The Cutting Room. Jilliane Hoffman

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      ‘Thanks for the drink,’ Gabby began when he sat down beside her.

      ‘How’d you know it was from me?’

      ‘I … well, I just assumed,’ she stuttered.

      He grinned. ‘You’re welcome.’

      ‘I’m Gabriella.’

      ‘I’m Reid. Nice to meet you, Gabriella.’

      ‘God, that sounds so formal. Only my mom and my boss call me Gabriella. My friends call me Gabby.’

      ‘Gabby. Okay,’ he replied, nodding. ‘I like Gabriella, though. That’s a beautiful name. So, are you from around here, Gabby?’

      ‘I live in Forest Hills. I just came here after work.’ She fidgeted with the collar of her blazer. ‘In case you couldn’t tell.’

      ‘What do you do?’

      ‘I’m out of high school, for starters,’ Gabby answered with a short laugh.

      ‘Yeah. This is a bit of a younger crowd, huh?’ Reid said, looking around. ‘But they have great wings.’

      ‘Yup. And quesadillas. We — me and my friends — we’ve been here a couple of times before. They have a good happy hour. That crowd is a little more … let’s say, mature. You know, with everyone getting off work and all.’

      He nodded and looked around. ‘Where are they? Your friends?’

      ‘Oh. They’re gone,’ Gabby replied quickly. ‘They left a half-hour or so ago. They had to get up in the morning. I decided to stay and finish my drink. I was gonna head out right before you sent this over.’

      ‘Well I’m glad you stayed. And I have to say, I think I like the crowd in here.’ He didn’t look around when he said it — his dark chocolate brown eyes never left hers. Mesmerizing, bright flecks of amber and gold lit his pupils.

      Gabriella blushed. He was handsome — Reid. Not in an obvious way, like Ab Man. He had a bit of a big chin, but a nice smile that took over his whole face when he flashed it, and that’s what she really noticed. His teeth were straight and super white, like a toothpaste model’s. No gums in sight. Some girls were attracted to abs or curly hair or eyes or big muscles, but Gabby went for the smile every time. She used to think she’d marry a dentist until she realized a lot of them actually had terrible teeth. What was that proverb? Physician heal thyself? Dentist fix thy overbite. As Gabby studied Reid’s rugged, fair face, set against the backdrop of a raucous Spring Break-aged crowd, she thought perhaps his very best feature right now was the fact that he wasn’t twenty-one. She guessed late twenties, but didn’t want to ask, because she didn’t want to be asked that very same question and then watch for the disappointment on his face. Demi Moore might’ve broken ground with Ashton Kutcher, but for most female earthlings who didn’t have movie-star looks and a celebrity-sized bank book, it wasn’t so easy to bridge even a small age gap with a handsome guy. And definitely not in a place like this. Most men heard ‘twenty-eight’, swore the woman said ‘thirty’, and pictured the thought-bubble above her smiling, anxious head that read, ‘Looking for marriage, a house and a baby!’ That’s when they excused themselves to use the bathroom and you never saw them again. Maybe she was being silly and down on herself, but tonight she didn’t want to take any risks with having fun. She just wanted to have it. ‘I’m an accountant with Morgan and Tipley,’ Gabby replied. ‘It’s a really small firm in Midtown. Lex and Forty-third. You’ve never heard of it, trust me. I’ve been there a couple of years now. I like it.’

      ‘Accounting … ooh. Sooo not what I pegged you for and sooo not my strong suit. I’m good with my money — not so sure I’d be good handling other people’s. I might get jealous.’

      ‘You don’t actually get to touch it, which takes away some of the temptation.’ Gabby sipped her drink. ‘Interesting. What did you peg me for?’

      ‘Oh, I don’t know … an astronaut? A rocket scientist? A nuclear physicist?’

      ‘Do I look that smart? It’s the suit, I tell ya.’

      ‘Nah. I really thought that you might be a lawyer or a paralegal. Something with the law. Maybe an FBI agent or a cop or maybe a spy. Just a wild guess. You look too fun to be an accountant.’

      ‘Accountants can be a lively bunch. The life of the party. Especially on April sixteenth.’

      ‘Really? Mine’s named Sy, he works for H&R Block, and I don’t think he’s been to a party in a few decades. So tell me, what do you like about it, Gabby? Accounting?’

      ‘Hmmm … good question. Let me think. Well, for starters it’s not subjective, like a lot of careers are. My friend’s a writer and I could never do what she does, because she never knows if it’s good. I mean, there’s always someone telling her what she wrote sucked, even if a hundred other people tell her she’s the bomb. It makes no sense. She ends up banging her head against the wall. Same for my friend who’s a publicist. Someone always second-guesses what she did. Claims they could have done it better. And that they would’ve had a better result: more people at a premiere, a better photo from a better model, whatever. But accounting, you know, is predictable. It always works out, if you do it right. And if you really do it right, you can make people very happy. Numbers don’t lie and they don’t care what other people think of them.’

      ‘Interesting …’

      Gabby had never had to explain why she liked accounting to a guy before. She wondered if she’d given the ‘right’ answer. No matter how you phrased it, accounting never sounded thrilling. ‘What do you do, Reid?’ she asked.

      ‘I’m a filmmaker.’

      Gabby’s heartbeat sped up a bit. Filmmaker was up there with surgeon in both the excitement and good-catch departments. ‘That’s really cool,’ she said.

      ‘Well, I’m working at it. It’s not an easy profession to crack. Lots of competition. You have to be real original to stand out.’

      ‘What kind of films do you make?’

      ‘Okay, now don’t get too excited, because you’re not talking up the next James Cameron. I, well … I make documentaries.’

      ‘I still think that’s exciting.’

      He smiled. ‘I do, too. I think real life is much more interesting than make-believe, actually. Real people having real reactions, expressing real emotions. It’s capturing those moments on film that can be difficult. But … well, it doesn’t bring in much money, unless your name’s Michael Moore.’

      ‘I still think it’s exciting. Money isn’t everything, you know.’

      ‘Hmmm … didn’t you say you were an accountant?’

      Gabby laughed. ‘I’ve done taxes for a lot of people that make a lot of money, but their lives are still a mess and they’re not happy. No, money isn’t everything.’

      ‘I agree. There’s a lot more to life.’

      Gabby gestured to her ear. It was getting really loud.

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