Jane opened the second bottle of wine and refilled our glasses,. “Your date with Sean started much earlier, didn’t it?” she asked, knowing I’d been working at the café during the day.
“I missed my Saturday lie-in,” I started. “The café opened at 10:00 and even though it didn’t start getting really busy until 11:30, he wanted me there when he opened up. He has his own way of recording orders using a system of codes that I had to learn first. It wasn’t too hard once I understood what it meant and he was already working hard in the kitchen at the back so he was pleased I picked his system up quickly.
“When the rush started things began to get manic. I was the only waitress and everyone wanted to get served at once. Apart from one woman, that is. She was most put out that Sean wasn’t taking her order. ‘Sean knows what I have. I always have the same,’ she stated when I asked to take her order. Trying to be polite, I asked what name I should give Sean. ‘He knows who I am,’ she replied, offended I needed to ask. But a brief description of the woman was enough for Sean to know who it was. He asked me to be especially polite to the woman; he called her Yvonne, as she was one of his best regulars. I was biting my tongue all the time, she was so rude.
“I was exhausted by 4:00pm when the number of customers began to dwindle. I hadn’t had time to eat anything all day and I was starving. Sean said I could have anything that was left. I’m not particularly fond of macaroni cheese but that was the only main course left, so I had that. It was surprisingly good. No wonder the place had been so busy if his cooking was that good. And, remember, I’d seen him in the kitchen all day, so I had every reason to believe him when he said he made all the meals himself.”
“Weren’t you going out for a meal? I hope it didn’t spoil your appetite,” Jane wisecracked.
“Oh, no,” I replied, “I only ate a little. I had no idea where he was taking me but I didn’t want to disgrace myself by leaving my meal only half eaten. I escaped, at 5:00pm, to have a shower and a change of clothing.”
“If you didn’t know where you were going, how did you know what to wear?” Neeta queried.
“Sean had told me we were going to a night club after we’d eaten, so to come dressed for that. It’s ages since I’d been to a nightclub, but from what I’d seen of women waiting outside, they were too scantily clad for my taste. If he was expecting me to go dressed as some of the teenagers I’d seen, then he was going to be disappointed. I wore white, fairly tight, trousers and a loose top. As the previous evening, I didn’t plan on showing too much flesh.
“We ate at that new French restaurant in town. L’Atelier, I think it’s called. Anyway, the food was good, the wine was OK and the ambience was quite romantic, with low lighting and a live female singer, singing French love songs. It seems Sean spoke passable French as he told me what the songs were about. And, he suggested I was the person each song was about. He was most definitely out to impress me.”
“And did he?” Again it was Neeta asking the question.
“He was much more direct that Oliver had been. Sometimes I felt it was a bit too cheesy; that he was maybe trying too hard. But remember, neither knows about the other one, so I assume that’s what he’s like. But I was equally impressed by his ability to speak French as I’d been with Oliver and his Greek.
“Our meal wasn’t in the least bit rushed and it was almost eleven pm when we left the restaurant. Sean had promised to take me to a nightclub. I’d never been to Quantuks, although I knew about it. Neither the restaurant nor Quantuks were very far from Rainbow’s End so we walked there. It was getting chilly and he put his arm round me and pulled into him. It’s been some time since anyone has done that to me and I quite liked it. It also kept me warmer.
“But once inside the club, I soon realised it wasn’t for me. The music was too loud, the place too crowded and mostly I felt too old. After less than half an hour, I asked Sean to take me home. We walked back to the café. It was nearly midnight and he invited me in for a drink to warm me up.
“But I felt sure it wasn’t just the drink he hoped would warm me up. I declined the offer, stating, quite truthfully, that I was exhausted after a long day. I wanted to go home and get a good night’s sleep. And that is just what I did.
“Didn’t he try and kiss you?” Neeta asked surprised.
“What do you think?” I smiled. “Of course he did but I turned my head away so he caught the side of my cheek. I said it was too soon to start acting that way. I suppose I should have told him about Oliver there and then but I didn’t want to spoil what had, after all, been a pleasant and enjoyable evening.”
Jane asked when I would be seeing Sean again. “Well, Mondays I usually lunch in the café, so that’s when it will be,” I replied. Jane remarked that wasn’t what she meant and I knew it. “He didn’t ask me for another date,” I replied. “And yes, I was a little disappointed,” I confirmed in responses to Jane’s next question.
“If he felt you were disappointed initially that he’d asked you to work rather than for a date, he must know you were keen,” Neeta chipped in. “In which case, maybe he hopes that playing hard to get may make you more amenable the next time he does ask you out.” It was something I had already thought about. I’d also remembered Granny Wise’s advice about seeing how a man reacts when you won’t jump straight into bed with him. Maybe Sean would lose interest now. I’d have to wait and see.