Symphony in Blue

by M. J. Duncan

  “I’m going to have to cancel our dinner plans, I’m afraid,” Mallory began without preamble, the sound of chinking china and quiet laughter a traitorous background track to her voice. “I just can’t afford to lose any of these final hours of preparation time.”

  Gwen sighed and frowned as she nodded, though, if she were being honest, she wasn’t all that surprised that Mallory was cancelling on her. She had half-expected a call like this earlier in the day and, if anything, she was more bothered by the fact that Mallory was just so brazenly lying to her than the fact that she was actually canceling on her. “Right.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mallory continued, sounding entirely distracted. “Forgive me?”

  Gwen sighed. “Yeah. Sure. I guess I’ll talk to you later, then?”

  “Of course.”

  “Yeah,” Gwen hummed. “Well, then, have a safe flight tomorrow. Good luck with your audition, I’m sure you’ll crush it.”

  “Thank you.” More laughter bubbled in the background, and Gwen grit her teeth at the sound of it. “I’ll talk to you later, darling.”

  “Sure,” Gwen replied, unable to keep the you-have-got-to-be-fucking-kidding-me she was feeling from her tone. Not that it mattered, really, Mallory had already disconnected the call. “Why do I even bother?” she muttered to herself, shaking her head as she stared at her phone, which had flashed back to the message from Dana she had been looking at when Mallory called. There was nobody else she’d rather spend the evening with anyway and, now that her night was free, she figured she might as well see if she was still nearby to maybe go grab some dinner with her.

  “Hey, stranger,” Dana answered on the second ring. “Wasn’t expecting to hear from you tonight. Is everything okay?”

  “Eh.” Gwen shouldered her purse and started for the door.

  “What happened? Did your class not go well?”

  “No, the class went fine. I am, however, suddenly free for dinner tonight, so I was wondering if you’d want to meet up somewhere.”

  Dana muttered darkly under her breath, the quiet curse mostly unintelligible, though Gwen did pick up Mallory’s name. “I would love to go to dinner with you. I’m still in my office, actually, we just finished looking at some tape. Would you just want to meet me over here and we can decide what to do then?”

  “I can do that. I’m just walking out of my classroom now; so, I can be there in maybe ten minutes?”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Dana promised. “The gate should be open because the dive team is practicing right now, but if it’s not or they don’t let you in, just call and I’ll come meet you. Otherwise, just gimme a ring and I’ll let you in when you get to the offices.”

  A small, soft smile curled Gwen’s lips as the gentle warmth of Dana’s voice soothed most of what remained of her ire toward Mallory. “Sounds good. I’ll see you soon,” she promised, waiting until Dana finished echoing the sentiment before she disconnected the call.

  The halls of the music building were quiet as she made her way toward the main entrance, and the sidewalks beyond it were not much more active. Gwen loved being on campus during this time of year, when the sidewalks were mostly empty and she wasn’t worried about being jostled or having to avoid students on bikes or skateboards who were rushing to get to class, and she took advantage of the quiet to truly re-center herself as she meandered along the paths that cut between stately brick buildings on her way to the pool.

  A weathered red kickboard was propped between the main pool gate and the frame to hold the door open, and Gwen was careful to be sure that she didn’t dislodge it as she closed the gate behind her. She smiled and waved in response to the curious looks the diving staff gave her as she strode past them on deck, and watched interestedly as divers bounced and flipped not just the boards, but also in the dryland area with a trampoline across the pool, impressed as she always was by their skill. The elevator doors slid open as soon as she pressed her thumb to the call button, and she hooked her thumbs under the sides of the shoulder straps of her case as she stepped inside, half-wondering if anyone had even used the elevator in the time since she’d taken it after leaving Dana’s office after lunch.

  Bill was walking out the door of the aquatics staff offices when Gwen stepped out of the elevator, and he grinned as he held the door for her. “Back again, huh?”

  Gwen smiled and nodded. “I am.”

  “Do me a favor and don’t keep her up too late, okay? I need her here to run the morning practice tomorrow.”

  “I will do my best to see that she gets to bed at a reasonable hour,” Gwen promised with a little laugh as she edged through the door he was holding for her, being careful to not whack him with her cello case.

  “I knew I could count on you.” He winked. “Well, you girls have fun tonight. I’ll see you later, Gwen,” he said as he let the edge of the door start to slip from his grasp.

  “Bye, Bill.”

  The floor of offices was quiet except for the soft hum of the air conditioner, the empty offices lining the hall lit only by the sun that still shone through the windows. The lights were on in the office at the end of the hall, however, and Gwen arched a brow in surprise when she recognized the melody drifting through the open door as Danzón No. 2—one of the pieces they had played at the gala the night she and Dana had run into each other for the first time after Maui. She hovered in the doorway to Dana’s office when she spied her sitting behind her desk, head bent over the sheet of paper she was scribbling on, an adorable flop of hair covering half her face. A feeling of peacefulness settled in Gwen’s chest as she watched her work, her mind and soul calmed by Dana’s steady presence. It had been that way for a while now, really, now that she thought about it, and she sighed softly as she leaned her head against the doorframe, more than content to spend the rest of the night right here just watching Dana work.

  “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to stare?” Dana teased, her gaze warm and twinkling with something Gwen didn’t dare label as affection.

  Gwen smiled as she finally stepped through the open door. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “You can interrupt me any time you want.” Dana tapped the screen of her phone with her left hand to turn off the music that had been playing as she dropped her pen onto the paper she had been working on. “Besides, I’m just fiddling with sets for the rest of the week. It’s nothing super-important. I wing-it half the time, anyway.”

  “Okay, then,” Gwen chuckled.

  “Good.” Dana nodded and pushed herself to her feet. She ran a hand through her hair as she rounded her desk to stand in front of Gwen, the warmth in her gaze clouded with concern that Gwen hadn’t noticed from a distance. “You okay?”

  “I am now that I’m here,” Gwen whispered.

  “I’m glad,” Dana murmured, the left side of her mouth quirking in a small smile as she reached up to gently tuck a strand of hair that tickled Gwen’s cheek behind her ear. “You deserve so much better than her.”

  Gwen tried and failed to contain the soft, shuddering sigh that tumbled from her lips at the light touch, though she just barely managed to keep her eyes from fluttering shut when a lone fingertip lingered on the hinge of her jaw for a few heartbeats before Dana pulled away. “Thank you.”

  Dana nodded and huffed a breath as she blinked away the emotion that had softened her expression, revealing too many truths that were necessary to ignore. “So, dinner. What are you in the mood for?”

  “I’m guessing you’d prefer to stay somewhere around here since it’s kind of in between our houses?” Gwen asked.

  “I don’t mind driving out to your place if that’s what you’d rather do,” Dana said with a small shrug. “If you hadn’t called, I would have probably gone home and ordered a pizza or something because it’s so late, so…”

  “I can’t make you come all the way to Hollywood.” Gwen shook her head. “I promised Bill I’d make sure you got enough sleep tonight to handle practice in the morning.”


  Dana chuckled. “I don’t even want to know how that conversation went down, but okay.”

  “It wasn’t like that!” Gwen bit her lip as a light blush warmed her cheeks. “Anyway,” she stressed the first syllable to signal that she was absolutely done with that avenue of conversation, “on a scale of one to starving, how hungry are you.” She laughed when Dana just shrugged and smirked in response. “All right. I get it. Stupid question.”

  “Nah, I’m just kidding. I can go for anything if there’s something in particular you have in mind.”

  Gwen hummed under her breath as she ran through her mental file of downtown restaurants because no matter what Dana said, she was not going to make her drive all the way to Hollywood, and grinned as she settled on a choice. “I know just the place. You okay if I drive and just bring you back here for your car afterwards?”

  “Of course. Do I get to know where we’re going?” Dana asked.

  “No.” Gwen smirked. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “Completely.” Dana’s answered without hesitation, her tone and smile carrying so much gentle warmth that it made Gwen’s heart flutter. “Do you want to leave your cello here? Or will it be okay in your car?”

  Gwen cleared her throat softly and shook her head. “The place has secured underground valet parking, and it’s cooled off enough that it’ll be okay in the car for a couple hours.” She shrugged. “So there's really no reason for us to have to come all the way back up here later.”

  “Sounds fancy. Will I be okay in this? The only other clothes I have here are some warm up pants that I wore over my shorts this morning and a team jacket.”

  “You’ll be more than fine in what you’re wearing. Although,” she added thoughtfully, “you might want to take the jacket, just in case.”

  “Okay.” Dana ducked back behind her desk to retrieve her warm-up jacket from the back of her chair. “Ready.”

  “Excellent,” Gwen murmured, edging into the hall and waiting for Dana to lock up her office for the night. “I parked in the structure right here,” she shared as they made their way toward the exit.

  “Okay.” Dana reached past Gwen to push the door open.

  An easy silence settled between them after that as they walked, each of them more than content to just enjoy the other’s presence—an unexpected but much appreciated gift considering neither of them had expected to see each other again until at least the weekend. Gwen smiled at the way Dana’s hand brushed lightly against her own as their steps fell into sync, the soft graze of fingers on fingers more than adequately replacing actual conversation as neither of them took the half-step away from the other that would allow them to avoid the contact. It was both innocent and brazen at the same time, and while Gwen knew in her head that she should feel guilty about the way that feather-soft touch made her pulse jump every time their hands touches, she didn’t. She couldn’t be bothered to even try, really, because the feeling of Dana’s hand brushing ever so slightly against her own was the unequivocal highlight of her day.

  And so they walked in silence, beneath leafy boughs that whispered the secrets of the wind overhead and over the streaks of sunlight and shadow that painted the sidewalk beneath their feet, turning simple concrete into an abstract masterpiece. The interior of the open parking garage mirrored the gentle quiet that had wrapped itself around them like a blanket on the walk over, the air warm and comfortable, their footsteps a soft echo along the nearly empty aisle as they made their way to Gwen’s car.

  Dana reached past Gwen as soon as she unlocked the SUV, pulling open the rear passenger-side door and stepping out of the way with a chivalrous bow. “Milady.”

  “Thank you,” Gwen murmured, dipping her head in a small nod. She slid the case along the back seat and draped a blanket from the floor over it before buckling it safely in place. She tucked her hair behind her ears as she climbed out of the car and stepped out of the way so Dana could push the door closed, the clash of the door hitting the frame reverberating through the garage around them. “Easy, tiger,” she teased.

  “Sorry,” Dana chuckled lightly.

  Gwen bit her lip at the way Dana’s tender, playful smile made her pulse stumble over itself, catching for a moment and then speeding up as if to make up the ground it had lost in the falter, and tilted her head toward the car. “Come on, Ryan. Let’s get out of here.”

  THIRTY-SIX

  Dionysus was, without a doubt, Gwen’s favorite restaurant in all of downtown. Tucked high atop a meticulously restored early 20th Century limestone and brick building on Hill Street, the intimate wine and tapas bar provided stunning views of the heart of downtown Los Angeles—from the varied heights and architectural styles of the buildings clustered around Pershing Square, to the large park itself. It was a not-so-secret hidden gem, which made it nearly impossible to get a table without a reservation, but the owners were on the board for LA Phil, so Gwen had no trouble securing them a comfortable table that had a couch on either side instead of chairs in the corner of the rooftop patio overlooking the park.

  “So, what do you think?” Gwen asked, smiling at Dana as their server retreated after bringing them each a glass of merlot and promising that their first round of small plates would be out shortly. They were sharing the couch under the space heater, not for the warmth the burner provided as the temperature was still in the high-eighties, but because it afforded the best view of the park and the city beyond.

  “This place is incredible,” Dana enthused, a hint of awe in her voice as she looked around them, her gaze sliding over the green park below and settling on the glass building to their left that reflected the vibrant blues and reds and yellows of the sky as the sun began its slow descent to the horizon. “I can’t believe I’ve never even heard of it before. Do you come here a lot?”

  “Not as much as I’d like, no.” Gwen shrugged and shook her head. “Luke and I will come here before performances every once in a while, but it’s not the kind of place I feel all that comfortable coming to by myself and Mallory’s not really a fan of their food for some reason, so…”

  Dana sighed and swallowed whatever ill thoughts darkened her expression with a healthy swig of wine. “Well, I love it.” She nodded slowly as she looked over their surroundings before focusing back on Gwen. She lifted her glass in a toast and inclined her head. “So, thank you for bringing me here.”

  “Thank you for coming.” Gwen tapped their glasses together. She sipped at her wine and sighed happily as she relaxed into the overstuffed pillows that softened the back of the wicker sofa. “I honestly couldn’t think of a better way to end my day than spending it here with you,” she confessed in a soft voice that barely carried over the music and conversation that filled the patio.

  “Well the feeling is mutual, I assure you,” Dana murmured, turning just enough in her seat as she relaxed to mirror Gwen’s posture that their knees rested lightly against each other. “So what music did you cover in class today?” She balanced her wine glass on her leg and smiled at the curious look Gwen gave her. “I'm trying to expand my musical horizons.”

  “I noticed you were listening to Danzón Number 2 when I got to your office tonight.” Gwen chuckled when Dana’s smile turned shy at the observation. She turned sideways on the couch, tucking her right ankle under her left knee, and rested her right arm on the back of the sofa. “How in the world did you find it? Arturo Márquez isn’t exactly a household name…”

  “I…I um…” Dana cleared her throat softly. “I may have had my agent get in touch with the symphony to get a copy of the set list from the night you guys played at the Children’s Hospital gala.”

  “You could have just asked me,” Gwen pointed out with a kind smile. She chuckled when Dana blushed and looked away, and decided to let the matter drop because Dana was clearly embarrassed and the last thing she wanted to do was make her uncomfortable. “But I’m glad you like it. It’s actually one of my favorites. As for my class,” she continued, and winked when Dana’s g
aze lifted back to hers, “we began breaking down Dvorak’s Violoncello Concerto. It's a ridiculously involved piece, but I've had this group for a year now and I know they can handle it. I have it on my phone, if you’d like to hear it now.”

  “I’d like that,” Dana admitted, her lips once again wearing that adorably shy smile of hers.

  Gwen nodded and set her wine glass on the table as she leaned down to pick her purse up off the floor. Their appetizers arrived just as she set the bag on the cushion between her and Dana, and she smiled politely at their server as she announced the dishes as she set them down.

  “Sautéed mushrooms in a white wine-garlic sauce, our house specialty bruschetta with homemade mozzarella and drizzled with balsamic and white truffle oil, and artichoke hearts sautéed with capers, tomatoes, garlic, and an amazing white wine sauce. Enjoy.” She smiled and tipped her head in a small bow as she backed away.

  “This looks incredible,” Dana murmured as she looked at the plates in front of them.

  “The mushrooms are my personal favorite, and Luke is a big fan of their artichokes,” Gwen shared as she pulled her phone from her purse. She smiled at the text alert from Luke on her home screen asking if she needed him to feign an emergency to get her out of dinner with Mallory, and swiped open the message to fire back a quick reply so he would stop worrying about her. Mal cancelled, am @ dinner w/Dana. Will call later. Message sent, she closed out the app and opened her music one instead. Of course, before she could even open the playlist with the Dvorak’s concerto, a response from Luke popped up on her screen—asdfjkl! Grrrr!! Good for you. Don’t forget to ask her about next weekend. Regan said yes. Talk when we talk. Love ya!. “Oh, Luke,” Gwen chuckled softly to herself.

  “Hmm?” Dana hummed, her expression confused as her fork hovered over the plate of artichoke hearts.

  “Eat, eat,” Gwen said, waving at the food as she pulled up the appropriate playlist and pressed her thumb to the appropriate track. “Luke’s just being Luke.” She laid the phone on the table in front of them. The music carried over the ambient noise well enough, and she bobbed her head with the familiar tempo. “The first big cello section doesn’t begin until close to the four-minute mark,” she explained as she picked up her own fork.