His response when it came, sounded genuine and held emotions that Ellie could almost feel. It helped assuage and disband the rant she had unconsciously been forming in her mind, enough so that she felt her shoulders relax and her expression soften. "It does." She replied with a half-smile lifting a corner of her mouth, fingers tapping along the cloth-covered table before falling still. 

When Calvin replied to her question, his answer wasn't what she was expecting at all. He looked like someone who spent time outdoors, with people or attending lavish parties dressed in dazzling suits. As he continued to speak her mind brought the image to mind, though blurry at the edges with no real scene aside from him with a book and a glass of cabernet. 

Eyes blinking at him when he asked her in then what she did, Ellie turned her gaze away from his for a second before returning them to him. "I love trying out new recipes to make." She replies with a hand lifting so that a knuckle can rub along the edge of her nose, shoulders rolling once before falling still. "If I'm not doing that it's a tie between watching trashy reality TV or reading a book." She bit the inside of her cheek with enough force for it to hurt, willing herself into silence before she really begins to babble. 

It's far too close to the truth, to what she does when she's not at work or visiting her family. 

"I..." Ellie began quietly, gaze focused on to the darkened street instead of Calvin's eyes. "I play piano at the hospital when I have time, nothing fancy or anything like that but it does seem to help." Her words are softly spoken, chest tighting with emotion at her own admittance. It had started as something to do when waiting to meet her sister for lunch or dinner, then she'd seen the expressions of a group seated in cushioned chairs once and it reminded in her mind for days. How tired they'd looked until the music reached them, how they'd relaxed and closed their eyes if only for a moment. 

She was well known around the hospital now, with paitents even requesting video calls to hear her play when they couldn't get out of bed. 

Coughing once and ignoring what felt like fire on her cheeks, Ellie lifts her glass and takes another sip of her drink.