"Well?" she asked.
"The second violin rushes the handoff," Ethan said. "Not you. The other one. If you breathe with her instead of ahead of her, she'll stop panicking."
The second violin, a boy named Marcus, flushed. Sophia grinned. "Told you," she said to Marcus. "He's annoying because he's right."
Marcus muttered thanks. Ethan shrugged, then helped them run it twice more until the handoff landed like a shared secret instead of a near collision. Walking out together, Sophia bumped his shoulder with hers.
"You could have just gone home," she said.
"I know," Ethan James Mercer said. "That's why staying was a good gift."
She laughed, delighted to have her own earlier line returned to her like a mirrored phrase in music.