“What the heck are you doing?” Corbin asked after hearing the clicking noise for a third time, followed by yet another “thunk.” He was sitting on his couch with the television on mute.
“I’m putting,” Alvarez responded through the phone.
“You’re what?”
“Putting.”
“As in golf?”
“Yeah. I thought I’d teach myself golf. So I bought a club and I’m learning to putt.”
“You’re indoors,” Corbin said skeptically.
“Yeah.”
“You’re playing on hardwood floors.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Golf is played on grass.”
“Hey, you’ve got your hobbies, let me have mine. Get back to the story. What happened next?”
“She looks me straight in the eyes and she says, ‘you’re not a jerk are you?’”
Alvarez laughed. “She’s perceptive!”
“Very funny.”
“What was her name again?”
“Natalie. She’s Penny’s older sister.”
“Whose idea was it for the three of you to go to lunch?”
“Mine actually.”
“Then you got what you deserved.”
“Ha ha. Actually, we had a good time after we went a couple rounds. I felt bad for Penny though, she looked like she was going to die of embarrassment when her sister started smacking me with questions.”
“Is this Natalie cute?”
“I’d say yes.”
“Did you mention you had an uber-successful friend named Vez who just happens to be single at the moment?”
“It slipped my mind.”
“Maybe you should write a note to remind yourself or something? That seems like a pretty critical detail to forget.” Both friends laughed. “Seriously, I would- oh shoot!”
“What?”
“I just overshot the cup. My ball bounced off the balcony. I hope there’s nobody in the pool.” Alvarez lived on the fourth floor, overlooking the apartment building’s pool.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” Alvarez walked over to the balcony. “Oh good, the pool’s empty.”
“Why are you putting with the door open?”
“It’s hot in here, and I wasn’t putting
“How hard did you hit it?”
“Too hard, apparently.”
“You’re a menace,” Corbin said.
“So how did lunch end? Did you two become fast friends?”
“I think so. Penny called later to tell me her sister really liked me, despite her attitude.”
“She’s just trying to make you feel better. She’s probably trying to figure out how to dump you right now.”
“Thanks.”
“Any time.”
“How’s work going?”
“Dull.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
Corbin and Penny were in the park.
About a hundred people were scattered about enjoying the afternoon sun. The wind blew gently toward the Potomac, which raced silently by a few hundred yards from where Corbin and Penny sat on a blanket under a large Yellow-Poplar. Their bikes leaned against the tree. The Lincoln Memorial stood across the wide river, and Roslyn rose out of the trees behind them. Between Corbin and Penny sat a picnic basket. A chocolate lab watched the basket intently from a distance.
Penny covered her mouth with her hand. She was blushing. “Oh my God! I can’t believe I told you that! I’ve never told that to anyone before.”
“I can see why! You’ve got a dirty mind.”
“I do not!” Penny responded defensively, reaching over and mussing Corbin’s hair.
Corbin playfully tugged at the knot Penny had tied in the yellow cotton dress shirt she wore. Without the knot, the shirt would have been way too large, as it belonged to Corbin until a few days ago, before she borrowed it after getting caught in a rainstorm on her way to his apartment.
Penny pushed his hand away from the knot. “All right smarty, your turn! Favorite instrument other than guitar.”
“The noble
Penny giggled.
“What?” Corbin asked.
“I play cello.”
“You’re kidding?!” He’d seen the cello at her apartment, but assumed it belonged to her sister because Penny never mentioned that she played.
“No, seriously,” Penny replied. “Maybe I’ll play for you next time you come over.”
“You’re seriously not making this up?”
“I swear,” Penny pledged. She smiled involuntarily at the look in his eye. For several days now, she’d noticed a soft sparkle in his eyes, which gave her a warm and comfortable feeling. She couldn’t quite describe it, and her sister told her she was crazy, but she was sure it was there.
“When was the last time you played?”
“Last night.”
“
“Yes.”
“So, if we went to your place right now, you could play something for me?”
“Yes,” she said softly, looking away from Corbin for the first time.
“What did you play last night?”
“The piece you opened with,” she replied cautiously.
Corbin stared at her in silence, as she watched some children throwing a frisbee back and forth. “Girl, you are making me fall hard.”
“I guess we have something in common.”
Corbin played Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Fridays were generally the busiest, but Tuesdays and Sundays were catching up. Today was Friday, and the club was packed. In fact, the audience had grown so much lately Blue needed to buy more chairs to accommodate them, though the extra money he made from drink sales more than offset this new expense. The extra money also allowed Blue to fix up the place. Gone were the burned-up lights that made everything brown. In their place, he’d put silvery lights that shone indirectly off the cherry wood paneling on the walls. This highlighted the accents in the wood, rather than casting them in shadow as the browning lights had done, and made the bar feel a bit like an ancient library, though the crowd noise and the ever-present smell of fried foods reminded people of the room’s true purpose. Blue also replaced the glaring white stage lights with softer, golden lights which gave everything on stage a dreamlike quality.
Corbin made his way to the bar, where Penny and Blue were talking. Corbin walked up behind Penny and kissed her on the back of the neck. Without turning around, Penny swatted him away. A huge grin lit her face.
