Continued from “Kissing Scene 2“

She rolled her eyes, but accepted his offer and walked inside. Once inside they were greeted by the host and escorted to their table. When Robert called to make the reservations he was very specific about the seating. To his delight, the instructions were followed perfectly. Instead of the three usual tables that sat under the large window, there was just a single table. The table had two ornate wooden chairs and was covered with a robin’s egg blue table cloth.  The only thing on the tablecloth was a small vase containing a single white iris.

As they took their seats the host placed both of their menus on the table and took out his note pad and pen.

“May I take your drink orders?” he asked, pen held to paper in anticipation.

“I’ll have a glass of ice tea.” Robert said. He looked at Lindsey and gave a friendly smile. The host scratched quickly on his note pad.

“And I’ll have a glass of water.” She said. She looked back at Robert and gave him a smile right back. Once again the scratch of pen on paper could be heard coming from the host. He clicked his pen and put the note pad back into his pocket.

“Very good. I’ll go put these drink orders in and your server will be with you shortly.”  They both said their thanks and the host disappeared across the room.

“So how have you been?” He asked, eager to initiate the conversation. He always had fun conversing with Lindsey. Even the mundane events of her day could capture his attention in a way he had never experienced before.

“Well.” She replied, “It’s been more of the same stuff at work. Wendy doesn’t get back from her honeymoon for another week, so the daycare has been one woman down. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if we weren’t already understaffed already, but I’ll get through it. And I swear if I have to change one more diaper, I’ll go mad!”

Robert couldn’t help but smile and ask “Is it unusual to change diapers at a day care?”

“No” She replied “Not if you’re in charge of the preschool children, which Wendy is. While she’s gone getting a nice tan and drinking mojitos on the beach, I’m the one that is stuck on diaper duty.” She took a drink of her water and began to spin the ice around with her straw. “It’s not like I blame her though. If I had the chance, I’d pick a honeymoon over work every day of the week. But let’s not talk about my work. How has your week been so far?”

“You wouldn’t believe the week I’ve had. Monday I had the alternator go out on the car. It’s less than a year old and it’s already falling to pieces! Luckily I went over to Max’s on Main Street as soon as the check engine light came on. Max is a good guy so he hooked me up with a rental car for the day, but I still ended up being late for work. Tuesday was pretty unremarkable, but Wednesday was awful. I didn’t put my dress shoes in my closet when I got home-” The server had just come into Robert’s field of view, his tray carried two drinks, a carafe of wine and two wine glasses.

“Here are your drinks.” He said as he placed the ice tea and water onto the table. “And here is your wine.” He poured a little into Robert’s glass so he could taste it.

“That’s the one. Thank you very much.” Robert looked over to Lindsey and saw a look of approval. Hopefully she would love the wine as well.

The waiter placed both wine glasses onto the table and filled each of them half full. He set the bottle down near the edge of the table and placed the tray to his side.

“Have you had a chance to look at your menu, or would you like a little more time?”

Robert quickly opened his menu and scanned the appetizer section. Two things caught his eye.

“We’d like an order of the artichoke dip and the hummus. If she’d like anything, then we’ll get that as well.”

“That sounds lovely. I won’t need anything else.” Lindsey said.

“Well I’ll put your order in now. We’re pretty empty tonight, so it should be out in no time. My name is David by the way, so if you need me for any reason just yell my name.” David said with a little smile. He then did an about face and headed towards the kitchen.

Once out of ear shot Lindsey said “I don’t remember ordering any wine. Do you think that was a mistake?”

A quick pang of nervousness shot through Robert. What if she didn’t drink wine? He should have asked her first. He just thought she drank wine. He was such an idiot!!!

“I actually ordered it in advance when I placed the reservation. I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t think to ask beforehand.” He was sure that his embarrassment was visible on his face.  He swallowed and asked her “Do you drink wine?”

She looked at him with kind eyes and said “You’re fine, you’re fine! I actually love wine. You get bonus points for the surprise wine.” She winked at him and took a sip of her wine.

Robert exhaled louder than he had intended as relief flooded his body. He picked up the menu and opened it to the middle page.

“I guess we should look at our menus before he gets back.” Robert said. “If you like fish they have a wonderful salmon dish here. It’s baked on a cedar plank and you can really taste the wood throughout the fish. The burgers are all good too. The chicken sandwich is really good too, if you’re in the mood for chicken. Honestly I’ve had almost everything on the menu and it’s all good.”

“You must come here often.” Lindsey replied. “You sure know the food here pretty well.”

“I actually know the owner pretty well.” He replied. “I sold his son-in-law a quarter section of farm land about five or six years ago. I ended up getting him a pretty good deal from the seller once I found out that there had been an old oil spill near the corner of the property. It didn’t impact the field land, but the seller didn’t want to pay for a phase one land assessment or a lawyer.”

“That’s right! You’re a real estate agent. My sister had asked me about it and I had a complete mental block. It’s been bugging me for days!” She seemed more than a little embarrassed that she had forgotten his career.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s easy to forget things like that. Oh, I’ll cover dinner tonight, so don’t worry about the bill. I get a pretty good discount since I know the owner.”

“I really appreciate it Robert” She said. He loved when she said his name. It really got his blood flowing.

They both took a few minutes looking at the menu. There were several pages with items ranging from burgers and soups, to steaks and cookies.

Robert really hoped that Lindsey would actually ignore the cost of the items and get what she wanted. He liked when people accepted his generosity without putting up a fight. He realized that he should have waited until she ordered to tell her he’d cover the bill. Maybe she would spend more if she thought she was going to pay for it. Robert saw that both of their glasses were nearly empty so he poured each of them another glass, emptying the carafe.

“I’m glad you like this wine. It’s one of my favorites.” He told her.

“I really like it. I think I’ve seen this brand before. Isn’t it made locally?”

“You must know more about than wines than I do.” He chuckled a little. “I just know that it tastes good and they always seem to have a bottle or two hidden in the back for me.”

They continued to make small talk for another five minutes or so when David came back with their appetizers.

“Here’s your artichoke dip and hummus.” David said as he put both plates onto the table. The smell of the artichokes and garlic was heavy and delicious in the air. It mingled with the accompanying freshly baked bread in a heavenly way. “Are you ready to order?”

Lindsey spoke first “I’ll have the Chilean Sea Bass with the Napa Slaw.” Robert glanced through the page of the menu that he was on and found the Chilean Sea Bass. He found it and couldn’t help but smile. It was thirty five dollars. The most expensive item on that page of the menu without a doubt. He decided that this was a good sign.

“That’s an excellent choice. It’s one of the best things on the menu.” The waiter looked towards Robert, notepad noticeably absent.

Robert had decided to one-up Lindsey at the last second. There was a pause as he scanned the menu, he found what he was looking for.

“I’d like the Veal Rib Chop with the butternut squash risotto and Brussel sprouts. I’d also like another carafe of that wine.” Two could play at this game.

“I can do that. Would you like me to fill up your drinks as well?”

“That would be great, thank you.” Robert replied.

The waiter picked up their glasses and carafe and walked back towards the kitchen. Robert and Lindsey looked at each other and broke out into smiles. He was having a good time and he could see that she was as well. He hoped that it would get even better as dinner went on.

They talked to each other as they munched on their artichoke dip and hummus. The dishes were very tasty and the bread really completed the dishes. Every time Lindsey laughed Robert seemed to fall more into love with her. She had the cutest little dimples that showed up on her cheeks when she smiled or laughed at one of his jokes. Her eyes always seemed to be on his face and they were bright and full of life as she spoke, telling stories of kids at the day care or stories about her family.

The waiter was excellent. He seemed to arrive whenever they needed a refill of their drinks or more bread to chew on while they waited for their dinners to arrive. When they finally did arrive they ordered dessert in advance and then dove into their dinners. Robert was blown away. Maybe it was the $38 veal chop or maybe it was the wine, but this was the best meal he had ever had. Maybe it wasn’t the food that made the meal his best, but rather his company. He enjoyed watching Lindsey eat, drink, breath… He was getting high on her in a way that he had never been on previous dates.

Unlike their extravagant dinner meal, the dessert was a humble cheese cake. No sparklers or streamers, just rich and delicious cheese cake. He didn’t want to acknowledge it, but in the back of his mind he realized his date was going to end soon. He was heartbroken, until he felt something touch the side of his leg under the table.  He nearly jumped, but thankfully he knew what it was. It was the thin ankle attached to the long leg of the beautiful woman sitting across from him.

She looked into his eyes with a look he hadn’t seen on her before. A look of love and lust. Robert couldn’t have been happier. He ran his leg up against hers to let her know the message had been received. She smiled a big, toothy smile and excused herself to the restroom. He watched her walk away and didn’t even try to hide it. She had a good looking ass.

David had come to give Robert the ticket. Robert didn’t look at the total, he had other things on his mind. He just wrote $300 in the total and handed it back to David. David nearly did a back flip at his $104 tip, the elation was easily visible on his face. He asked Robert several times if there was anything that he could do for him. Robert declined and told him to have a good night.

Lindsey came back from the bathroom looking like sex on two legs. She was gorgeous and looked to be a little tipsy on her heels.

“I paid when you were in the restroom, but we can sit here all night if you’d like.” He said.

“As much as I’d like to, I think I need to head home soon.” She replied.

Oh crap. Robert thought. Maybe he had misread her signals. He stood up from his chair and gave her a hug.

“Can I walk you to your car?” He asked.

“Actually…” She hesitated for a second. “I’m feeling a little too tipsy to drive safely. Would you be able to drive me home tonight?”

Robert’s heart exploded. It blew up into a million pieces and fell back to his normal heard within the length of a heartbeat. He was so happy.  It seemed like any second with her near him was the best second of his life.

“I’d be happy to drive you to your house, but what would we do about your car?”

“I was hoping that we could leave my car here overnight, since you know the owner and all.” She stepped up to him, wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a deep, slow kiss. Robert leaned into it and returned the kiss with equal passion. “In the morning you could drop me off back here and I could drive to work.” She was leaning up against his chest looking up into his eyes.

Robert wanted to say some sexy quip, but his brain had switched off in the presence of this beautiful woman. He ended up just saying what he felt in his heart.

“I’d be more than happy to take you home tonight.” He said.

They both smiled and kissed once more. Passionate, sweet and long. Once they had finally separated themselves from each other he grabbed her hand and walked towards the exit of the restaurant. Robert couldn’t help but hope that tonight would be one of many nights together.

---

 

Wow! I really loved writing this. It was a lot of fun for me. I have basically no experience with dialouge. That was my goal with this scene. I feel quite a bit more confident in the flow of the dialogue, but I’ll continue to read romances this month while looking at the dialogue structure.

One of the things that helped me write this scene was to have a goal for my character. I don’t know if other authors do this, but my goal was for Robert to get laid. I know that this might offend some people, but getting laid by somebody that you have feelings for is a beautiful thing and as the story clearly showed, these people have feelings for each other.

Something that this post has made me want to do is to improve on my character depth. I would like to have complex, relatable characters in all of my stories. That is a goal of mine for the near future. To read about and to practice writing stories that have complex characters.

As always, thank you guys for reading, liking, commenting, following and participating in my evolution as a writer. You guys are the best and every day I see I’ve received a like I get so excited.

Have a wonderful day. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!