“Hello?”

“Chris? It’s Meg, Meg Kruger,” I felt my heart beat quickly as I waited for the voice on the other end of the line to respond.

“Meg? Hi. Where are you?”

I let out a rush of air. I could hear myself talking too quickly. “I’m in Berlin. I fly out tomorrow, early, so I took the train in today. Then it’s Berlin to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Dulles, and Dulles home. You know the joke that if you’re going to Hell, you have to stop in Chicago? I suppose Europeans say you have to stop in Frankfurt. I’m at the Hotel Ibis,” I hear myself laugh, but it sounds forced. “Hotel Ee-bis here, not eye-bis.”

“Oh. I hope it’s not in the combat zone.”

“No, but it’s a little funky here. Lots of immigrants and young intellectuals,” The words poured out. Was I making sense?

“It’s a little rough around the edges. One building will be beautifully restored, and the others dingy and covered in graffiti. On street level, you see tacky, crowded store fronts; it reminds me of parts of Chicago that way. On the other hand, like Chicago, you can tell real people live here. If you look higher, above the ground floor, there are all these flower boxes on the ledges, and if you look closely, there are lace curtains in all the windows. It’s a neat place, really.”

Stop. Take a breath, I told myself. “But it’s weird, walking down a street knowing you’re completely alone in a foreign city.”

“That explains the phone call, but I know what you mean.”

Yes, he understood. My fear that he’d think I was a freak for calling him may have been unfounded.

“Yeah, I hope your collaboration is going well.”

“Yeah, but don’t let our hosts’ gracious demeanor you saw fool you. They had me chained to my desk after you all left. No more sightseeing for me,” Chris laughed softly.

I laughed, a little too loud. “When are you supposed to go home?”

“I’ll be leaving this Saturday. I’ll take the train to Berlin Friday night. I’m surprised you didn’t call your boyfriend.”

So was I.

“Time change. He’ll be at work, and our moods won’t match. It’s nice to talk to someone who is in the same time zone, you know?”

In more ways than one.

“It’s nice just to hear English. At least you know some German.”

He was making conversation. He wasn’t blowing me off. That was a good sign. Maybe he was actually glad I called.

“Yeah, but I’m afraid to use it. If you ask a question in German, they answer in German. That’s the problem!”

Chris laughed softly. God, what was I doing? This was crossing so many boundaries.

“You don’t mind, do you? Me calling like this?”

“No, I don’t mind. I don’t have anyone at home to call. Except maybe my dog.”

Yes, Chris had made it clear all week just how single he was.

“You’ve got that seminar tomorrow, don’t you? You need to prepare for that?”

Give him an out. Remind him that business comes before pleasure.

“I got that ready yesterday. Once I didn’t have you, Gordy, and Sacha around to distract me.” I could hear the smile in his voice. If voices could be described by colors or textures, my boyfriend Tommy’s resonant baritone would be a highly polished bronze, but Chris had a voice that was smoky blue, with a gentle, reedy quality, like a softly played saxophone. It was different than I was used to, and I was surprised that I liked it. I liked it a lot. Over the phone, I couldn’t see that blinding grin. I could only hear Chris’ relaxed, friendly voice.

“Oh, yeah, we really had to twist your arm.”

“You’re a corrupting influence, Meg. Admit it.”

Yes! He was teasing me, maybe even flirting.

“Yes, I forced you to visit that castle.”

“Yes! The castle, and the tavern, and the disco.”

“Well, isn’t that what conferences are about?”

“Apparently, the sharing of scientific discoveries within the international community is not a priority with you.”

“During the day, of course, it’s a priority! After dinner, well, you saw me talking to Korlov at least.”

“He was trying to pick you up! And then you go and have a date with Minowitz.”

“It was not a date! The man’s in his sixties at least!”

“Consider yourself lucky, you were able to discuss your work with him. Minovitz wouldn’t give me the time of day until I was made permanent staff. Tell me this, did he pay for your drinks?”

“Yes.”

“Then it was a date.”

“Argghh!! It would have been rude to refuse. Can I help it if some men like to be gallant around a woman? Would you rather I pretend that I’m ‘one of the guys?’”

“It doesn’t matter what I prefer, you should do what you feel is right.”

“Exactly, and I’m going to behave like a woman, whatever that means. If, as a result, some men won’t take my work seriously, oh well. I doubt they would take me seriously if I tried to behave like a man.”

“Good point, I hadn’t thought of that. Although I don’t know exactly how we got there.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a little hard for me to avoid thinking about it.” I realized Chris might get defensive at this, most reasonable men would, “Actually, now that I’ve worked through it, being true to myself in a male-dominated field and all that, I’ve been feeling a lot more confident, with respect to work.”

“I see.”

“I’m rambling aren’t I?”

“Well, Meg, I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Yeah, well, now you know. I tend to go off on tangents. It makes me very creative but.”

“But it’s something I should keep in mind if I want to hire you.”

“Well, Chris, I wasn’t going to say anything.”

The voice on the phone laughed again. God, what was I doing? Did he think I’m trying to sleep my way into a job? The truth was, Chris was incredibly sexy, but I needed to get to know him better. He was still so much of a mystery. Chris was handsome, charming, sophisticated, and reserved. He didn’t talk much about himself.