like he had donewith his parents. What was the alternative? Stay and fight? Maybethat was the key. Not for battles that were already lost though, sohe copied the name and number to a scrap of paper and walked acrossthe office to Nathaniel’s desk. He waited until the other man wasfinished with his most recent call, then slid the scrap of papertoward him.

“Do you mind taking thisone for me?” he asked.

Nathaniel barely glanced at it. “I’ve got myown list to finish calling.”

“I know, but—”

“You have a historytogether. I get it, but this is business, and that means settingaside personal feelings. You can angst over it later when you’rehome. Now get back to work.”

Geez, he was such a jerk! Noah returned tothe table and chairs in one corner of the room. After he sat, heallowed himself to sulk, but not for very long because he couldtell Nathaniel was still watching him while pretending not to. Whycouldn’t they have traded numbers? Their workload would haveremained the same.

He was tempted to skip over Harold, but nowthat Nathaniel had seen whose name it was, he would notice if Noahsaid a different one. Maybe he could get through this anonymously.Harold wasn’t going to recognize his voice after all this time!Feeling foolish for even worrying about it, Noah dialed thenumber.

“Hello?”

“Hi there!” Noah said,trying to make himself sound upbeat and professional. “I’m callingon behalf of Marcello Maltese regarding an upcoming fundraiser. Thebenefits will go to help Austin’s homeless, and all you have todo—”

“Who is this?” Haroldsounded more confused than angry.

Noah swallowed, wishing that voice didn’tmake him want to fall to his knees and beg for another chance. “AsI said, I’m calling from Studio Maltese. Do you happen to haveSaturday night free? Any obligations you have with the GAC will berescheduled and you’ll be paid time and a half at the usual hourlyrate.”

The line was silent except for a barelyaudible hum. “Noah?”