"I'll see if Mr. Mervyn needs me for anything, and if not, sure, I'll come down." I-was more than a little curious about what Idris had been working on before he was fired, and this would be a good way of finding out.
At the same time, I thought this was the ultimate evidence that Owen had no romantic interest in me. If he were interested, would he want me spending even more time with a guy he knew I'd gone out on a date with—even if my reasons behind that date were strictly business? While Rod had shown the slightest hints of jealousy upon meeting Ethan, Owen had been friendly, in his reserved sort of way.
I grinned then. "Magic tricks, huh?"
He laughed. "Yeah, card tricks, coin tricks. I have quite the collection."
"Everyone needs a hobby, I suppose."
"What's yours?" It was the closest thing to a personal question Owen had ever asked me.
"I like to cook. I don't have time for it often, and my kitchen here is pathetic, but it's fun to see what I can make out of what I have available. I grew up on a farm, so we were always working with fresh produce in season. I also love to bake."
"That's interesting. I'd love to try some of your cooking sometime."
"This time of year, I get baking urges. I'll have to bring in some bread and cookies to share around the office."
"I'm looking forward to it."
That afternoon, I headed down to Owen's office just before two. His desk was piled with books and papers. "Is that all your stuff on Idris?" I asked.
"Yeah. I'm missing just one thing." He was rummaging through a filing cabinet.
"There it is." He added the file he'd just found to the pile, just then the crystal on his desk glowed and Hughes's voice said, "Mr. Wainwright to see you, sir."
"Thanks, Hughes. I'll be right down."
I went with him to meet Ethan, but before we got to the door of the R&D
department, I stopped him. He must have spent the morning digging through bookshelves and cabinets, for his hair was rumpled and his tie was askew. I straightened his tie, then brushed his hair out of his eyes. "There, that's better," I said.
His ears turned red. "Thanks."
But he was right back to professional cool as he greeted Ethan and escorted him up to R&D. He gavea perfunctory tour of the department on the way back to his office.
Ethan's eyes drank in every detail.
While Owen talked, I compared the two men side by side. Ethan was half a head taller than Owen, and both had slender builds, but Owen's shoulders were a little broader, proportionally speaking. He looked sturdier than Ethan. Owen was all sharp contrasts—nearly black hair, very fair skin, dark blue eyes—while there was something almost blurred about Ethan. His hair was brown, with the slightest hint of silver showing at the temples, and his skin had more color to it than Owen's did. His eyes were a silvery gray that barely showed up as a color. He wouldn't stand out from any crowd unless he tried, while Owen was likely to draw anyone's eye, unless he was making an effort to hide.
Oddly enough, I got the sense that their personalities weren't all that different. They were hitting it off well enough, so well that I wasn't sure Ethan really needed me to be his anchor. Today he was taking the magic in stride.
We got to Owen's office, where Owen gestured us toward the chairs facing his desk.
"Would you like some coffee?"
"Is it going to appear out of thin air?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Brace yourself," I warned. "But you do get used to it."
A mug appeared in Ethan's hand, and he only flinched a little bit.
"Katie?" Owen offered.
"No, thanks. I'm good."
Owen leaned against his desk, facing us. "Well then, I suppose we should get down to business. First, do you have any questions about what you learned yesterday?"
"Maybe one more demonstration, to prove to myself I didn't imagine all this."
"Okay." Owen took a quarter out of his pocket and held it in his right palm. He waved his left hand over it, and the quarter disappeared. Then he opened his left hand to reveal the quarter. "That was sleight of hand." He held his left hand palm up with the quarter in it, then the quarter rose to hover an inch over his palm, flip over, and land back on his palm. "That was magic. Can you tell the difference?"
Ethan frowned. "For one thing, I can't tell how you did it. For another, I think I felt something, like a charge."
Owen nodded. "You did."