“You look great, Catherine.”

 

“Thank you,” she said dismissively. “Henry, what’s this all about?”

 

“Right to the point as always,” he said, owlish face breaking into that impish grin Catherine had come to know well over the years. “How is the force field body armor project going?”

 

Catherine reined in her impatience and confirmed the project was moving ahead. She knew that the best way to converse with the company’s genius chief design scientist was to indulge his tendency to wander down verbal alleyways before suddenly emerging with a brilliant idea.

 

“You know, I’ve always loved that regal bearing of yours. Like an empress observing the tomfooleries of her subjects!” he said.

 

“Thanks again – I think!”

 

His smile was the equivalent of a scruffy dog’s tail wag in the presence of the mistress it adored.

 

“Henry. We’re very short on time,” urged Catherine. “I’m here like you requested. What’s going on?”

 

“I remember the first time we really talked,” he said. “I don’t suppose you do?”

 

Now he was testing her patience, but Catherine forced herself to try and remember. She gave a curt nod to indicate the negative.

 

“No matter,” he said.

 

Henry described the day exactly nine years previous when he presented his ill-fated idea for a self-replicating drone to the defense company’s senior executives. Catherine – the youngest person present next to Henry – was the only executive who really listened to the idea, he recounted, and they talked for more than an hour afterwards.

 

“That’s the only time I’ve had the opportunity to really talk to you,” he said.

 

“Henry that is nonsense,” she scoffed. “We’ve talked countless times since then.”

 

“About work, yes. But we never really converse.”

 

He explained how Catherine only pays attention when he talks about his product ideas. Henry knew they were kindred spirits, but it was as if Catherine was afraid to stray beyond the formality of shop talk.

 

“You never look beyond my surface persona, Catherine. Like light bouncing off my exterior without penetrating the substance underneath.”

 

She fidgeted uncomfortably, opting not to respond.

 

“Actuallly, the light concept gave me the idea for the cloaking device not long after we met all those years ago. It occured to me that If I could make an aircraft out of materials that bend light around it and the beams reconverge on the other side, the plane would appear invisible.”

 

“Henry, it’s brilliant, a gamechanger, and I am gratified that I had something to do with the device’s invention, albeit without knowing,” she said. “But I still don’t understand what you want.”

 

He nodded and removed antique horn-rimmed glasses, one of the trademarks that defined his eccentricity.

 

“I demanded you meet with me one-to-one, Catherine, so I could invite you out to dinner.”

 

For the first time in her professional life Catherine was dumbfounded.

 

“Henry, are you serious?”

 

“Perfectly.”

 

“But why didn’t you just send me a note?”

 

“I’ve tried that on numerous occasions down the years without success.”

 

“But we’ve had more dinners than I care to count.”

 

“To discuss work, and always with others at the table. And as your inexorable rise up the corporate ladder continued, it became increasingly more difficult to reach you.”

 

“I’m a very busy woman, Henry, and don’t have time for small talk. I make no excuses for that,” she said, voice hardening.

 

“That’s something we have in common wouldn’t you say?”

 

“I don’t know what to say, Henry. I really don’t.”

 

“How about, yes?”

 

She considered the suggestion. “Very well. Yes, Henry, I will have dinner with you. Now will you please deactivate the cloaking device.”

 

“Wonderful! Of course, Catherine. But first, some ground rules. I will choose the venue for our dinner and there will be no shop talk. Only you and I will sit at our table for the entire evening. But not as Catherine Sullivan the all-conquering CEO and Henry St. John the prodigy design scientist. In attendance will be a woman and a man who just want to be together to enjoy one another’s company. Agreed?”

 

“Agreed,” she said somewhat reluctantly.

 

“Excellent!”

 

Catherine threw him a look that was part incredulity and part admiration.

 

“So, you turned on the cloaking device twenty-four hours before we were due to show this revolutionary war plane to the top brass in the military, and refused to deactivate the device until we met so you could invite me out to dinner?”

 

“That’s about right,” said Henry.

 

“Unbelievable!”

 

His boyish manner suddenly gave way to the rueful character within. “Catherine, as the resident tech wizard I’ve been invisible all my life,” he said, donning glasses. “I no longer want to be invisible to you. That’s all. It would be incredible if our relationship blossoms, but I’m happy whichever way it turns out.”

 

Catherine was momentarily lost for words for the second time since they met.

 

“I don’t know how I’m going to explain this. Maybe I won’t and put it down to your odd ways,” she said finally.

 

“Splendid idea!” he said, mischievousness returning. “And you must admit, Catherine, using the cloaking device to get your undivided attention was pure genius,” he grinned. “Four-hundred-and-fifty billion dollars’ worth of cutting-edge fighter plane technology that no one can see until I flip the switch!”

 

“You’re a one-off Henry, you really are,” said Catherine, and couldn’t help but smile.