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Lucien’s blue eyes lit up. “Really? And are you a dancer? Actor?”
“Musician.”
“Of course. And what do you play?”
“The violin. At least, in theory. I graduated last June but…I haven’t been able to do much with it since.”
“I see. Yes, often artists have a difficult time taking their first steps toward greatness.”
“Uh, yes,” I said for lack of a better answer.
“But a graduate of Juilliard,” Lucien said. “You must be quite talented. And what is it that you love most about the violin?”
“I haven’t thought about that in a long time.” I started to toss off something safe, something about how I’d been playing since I was a kid. Instead, I said, “I love that when it’s played right, the violin sounds as if the player’s soul is singing.”
Crap, where did that come from?
But I realized that was the truth, at least for me. A truth I had been in danger of forgetting.
“But I don’t play that way lately.”
“You haven’t quite found it yet,” Lucien said gently.
I shifted in my chair.No, they called me a prodigy. The next Hilary Hahn…“Something like that.”
“I feel that you will, Miss Conroy. You seem to me a young woman possessing of a great heart. Would you say that’s true?”
“I’ve been told that before, by my family mostly. But to be perfectly honest, I don’t know, Mr. Caron.”
“Please, call me Lucien.”
“Okay, Lucien. I’ve been so busy trying to keep my head above water since I graduated. I guess I don’t really know what I am.”
He smiled as if this answer pleased him. “I find that honesty is a very undervalued and rare commodity these days.”
“Yeah, well, I try. I don’t have a filter sometimes. A compulsive blurter.” I laughed shortly then cleared my throat. “Anyway…”
Lucien sipped his coffee then glanced around Annabelle’s. “This is a fine establishment. It must become rather busy at peak times, oui?”
“It can.”
“And to survive in this city, one requires a steady income.”
“Or two,” I said. “I work here and as a bartender on the weekends to help make ends meet.”
“Do you?”
I shrugged. “Rent’s not cheap, and neither was Juilliard. I’ll be paying student loans off until…”
“Until you’re as old as me.”
I laughed and not just to be polite, either. “Yeah, probably.”
“You are industrious,” Lucien said, the thoughtful expression returning.
“I guess so. Sort of have to be, to keep up in this city.”
He nodded his silver-haired head. “Very good, Miss Conroy. That is very good.”
