12 Hold Music

Casey liked talking to Vera and that was really saying something considering he spent most of his life trying to avoid talking to people. She was bright and funny and didn't seem to mind that he didn't say much back.

She was really nice too. His initial impression of her had been right.

In the weeks he had seen her every day but Sunday he had noticed that she might be chatty but never pushed when she could tell someone else was uncomfortable. She had waited to ask him any questions about himself so he would be comfortable enough with her to do so first. He had never met anyone that considerate before.

Casey also noticed that he tended to be more relaxed going into work in the morning when he had seen her the night before. Mondays had grown far more stressful than before by comparison.

This was bad. It meant he was getting used to having her around.

Their association would be ending soon. There was no reason for them to stay in contact once she finished with the cabinets and windowsills. The cabinets were nearly done and the windowsills wouldn't take more than a couple of days. He was running out of time.

Why did he care? Didn't getting involved with people always end badly for him? Why would he actually miss her once she was gone?

Even if they were neighbors, they hadn't seen each other once in more than two years before the first time they went home the same way. With her schedule, it was unlikely that would be changing.

Vera was passionate about her work, unlike Casey. To him, his job was nothing more than a way to pay the bills. He didn't think he was passionate about anything. He sort of just…existed. Yet another reason Kane thought he was boring.

Her pale eyes sparkled whenever she talked about the historical significance of anything and her smiles and tone of voice were rather enthusiastic. He wished he had something like that.

But finding something he was passionate about would require putting himself out there and that had never gone well for him. He was better off staying inside with his books where the only thing he had to worry about was Kane giving him grief for something or other but he was used to that.

Casey sighed and flopped down on the couch. He was pathetic, really. Moping about something that hadn't even happened yet that he had absolutely no right to mope over.

If he had more of a spine, he would be able to find some excuse or other to see her again. Inviting her out for dinner or drinks or something that normal people did to socialize with each other.

She may be an independent contractor but right now he was a client. She was friendly but she was also professional.

It would be bad form to bother her about something like that while she was working. Even afterward. He didn't want to come across as creepy or bothersome in any way.

They were nothing more than business acquaintances. That wouldn't change.

Casey told himself that but still found himself melting a little when she greeted him with one of her usual warm smiles when they met up at the farmhouse that night. "Hi, Casey! How was your day?"

"Not bad. Yours?"

"It was okay. A bit slow, honestly. But that gave me time to make a lot of phone calls about ordering materials."

Instinctively, he shuddered. "Ugh. Phone calls."

Vera laughed and he blushed, not realizing he had said that out loud until it was too late. "Yeah, they can be annoying sometimes. Especially when you get put on hold forever and the hold music is terrible.

"The pharmacy I use has this ridiculous hold music that spazzes out every thirty seconds or so and makes this really jarring noise. Makes me jump every time. I have no idea why they haven't changed it. Maybe no one there noticed."

"Th-that's weird," he said before internally cursing himself. It always got worse when he was nervous or embarrassed.

One of the great things about Vera was that she rolled with whatever was thrown at her. She never acted like anything he said or did was weird the way most people he knew did.

"Right? I don't have hold music but sometimes I wonder what I would use if I did," Vera mused. "Definitely not something that sounds like you're in an elevator but nothing with lyrics either."

"Maybe something classical?" Casey suggested.

"That could work. It would have to be just the right tempo though. Not so slow it puts you to sleep but not so fast it makes you even more keyed up than you already were from being stuck on hold."

She had a point. He had heard classical music on both ends of the spectrum. It would be difficult to narrow things down since it was such a wide genre.

"You would have to pick which instruments you wanted as well," he added. "To get the sounds you want, I mean."

Vera nodded. "True. I guess it doesn't really matter because I don't put people on hold often. Sometimes you can't help but wonder about things though. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah."

Casey wondered about things all the time but rarely gathered the courage to ask or bother trying whatever it was he was thinking about. He doubted that particular character trait would ever change.

"So, what sort of music do you normally listen to? My tastes are all over the place. Putting my music on shuffle is always an adventure," Vera laughed.

"Instrumental mostly. You ever listen to piano or violin covers of popular songs? I really like those."

That wasn't too embarrassing to admit, right? Nobody had ever given him a hard time about his music taste, even Kane. He preferred songs with lyrics but could understand the appeal, which was really something coming from him.