When the refreshment queue didn’t seem to get any shorter, Caroline got her credit card out and handed it to Adrian, asking him to get their drinks while she went to the ladies’ room. The look he gave her in return was confused, like maybe he’d forgotten again that she was there to pay for things. The thought made her smile, because if he could stop looking mildly appalled at the need to stand next to her, it would be a lot more fun to be with him.
Caroline headed to the line for the restroom. After a few minutes of waiting, she pulled out her phone, intending more to mindlessly scroll Instagram than to check her messages, because she almost never had any. But she had two missed calls. She nearly pressed the icon to check the names, see whether they’d left any messages, but pulled her hand away at the last minute. It was probably spam, she told herself. And if it wasn’t spam, she couldn’t handle it just then anyway. If it was her family, she’d need to schedule a few hours to feel really terrible about herself after the call. She put the phone back in her purse.
Adrian was waiting impatiently for her when she returned, credit card in one hand and a flute of champagne in the other. People were filing past them back to their seats, heads turning as they caught sight of Adrian.
Caroline understood their reaction. He was so pretty it was jarring to see him in a crowd of normal people, like a bird stuck in an underground parking garage. He probably didn’t like it, she mused, any more than she’d liked it when she hit five foot eleven in seventh grade and ended up taller than most of her teachers.
“The bell just rang,” he told her.
She took the champagne from him and sipped it. It seemed warm and flat, but she didn’t care. She wanted alittle buzz to blur her perceptions when she sat back down.
He shifted his weight when she took another sip.
“We should be in our seats when it starts again,” Adrian said, looking at the door to the orchestra floor.
“Or we won’t be able to follow the plot in the second half?” she teased him.
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “It’s so full tonight because of the soloist who’s about to come on and do a Paganini caprice. A violin prodigy, only twenty-one. It’s his first American tour. They’ve been promoting this performance for months. You don’t want to miss it.”
She didn’t know how he could be so confident about that after the Bach, and nearly told him as much, but then a different thought occurred to her.
“You meanyoudon’t want to miss it?” she asked.
Adrian rocked back on his heels without taking his hands from his pockets, gaze on his feet. The small smile that tugged up the corners of his mouth was unexpectedly boyish. It transformed his face, made him look younger and less remote. It was the first sign she’d gotten of the person he was when he was off duty, and her breath caught at the loveliness of it.
“I was looking forward to it,” he admitted. “And I didn’t think I’d get to go.”
“Okay,” she said, chest filling with pleasure at the idea that she was the only reason he got to see this performance. She was a good sugar daddy. Someday she’d be a good girlfriend. She tipped her glass back and chugged the rest of the champagne. “I’m ready, then.”
Caroline followed him back to their seats, a few rows away from the stage. The big ring of chairs where the orchestra sat had been cleared, and the lights were dimmedsave for a spotlight in the center. The energy level in the audience had risen; the younger people in the crowd were giggling with one another.
When the performer walked onto the stage, Caroline saw at least one reason that the crowd was full of anticipation: he was cute, his long hair framing his face and his muscular shoulders filling out his snappy tuxedo.
Applause broke out as he gave a small, stiff bow to the audience. There were even a few muted whistles. Adrian made a minute expression of displeasure at the level of noise.
“Is this the symphony equivalent of rioting and throwing panties on the stage?” Caroline whispered to him.
His nose wrinkled as he looked at the other patrons. “Yes.”
The soloist launched into his performance without addressing the audience, his serious face growing passionate and rapt as his bow moved over the violin strings. Caroline had never heard the song before, but it was obviously very difficult, with lots of fast little notes requiring the violinist to saw his arm back and forth rapidly across the strings.
As soon as the music began, Adrian looked enthralled again. Caroline studied him out of the corner of her eye. What was he so interested in? The soloist’s expression gave emotion to the work that Caroline had been unable to feel from the larger symphony, but it was borrowed. She couldn’t relate, to either the soloist or Adrian. Whatever everyone else in the crowd was getting, Caroline was not. She didn’t feel any different. She must not be doing this right. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift.
When the performance was over, the crowd jumped to their feet, applauding with gusto. Adrian smoothly followed them, clapping enthusiastically.
“So, it was really good?” Caroline asked him, taking in the rapturous expressions of the people around them.
Adrian turned his head to look at her, one eyebrow lifted. “Well, what did you think?”
Caroline twisted her ankle in a small circle, considering it.
“I liked the solo better,” she said, which was an honest thing she could say without admitting she hadn’t enjoyed it. She picked up her purse, still looking forward to their dinner, at least. It had been two months since she’d eaten at a restaurant, because she hadn’t had anyone to go out with. Now she had a date.
Adrian sighed.
“Of course you liked the soloist better,” he said ruefully. “Everyone loves a prodigy.”
Chapter Five
