LITMIR.BIZ

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“Now you tell me.” She forked up some hummus, foregoing the pita bread.

      “Let’s get back to Al,” Ann said. “Rina, what was your first thought when he asked you to marry him?”

      “Uh, shock, I guess.” She told them how he’d proposed.

      “Jesus, men can be dunces,” Jen said with disgust.

      “He said you should get married?” Ann frowned. “That’s more of an order than a proposal. Is that how it came across to you?”

      “Kind of. Then when I said it was awfully soon, he got pushy. That’s not the way to win me over.”

      “And it’s an indicator of what your marriage might be like,” Ann said firmly.

      “I agree,” Suzanne said. “Damn, Rina, that’s too bad.”

      “Better to find out now, before you invest more time in the loser,” Jen said.

      A loser? Al? No, she didn’t believe that. He’d always been so considerate, until Saturday. “Damn, I’m exaggerating this. I shouldn’t have said he was pushy. Maybe he was just hurt. If he’d really thought we were heading toward marriage, and I so obviously didn’t see it coming…No wonder he reacted strangely.”

      “True,” Ann said. “We shouldn’t write him off so quickly. You need to talk to him again.”

      Rina nodded. Of course, he’d be wanting a “yes, I’d love to marry you,” and she wasn’t ready to give it.

      “Suze?” Jenny asked, and Rina looked up to see Suzanne toying with her wineglass.

      “Hmm?” she said. “Sorry. I was thinking. Rina, there’s something I’ve been wondering.”

      “Yes?”

      “About men. Special men. Remember a few months ago, when we were all talking about the best sex we’d ever had?”

      “Giancarlo.” The thought of him sent a rush of adrenaline—the same kind of buzz as just before a performance, or in a sexy dream—rushing through her body.

      “The piano man,” Jenny said. “Whose magic fingers made you come three times in a row, on top of a grand piano at Banff music school.”

      “Wow, you have a good memory,” Rina said.

      Jen gave a mischievous grin. “When it comes to great sex stories.”

      “Anyhow,” Suzanne said, “when I tracked Jaxon down on the Internet, you were thinking about doing the same with Giancarlo.”

      Rina took a breath, then admitted her guilty secret. “I did.”

      “Way to go, girl!” Jenny said. “And?”

      “I traced him through the alumni office at the Banff School of Fine Arts. He didn’t turn out the way I expected.” She sighed. “He was such a great pianist. Just a skinny, nothing-special-to-look-at Italian kid, but he had charisma as well as talent. We talked about our dreams and I honestly thought he’d achieve his and make it big on the concert circuit. You know, as a guest performer.”

      “He was that good?” Suzanne asked.

      “I thought so.” Rina shook her head. “But he sold out. Went over to the dark side.”

      “The dark side?” Jen wiggled her eyebrows. “Sounds kinky.”

      “He’s a music video director. Yuck. Should’ve known, with the last name Mancini, he’d go crass and commercial.”

      The other three glanced at each other. “Huh?” Jenny said.

      “As in Henry Mancini?” Rina said.

      Three more blank looks. Rina sighed. “He wrote the Pink Panther theme? ‘Moon River’ from Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”

      “I love the Pink Panther,” Jenny said. Predictably, because she was addicted to pink.

      “And ‘Moon River’ is lovely,” Suzanne said. “Very romantic. I’m surprised it doesn’t appeal to you, Rina.”

      “It’s a catchy tune.” Rina said the last two words with distaste. “Mancini wrote catchy tunes.”

      “You say that like it’s a sin,” Ann said. “What’s wrong with catchy, popular songs?”

      “They’re beneath the talents of a classical musician.”

      “Music snob,” Jenny taunted.

      Rina smiled. “That’s not an insult, you know.” She turned to Ann, who was spearing the last piece of calamari. “What do you think of lawyers who work in shopping centers and turn out conveyance after conveyance, or will after will? Like, maybe it’s beneath their talents?”

      Ann grimaced. “I see your point. Yeah, I’m a law snob. I like the high-end, intellectual stuff.”

      “Anyhow, speaking of music,” Rina said, “I so don’t need distractions right now. I have another audition for the VSO on Friday.”

      “That crazy Vancouver Symphony Orchestra,” Ann said. “Why can’t they make up their minds?”

      “Last go-round, they opened the auditions only to Canadian citizens. I know I played well, and I’m sure others did too, but for whatever reason they weren’t satisfied. So they went international, and they’ve finally scheduled the auditions.”

      “Poor Rina,” Suzanne said. “That must be so frustrating. I know how badly you want to play principal clarinet for them.”

      “Yeah. It’s my dream.” Another dream, but this one might actually be achievable. Though the fact that they hadn’t chosen her in the last set of auditions was definitely ego damaging.

      Their waitress came up to ask, “Want another bottle of wine? Something more to eat?”

      “Yes, and yes,” Jenny said. “How about dolmades, and an order of that yummy roasted lamb to split?” She glanced around.

      Suzanne and Ann nodded, and Rina joined in. She loved food though she tried to stick to protein and veggies.

      When the waitress had gone, Rina brushed her audition angst aside and thought again of her one-time lover. “When I Googled Giancarlo, I found out he’s been directing videos all over the world. A few months ago he was in Vancouver. Then New York, Paris, Vegas. Now he’s actually back here again.”

      “He’s in Vancouver?” Jen said. “Hey, that’s fate. You have to see him.”

      Rina shrugged. “We’d have nothing in common. He lives this fast-paced, commercial life. He’s not the same person I used to like. And he wouldn’t like me either. I love my life, my little house and garden, my music students, my job with the operatic society, but the whole thing would bore him to tears.” She laughed. “Truth is, we’d bore each other to tears. I am so not interested in those God-awful videos.”

      “Maybe he still has magic fingers,” Jenny teased.

      “I doubt it.” Only in her dreams.

      Her expression must have given her away, because Jen said, “Okay, spill. What’s up?”

      “I dream of him sometimes,” Rina said softly. “Like, last night.”

      “Last night, the night after Al proposed?” Jenny demanded.

      “Yeah, that last night.”

      “Your subconscious is definitely telling you something,” Ann said. “What would it hurt to get in touch with him and find out if the two of you still have that magical something?”

      “I agree,” Suzanne said. “I got together with the special guy from my past, and look how it turned out.”

      “I don’t think Giancarlo and I are going to fall madly in love,”

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