Page 18 of All The Wrong Notes

He looked at Elise and laughed. “I know it’s a bit much. But my sister moved out to go to school abroad, and they wanted to travel. They spend half the year in warm places closer to the equator, and when they’re in Canada, they spend most of their time at the cottage. It seemed foolish to buy a smaller place where they would spend only a few weeks a year, and my mother does love this house. So, I bought it from them. We turned the pool house at the back into an apartment where they live, but they can still entertain here in the big house, if they want. Mother does several charity events each year, and it’s a good venue.”

Elise’s mind was still spinning on the idea of a pool house and hosting charity events, but she managed to smile and say something she hoped was intelligible and appropriate.

“Come with me.”

Will took her coat and led her down a long hallway to a room with French doors that opened onto the back gardens, and, yes, the pool. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and there was a beautiful grand piano near one side of the room. A small scattering of music stands and other instruments decorated the periphery of the space.

“This,” he announced quite unnecessarily, “is the music room.”

Elise put her bag of music on a small table near a grouping of chairs and wandered towards the shelves, scanning their contents. “Is this your library as well? You’ve got an extensive collection here, everything from science fiction to political philosophy to cookbooks. Oh, that whole wall is music!”

She twirled about in place, taking in this marvellous room. “Who plays the cello?” She gestured to the instrument that was propped up on a stand in a corner, and then returned to her examination of the sheet music so carefully organised in the bookcases.

“My mother. I played clarinet for a while at school. Gwen, as I’ve said, is an artist. But I put my energy into the piano.” He sat down at the keyboard and played a couple of scales. “Shall we begin? Let’s start with something simple to warm up.”

After one hour, they had a nice program in mind for their concerts, and after another, they had played and sung themselves into a self-satisfied exhaustion. When Will suggested Elise stay for dinner, she happily agreed, and when he drove her home and asked if she felt like a short walk through the neighbourhood before going upstairs to her place, she answered with a wide smile. These rehearsals might prove to be a lovely diversion, indeed!

* * *

Will forced his attention onto the road. How could he pay attention to cars and lights when all he could see before him was Elise? He mentally shook his head. He was acting like a teenager with his first crush, not like a respected businessman who controlled billions of dollars’ worth of trade and production. It was ridiculous, and yet, there it was. He was lost.

The car in front of him slowed down for a red light, and luckily some part of his brain was paying attention, because his foot moved to the brakes without his conscious mind telling it to. He blew out a puff of air. If this was love, he would need to have Rey do all the driving, because his own brain was clearly out of commission.

Did Elise feel the same way? Their friendship, if that is what he could call it, had hardly started well. What had he been thinking, going to that event with Carlos? He should have known he would only embarrass himself there, and he had made an ass of himself in front of Elise—not that he’d known her at the time. She hadn’t made much of an impression, if he had to be honest with himself, although he also knew he judged people on their veneers and not on the substance within. Her casual clothes had blinded him to everything, including the reason it might have been what she wore to work.

Will turned left… and remembered to use his indicator light, a sign that his brain hadn’t completely gone on holiday. It had been a good idea to invite them all to the cottage. He was so much happier there, away from all the expectations of the city, and he had made such an effort to be a good host and be polite and friendly. And Elise had seemed to warm up to him. When she agreed to sing at his set of performances, his heart had taken flight in his chest.

And now—turn right, pay attention to the car in front, indicate to change lanes—she almost seemed to like him, and not just tolerate him. The smile she gave him when he kissed her hand had lit up his world. Whatever had possessed him to do that? It didn’t matter. She had loved it, and he enjoyed playing the gentleman. Women didn’t need to be coddled and handled like delicate pieces of porcelain, but some might like to be treated like ladies, nonetheless.

And so, for now at least, he would be the gentleman. Until such time as he knew what Elise’s real feelings were towards him, he would give her no reason to shy away from him or dislike him again. He would control his impulses, his mad desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her like there was no tomorrow, and be everything her grandmother would approve of.

Turn left again, watch out for pedestrians… and finally, home. Now he could let his mind wander freely, and think of nothing but Elise.

* * *

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Will.” Janet eyed her over a glass of wine the following Thursday night after choir practice. Carlos had to go straight home to finish a project, and the two women were the only ones in their usual seats at the pub around the corner from the arts centre. “I thought you weren’t so keen on him.”

Elise couldn’t keep the smile from her face. “He… he improves on further acquaintance. You were right. When you get to know him, he’s rather sweet.”

“So, are you two…?” Janet raised her eyebrows suggestively.

“No! Nothing like that. We’re doing some afternoon concerts next month, that’s all. We’ve been practising. He’s a very good pianist. Have you heard him play?”

“So no hanky panky? Too bad.” Janet chuckled into her wine, and Elise rolled her eyes.

“Not that I’d mind, I think,” Elise said after a moment. “But I’m still trying to reconcile that horrible behaviour when we first met with how he is now. And I’ve heard a few things that still make me uneasy.”

Janet’s smirk became a scowl. “Things? What sort of things?”

Uh oh. How much should she divulge? She had promised to keep Kevin’s accusations quiet.

“Um, things about some unethical business dealings. It doesn’t seem to fit with the Will I know now, but it does with how he was in June, all rude and condescending and very selfish. It’s not stopping me from liking him, but I think I’ll always have that question mark floating about.” Perhaps it was time to say something, after all. “Does Carlos know anything about that?”

Janet turned her hands palm up on the table. “I really can’t say. He’s such an upright guy, he’d be hard-pressed to keep a friendship with someone he couldn’t respect, but… where did you hear that, anyway? I don’t haunt the gossip pages or the dark side of the web, but if there was anything sketchy about Will, I think I’d have heard it. It’s not my area, but I work with people who work with all these corporations and know the scuttlebutt. From everything I know, he and the company are squeaky clean. No scandals, environmentally sensitive, even when it costs them money, generous to their employees. All the boring stuff that keeps them out of the news.”

Elise frowned. This just didn’t add up at all with Kevin’s accusations. Perhaps he had seen the error of his ways and had changed. “It was…” she paused, “It was someone who knew him once, a few years ago.”

The frown on Janet’s perfect forehead deepened. “I’ll ask Carlos, as discreetly as possible. But I think you can trust his current reputation over a story from someone who hasn’t known him in years.”

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