Page 34 of The Lover
“Yep.”
We left the apartment and I locked up. When I got to the truck, Jake was holding the passenger side door open for me. Then he put his hand around my arm to give me a boost.
I had been getting in and out of Jake’s truck for years and he’d never, not once, done that.
He shut the door behind me and I struggled what to make of that. Because if this was wooing, this was kind of fun.
“So tell me what it’s like working at Frank’s,” he said as he started the truck and we got on the road.
“It’s a little crazy. Not going to lie. I mean I’ve known all these people most of my life, but who knew they had so many weird habits? Mrs. Petty blew my mind the other day. You know her, she’s so nice. She orders the steak, and Frank makes it for her. I put it in front of her and she says it looks funny. That it’s not cooked right. Okay, I take it back. Frank doesn’t say anything, just makes her another one. Again, not right. I’m like how can you even tell? She just pushes it with her fork. So I go back to Frank with this second steak, thinking he’s going to be ticked off, and you know what he does?”
“What?”
“He hands me the first steak and tells me to serve it again and says to trust him. I’m thinking he’s crazy, but sure enough I set the first steak in down in front of her and she says,there, that’s perfect.”
Jake laughed and I laughed with him.
“I asked Frank about it and he says she does it all the time. Which is why he always cooks the second steak to either his or Bernie’s preference, because they know it’s going to be their dinner that night.”
“Mrs. Petty… weird about steak. Who knew?”
I shared a bunch more stories with him. How Howard added extra hot sauce to everything, how Pete had to have his hamburgers cooked until they were burnt, which to both Jake and me was a sacrilege.
Finally he pulled up into the parking lot. When he stopped the car he looked at me and said, “Stay put.”
For a second I was thinking he wanted to confirm the reservation or something, but nope. He just came around the truck and opened my door. I unhooked my belt and then he was lifting me (which again, five-nine, I shouldn’t be so easily liftable) actuallyliftingme out of the truck until my shoes hit the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“This is a date, Ellie. This is what I do on a date. Just go with it.”
“Okay. But I guess this explains why you never went out with Maddie Hornburg, because you would not be lifting her anywhere.”
Maddie was in Jake’s grade growing up and made me look diminutive.
He shook his head and took my hand (that’s right, we were HOLDING HANDS) as we made our way to the restaurant. He held the chair out for me and I sat. And when he pushed the seat back in, he bent down and whispered in my ear.
“You look beautiful tonight.”
I blushed. I had to be blushing. This was unlike anything I expected. Maybe a little too over the top.
“Jake,” I started as he sat down across from me. “You know you don’t have to… I mean I know what I said about the wooing and everything, but I don’t… well, I don’t want you to force it or anything.”
“Force it?”
“Yeah. Like calling me beautiful.” I tucked my hair behind my ear and focused on placing my cloth napkin perfectly in my lap.
When I glanced up, he was looking at me strangely. As if I was this new exotic creature to him.
“Ellie, you’re one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known. Part of that is the way you look and part of that is who you are. I couldn’t tell you those things before because… I couldn’t. Now I can.”
“Oh.”
“I get to say that’s my favorite dress.”
“Mine too.”
“I know, because you always wear it on special occasions. Which means you think this is a special occasion, and I like that.”
