The presentation to the senior members of the barrister's group had gone exceedingly well. With all on board, Mark slowly extricated himself from his daily workload of court cases and moved into planning mode. His first course of action was to promote two of the more experienced barristers to serve as team leads. These would be his right hand men so to speak, as one was a female. Each of them then had three younger barristers underneath. Mark's organizing skills shone as they divided up the caseloads amongst them, had weekly strategy meetings and managed the travel schedule of each; all while working with the senior barristers on promoting the new business and attending to the marketing of the group with an external firm.

Although not traveling for individual cases, Mark spent long hours in chambers. The first weeks were a blur and he found himself returning home at the end of a long day exhausted and spent. When overnight trips were scheduled, the team lead would travel with their respective barrister. While Mark didn't miss the foreign travel in the least, especially as he was more than busy in London with the daily management of up to 30 or more cases for his team, he did find himself lonely. More than once, as he ran in to Jeremy, he had to hold his tongue to stop from asking if Magda had any news on Bridget. As when he was younger and single, there was no shortage of females that made it known they were available, once word got out that he was no longer a married man.

At Jeremy's and even his mother's prodding, he thought it high time to venture out on a date. Never one for small talk, this was made easier at a professional event he attended for the promotion of his new department. The woman he sat next to at the round table of 12 was very attractive and witty. As they chatted over their meal, as he found out that she was a professional orchestra member and played violin (she was there as the guest of a member of the advertisement firm), he decided to ask her for a dinner date. The two glasses of scotch and the red wine with dinner seemed to help him along and Kathryn readily agreed to dinner that Saturday.

Upon arrival at her flat to pick her up for dinner, Mark was duly impressed with her home. After entering, as she gathered her purse and wrap, he noticed that the place was immaculate, with a beautiful view of the city park from the 3rd floor windows. He had made reservations at a local chop house and hoped that she approved of his choice of venue. Over drinks and an appetizer, the conversation flowed and Mark felt himself able to relax and enjoy her company.

"What are your favourite pieces of classical music?" Mark asked, hoping to hear her answer matched with some of his favourites.

Kathryn replied, "Beethoven's Symphony Number 8. I simply love to listen to that piece. Beethoven's 'little symphony in F' is often forgotten. It's so called because it's the shorter of the two F major symphonies, the other being No. 6, and doesn't even last a full 30 minutes; it was actually received with a tepid reception at its premiere in 1814. This upset him as he believed that it was far superior to his previous 'Symphony No. 7'. While I don't agree with that sentiment entirely, I empathize that his 8th is one of the most gracious and interesting of all his works and is unusually upbeat. There isn't a defined slow movement, which typically is the second part of a given piece whereas the second movement here is a brief, graceful exercise in precision. It's also one of my favourites to play."

"I do agree with you on your assessment," replied Mark. "Quite simply, the piece is a lot of fun. One gets the sense that Beethoven loosened up from his standard preoccupation with posterity and was enjoying himself, encouraging the performers and listeners to do the same."

Kathryn then asked Mark his favourite, to which he replied, "Mine is Tchaikovsky's 'Serenade in Strings'."

"Well then, I certainly play the right instrument for your tastes," Kathryn said with a smile. "Why that piece?" she continued.

"He had just recently rediscovered 'The Magic Flute' by Mozart and intentionally tried to imitate his style in the first movement. It really doesn't sound much like Mozart – it's probably more the kind of music Tchaikovsky thought he may have written had he lived in Mozart's era. The second movement, a Valse, has become very popular in its own right and features one of Tchaikovsky's best melodies. His former teacher Anton Rubinstein announced it as Tchaikovsky's best piece and I think I agree," Mark replied.

Over the course of the evening, Mark found out that Kathryn had never married. Her love of music and her career were the main factors in her life and it seemed she was very happy. She was only a few years younger than Mark and played for the London Symphony Orchestra.

"Do you travel often with the Orchestra?" Mark queried.

"Not too often. We have a short, one performance trip to Frankfurt at the end of the month. Then a month later, we travel to Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt and finish in Munich. We'll be gone a total of 5 nights. So not too bad. We'll actually be playing Tchaikovsky on the last three stops."

"And your job?" she asked. "You must travel quite a lot with the number of barristers in your new group. It was quite interesting to hear about the work you do at the event. How long have you been leading them?"

"It's actually a fairly new endeavor. At least the part of managing a group. I've done human rights law since university. But after 20 years of travel, mostly in foreign countries, I find I'm quite enjoying the rather mundane life of staying put," Mark replied with a chuckle. "The travel now is left to the younger barristers and their respective team lead. It's been a transition to remove myself from individual cases at ground level, so to speak, and to now fly at a thousand feet. I'd say that's the hardest part to get used to. But the reward is not only teaching and imparting my knowledge to the group, but also to be able to touch so many cases at one time."

After dinner, Mark ordered dessert for them both. Over coffee and creme brûlée, Kathryn asked if Mark would like to attend a Half Six Fix concert on Wednesday.

"I'm not familiar, though it sounds intriguing," stated Mark.

"The concerts start at 6:30, last an hour and there's not an interval. With only one or two pieces of music, the conductor is on-hand to tell about how the music works and why they think everyone should hear it – it's a chance to enjoy the full experience of live orchestral music in just 60 minutes. You get a close-up view of the performers on the big screens and may even see me," she said with a wink. "The foyer bars will be open before and after the concerts, you can take drinks into the concert hall, and there are restaurants on site for dinner. What do you think?" she asked. "We could have dinner afterwards, at the venue."

"I'd love to," replied Mark. "Can I confirm after checking my schedule following our Monday morning meeting?"

As Mark dropped Kathryn off at her apartment, she asked him up for a night-cap. After such an enjoyable evening, Mark felt the urge to take her up on the offer. After a coffee with Bailey's, Mark rose to leave and Kathryn walked him to the door.

Turning back to her before exiting Mark said, "I enjoyed this evening very much and hope you did as well."

Kathryn smiled up at him and replied, "Yes, the dinner was excellent and the company even better. Thank you for a wonderful evening. Please let me know about Wednesday."

Leaning in, Mark kissed her briefly and murmured that he would be in touch with his schedule. Even though it was a brief kiss, he felt an excitement that he didn't expect to feel so soon after his divorce and with his constant thoughts about Bridget.