"What'd you think of the callbacks?" said Roger.
Calvin walked alongside him to the parking lot. "I think the choice is obvious, don't you?"
Roger took the car keys out of his pocket. "I had my doubts, but you were right. Just remember, we need to reserve a role for you-know-who."
Calvin rolled his eyes. "Got it. We won't disappoint our precious benefactor."
He was doing a perfect job avoiding Genevieve all week. As much as he missed her company, she wasn't family. Marlo would be proud.
He was setting his first foot in the car when he heard the voice he'd been dreading for days.
"Hold on, boys," said Genevieve.
Roger's face turned hard.
Calvin noticed that Roger looked at Genevieve with less respect each time. He wasn't the least bit tempted to inquire.
"I haven't seen you around, Tang. You've got a question to answer."
He couldn't ignore her now, especially when her hair fell on her face and she tossed it aside in the way that terrorized his daydreams. "I've been busy with the play."
Genevieve said nothing. She wasn't angry or serious, just quiet.
Her eyes were burning a hole through Calvin's skull. "Give us a minute," he told Roger.
Roger shook his head and got in the car, slamming his driver's side door shut.
Calvin ignored Roger's reaction and pulled Genevieve aside. He snuck a peak at Marlo's empty parking spot. It was safe to chat.
She flashed a flirty grin. "So, what's it going to be, stud?"
His body pulsed with attraction. The thought of rejecting her hurt him.
Her eyes softened. "What's wrong?"
Calvin rubbed his forehead. "I don't know how to say this."
"Just say it."
Calvin placed his hands on his hips and turned away.
Genevieve took his face in her hands. Her voice was a late-night glass of warm milk. "Calvin, you can tell me anything."
The heat of her fingers burned his cheeks. Be a man and tell her. Think of Marlo. "I can't do it."
She listened with her entire face, unfazed.
"I have other obligations to keep."
Calvin rubbed his hands together. "I know this will probably dampen our friendship."
She dropped her hands. Her lips parted in shock. "What do you mean? Of course not."
His skin missed her touch the moment her hands left. "I let you down. I'm sorry."
"No, no. I shouldn't have dropped such a heavy decision on your lap. I mean, we barely know each other."
Calvin was ready to interrupt.
Genevieve put her hand up to stop him. "Let me finish. I got too excited and I forgot that there were two of us here. I haven't even asked you what your goals and ambitions are. I'm sorry."
Calvin felt bad hearing her apologize, even if she was making valid points. "Are we still friends?"
She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Absolutely. Nothing changes between us."
Calvin couldn't contain his glee. "Really?"
She smiled like she was reassuring him that the tooth fairy existed. "You don't believe me?"
"I just feel bad that I can't help you."
Her eyes twinkled with an idea. "No hard feelings. Let's have dinner tonight to move past it. My treat."
"Dinner? Tonight?"
She stepped forward. "Yes. You like Italian?"
"I can't go out tonight. I've got a lot of work to do on the play and the pressure is on to get it done this week."
Genevieve removed an invisible piece of lint from Calvin's sweater. "Nothing cures stress better than a big plate of hot, homemade lasagna, a glass of Chardonnay, and a little Millen banter."
Like a flower attracting a bee with nectar, he was hers. "Can you give me a minute to let Roger know?"
"Go ahead."
***
Throughout their entire meal, Genevieve never took her eyes off him.
He tried to steer the conversation towards her, but she whiplashed it back to him, asking him about his childhood nicknames, the things he was allergic to, and the Christmas gifts he always wanted, but never received.
It was a first for him, divulging such intimate details of his life on what felt like a first date, but he loved the attention. He was the luckiest man in the restaurant.
After dinner, Genevieve suggested they have a drink at a bar across the street.
"You like jazz?", she said.
No. "Sure."
It was barely six o'clock when they entered Snippy's, a half-full jazz bar with a live band who took requests.
The bar was only lit by the candles on the tables and white Christmas lights on the ceiling. The air smelled of expensive burnt tobacco.
They took a seat at the table far enough away from the band, who was playing covers of Broadway show tunes. Genevieve ordered another glass of Chardonnay. Calvin ordered tea.
She brought her chair close to his. Their knees bumped under the table. "Tell me, what do you want out of life?"
Calvin distracted himself from their physical contact by pretending to look for the waiter. "What do you mean?"
"You're young and intelligent. You must want something from this lifetime."
He put on his most suave persona. "I thought I was the oldest twenty-five-year-old you knew."
She laughed. "That's true. I've never met someone who won't swim in the ocean for fear of jellyfish."
He tried to give her the eyebrows-nose-lips stare, but he couldn't pull it off. "You said you'd never bring that up again."
She performed the signature stare, as if to correct his failed attempt. "Sorry, but that's a childish fear, if you ask me. Now, seriously, what do you want?"
He was avoiding the question, but his heart was comfortable where Genevieve placed it. It yearned to gush out everything. "I want a family. I want to get married, but it's hard finding a girl who wants a man like me."
The waiter arrived with their drinks. Genevieve took a sip of her wine. "You want a girl, Tang? I'll find you one."
Calvin didn't like the sound of that. He wanted her all to himself, and it broke his heart thinking she didn't feel the same about him. "Do you know anyone you can set me up with?"
She blinked slowly. "No, but it won't be hard. You have plenty of redeeming qualities."
He wanted to ask her what those were, but he didn't want to sound insecure. "Maybe in exchange for you finding me a girl I can find you a business partner."
"No. I'd rather have you as my partner."
Millions of invisible ants crawled across his skin. He looked down and laughed. "You really think I could help you?"
Genevieve rested her chin on her hand with her elbow on the table. "I know you can."
He shrugged. "Wouldn't you rather work alongside someone more, I don't know, gregarious?"
"I've got more than enough gregariousness for both of us."
What was it about those last three words that made him drowsy with affection?
Whatever noise the musicians were making faded into the background. Genevieve's words were all the music he needed. "You'll be better off with a people-person. I'm not the type of person you need."
"And what type of person are you?"
He was hoping it didn't come to this. "You know. I'm serious. I'm strict. I'm too old-fashioned. Women these days don't want that. If I make a mistake with women, I'm a creep. If an arrogant, attractive millionaire does it, he's a lonely, misunderstood soul."
Calvin didn't want to drive the conversation into a sad ditch, but the words were just pouring out. "Let's be honest," he said "the world would be a better place if boring introverts like me weren't around to kill your fun."
Genevieve watched him sip his tea, then placed her hand on the table next to his so their pinkies overlapped. "You don't mean that."
He moved his hairy pinky around her soft one. "I wish I lived in a world filled with people like you."
She blinked, clearly taken aback. "Wow."
Oh, boy. Now what did I do? "What?"
Her lips parted. She sighed like she was running short on air. "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me."
Calvin smiled. He grabbed a spoon and stirred his tea with a heroic chip on his shoulder.
Genevieve studied him for a moment. "Wait here. I'll be right back."
She stood up and walked up to the jazz band. After whispering something to the saxophone player, she slipped him something that looked like a piece of paper, then went back to her seat.
The musicians fiddled with their instruments, then the drummer tapped lightly on the symbols. The piano took off with it, playing what sounded like six keys in an upbeat tempo. After a few bars, the sensual sound of the saxophone supplied the melody.
Calvin recognized the piece as the theme to a morning talk show he watched years ago.
"Do you know this song?" said Genevieve.
He nodded.
"It's one of my favorites."
She closed her eyes and swayed gently, basking in the sounds.
"Why did you—"
She brought a finger to his lips. "Shhh."
The foreign contact on the nerve endings of his mouth made him shiver and tense up all at once. He resisted his craving to sink his teeth into her skin.
The saxophone stopped, but the pianist kept playing the same two-cord vamp.
The drummer picked up into a solo. It was random and inconsistent, completely devoid of rhythm. He was just hitting things with sticks. It was everything Calvin hated about jazz.
Genevieve draped one arm over his shoulder. She reached around to cover his eyes with her hand like a blindfold.
Darkness.
She brought her lips to his ear. "Close your eyes. Listen."
With one of his senses gone, and with Genevieve so close he could taste the wine she was drinking, he focused on the music.
"Do you hear that?"
His skin grew goosebumps at the feeling of her hot breath on his skin. He moistened his lips in anticipation. "Mhm."
"Hear the piano, playing the same notes over and over? That's you."
Calvin didn't understand. He used his hand to move hers from his eyes and turned his head to look at her.
Genevieve's mouth was millimeters from his. Her dessert perfume was making his head spin. The intensity of the music caused so much adrenaline to bottle up inside him, then burst into a twitch on his eyebrow.
"You're the constant," she said. "You're an anchor. You're familiar. You're home."
She whispered into his open mouth. "You're my calm in the storm, Calvin Leblanc."
His heart trembled like a hummingbird. He wondered how many patrons were watching them.
Genevieve covered his eyes again. "And you hear the drums?"
"Uh huh."
"Guess who that is?"
"You?"
"Why?"
Calvin was overcome with the desire to sleep. He never had sympathy for witch hunters until now. "You're, um, sporadic."
She giggled with a raspiness that brought him back to the day they met, to the first time those blue eyes looked at him.
Perhaps this was all a dream. Any moment now, he'd wake up, finding himself in that restaurant dining hall giving her his coffee.
She brushed her lips against his ear. "Don't they sound great together?"
"Yes", he said in a sigh.
His brain dared him to open his eyes, but he didn't want to. He wanted to concentrate on her presence the way he was now.
You're my calm in the storm, Calvin Leblanc.
For the first time, there was a place for him. His seriousness and staid lifestyle weren't ignored at a wedding reception or stood up on in front of a movie theater.
He was embraced. At that stage of self-improvement, with all his faults and past mistakes, he was perfect.
At the same time, he was inspired to be a better Calvin. Nightly push-ups, a new wardrobe, or a business degree, he would do or get anything to be the partner Genevieve deserved.
If a woman like her needed him, wouldn't that make him her hero?
Calvin smirked at the new title. He opened his eyes and looked into hers, transmitting all of his determination with just a meeting of the pupils. "Will you teach me everything about business?"
She moved her hand to the back of his neck. "Of course."
Her touch was like a collar. "Will you be patient with me?"
Genevieve's forehead kissed his. "Like a monk."
"Okay."
"Okay, what?"
Think of Mar—"I want to be partners."
She leaned back to look at him, removing her hand in the process. "Really?"
He nearly pouted at the lack of her touch. "Mhm."
Genevieve glowed with excitement. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squealed. "You've just made me the happiest woman alive."
Calvin heart did a somersault.
Genevieve flagged a waiter and asked for the check. "We need to stop by the bookstore and pick up some literature for you. Then, we'll take a walk around the financial district and I'll show you the office space I have in mind."
"Wow. So many stops."
"Not really. The financial district is the next street over."