“If getting a lofty gift troubles you, then you can balance the trade after you get your first salary. Buy me dinner.”

That was it? A dinner was supposed to somehow be equal to a luxurious piano? Deirdre found the idea wild, though admittedly, she had no other excuse. The reminder of her salary eased her mind a little too, so she agreed. “Okay.”

The call ended. She took a seat behind the piano and began to learn the songs on her sheet. As it turned out, Deirdre was quite possibly musically gifted, as it took her only an afternoon to master all but one song on the entire sheet. She was strapped for time to learn the last one, so she took the music sheet book to work.

The front-desk girl immediately caught sight of the wooden book. “What’s that?!” She gasped. “Looks like the sort of stuff you’d keep in your cabinet of curiosities!”

Deirdre flashed her a smile. “A friend gave it to me as a gift.”

“Dang, hon! That’s code for ‘not-your-typical-friend’ if I ever heard one!” the front-d