“I’ll bring you back in summer too,” Troy told her, kissing her softly.
“Oh, brother. I’m gonna have to put up with that all night?” Janet muttered under her breath.
Wes leaned down to speak quietly in her ear. “Not the right attitude for a purveyor of romance, I think,” he said.
“The best drug dealers don’t sample their own product,” she countered icily.
“Oh, I see. Romance is a drug and you want to keep a clear head for business.”
“Precisely,” she replied.
“That could happen, I suppose, but it’s different for romance.”
“How’s that?” she asked glowering.
“Well, the best writers of romance are usually in very loving relationships. Did you know that?” he asked as they entered the restaurant and waited to be seated.
“I doubt that,” she scoffed. “I’ll bet they’re all delusional, depressed and lonely because they haven’t a clue what reality is. Their heads are probably stuffed with all these silly romantic notions. Well, there is no happily-ever-after.”
Wes stared at her, an unreadable expression on his face. “No, my mother wasn’t like that at all. She was very happy with my dad. He was the love of her life and she his,” he answered slowly, again noticing horror cross her face.
“Your mom wrote romance novels?” Janet asked, incredulous. When he nodded she gulped. “I’m sorry...I...I ...”
“Obviously don’t know what you’re talking about?” he suggested.
“That wasn’t what I was going to say!” she snapped.
He chuckled just as the hostess called them forward. “I think we should have separate tables,” Wes suggested much to the obvious delight of both Jasmine and Troy.
Janet groaned. This was consternation indeed. She couldn’t help feeling she was being dragged into something she didn’t want. She just couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
“We wouldn’t want to bore you with dull business talk. And you surely don’t want us intruding on your date,” he continued serenely.
They were shown to different parts of the room though both with an equally pretty view of the harbor.
“So, tell me your life story,” Wes asked after they were seated and the waiter handed them menus.
“Excuse me? How is that business talk?” Janet asked frowning. “Hey! You didn’t bring the lap top in. How are you supposed to fix it?”
“I didn’t say I would do it during dinner,” he calmly replied. “Would you care for a glass of wine, Janet?”
She imagined, just for a second, drop kicking his head and watching it roll down the aisle between the many tables. “I’m sixteen, you idiot, but sure, if you can get me a glass I’ll drink it. I’d like a little buzz right about now,” she said, waspishly.
He laughed. “You’re funny. I mean you’re very different than what you appear to be in school when you have the world at your feet. You don’t seem to take well to the situation when you no longer control it.”
She bristled. “And who says I’m not in control?” she said.
“Forgive me. I must be mistaken,” he said hiding his smirk behind the menu.
“You said you knew the owner here,” she said frowning again.
“Yes, Mr. Sabatelli. Great guy, dreadful computer skills. Have had to bail him out of many messes, mostly self-inflicted. Have you decided what you want? I think I’ll go for the lobster bisque. Hopefully it’s half as good as Mommy used to make. She was a wonderful cook,” he said, slightly wistful.
Janet imagined for a moment losing her mother to a drunk driver. She knew she wouldn’t be happy for many years after that. A dreadful ache started in her chest until she admonished herself. She still had her mother and shouldn’t be thinking of such awful things anyway.
“You must miss her,” she heard herself say.
“Terribly, but not nearly as much as my dad does. You don’t lose the love of your life and get over it too quickly,” he suddenly put down his menu and stared at Janet as if seeing her for the first time. “Perhaps I can use your services...for my dad, I mean. You can help him find another love of his life.”
“Isn’t that an oxymoron? You can’t have two loves of your life,” she said.
“Is that a steadfast rule?” he asked curiously.
She made a funny face. “I don’t think I’m the one to ask,” she admitted and took a sip of water just as the waiter came to get their order. Once the order was placed and the waiter was gone Janet looked at her sister and Troy who were so lost in each other, it was sickening. She grimaced, shaking her head. She stopped suddenly once she realized Wes was watching her.
“What?” she said.
“I didn’t say anything,” he replied.
“But you were thinking something,” she accused.
He grinned. “Sorry, I am not one of those fortunate people that can easily shut off the brain. Yes, I was thinking, always am. And I suspect you are to. Penny for your thoughts.”
“My thoughts are worth way more than that,” she assured.
“Shouldn’t I be the judge of that?” he asked, smirking.
She glared at him. “Wait a minute. You did say that you would fix it during dinner, I know you did or I wouldn’t have bothered coming. You are a liar,” she told him triumphantly.
“I think you misunderstood. How could I, in good conscience, bring a lap top to a fine restaurant such as this and spend time fiddling with it? It surely would disturb other patrons not ingratiating myself to Mr. Sabatelli who is one of my favorite costumers,” he said. “There’s time enough for that later.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How come I get the feeling I’ve been had? You’ve lured me here under false pretenses when all I wanted was a working laptop.”
“You’re a lot better tempered at school,” he observed. “Is it that you love school or that you despise me or perhaps seafood?” he asked curiously.
“I don’t despise you and seafood…well, I can take it or leave it but school...well, I love school!” she said jubilantly.
“Do you? Why?”
“All those kids with so many hang ups, so many trivial problems. ‘Oh, I’ve got a pimple.’, ‘I don’t have the coolest jeans in the school.’, ‘I can’t understand geometry.’, ‘I can’t get lover boy to notice me.’, I love the drama!” she said with an infectious giggle.
He laughed. “And here I thought it was the love of Shakespear,” he said.
She proceeded to tell him all that endeared her to school and its inhabitants. Strangely enough all thought of her precious laptop flew out of her mind until after their meal was finished and they joined Troy and Jasmine outside to watch the passing ships sail in the dark.
The moon threw shimmering lights onto the surface of the water making the evening just right for lovers. Lovers like Troy and Jasmine, that is. They clung to each other completely oblivious to anything around them.
“You’d think they would eventually get sick of each other,” Janet grumbled. “It’s been almost a year since I got those two together. At this rate I won’t get any return business from either of them.”
Wes, who had been staring at Janet and not the two lovers, came out of his daze with a shake of his head. “Uh, do you get a lot of…um… return business?” he asked as he watched the moonlight sparkles in her wide brown eyes.
“Well, it is high school, isn’t it? If a romance lasts more than a month they consider it successful. Who am I to tell them otherwise?” she stated loftily.
“Right. So, it’s not as I thought, a one shot deal and people stop needing you. That’s good. But I wonder, does no one ask for a refund from a bad romance?”
“No one has yet. Are you trying to jinx me?” she asked suspiciously.
He laughed. “Not in a million years. So, how does this work if I were to ask you to find a match for my dad or do you only do high school?”
“I’ve already set up Vice-Principle McIntyre with Mrs. Palmer and they are very happy,” she replied smiling gleefully.
“Isn’t she already married?” he asked, aghast.
“No, she’s been divorced for a long time but she was keeping it quiet. She’s a bit shy,” Janet explained.
“And why would she tell you if she was keeping it secret?” he asked curiously. “Unless… she hired you?”
“No, she didn’t. My mother goes to the same exercise classes with her. They got to be friends and I overheard one day,” she said. Seeing the disapproving look on his face, she quickly changed the subject.
“So, you’ll need to email me some information about your dad so I can see what I can do for him. Do you want him involved or is this to be clandestine?” she asked.
“You can do that? How?” he asked.
“Well, if I told you that, you wouldn't need me,” she replied smiling sweetly up at him.
Something in his gaze unsettled her a bit. She quickly stepped back and shouted, “Hey, guys, how about you leave something for Prom night. Let’s go. I need my computer running. Come on, Genius. Destiny is calling.”
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