“Time to shine,” I say, whispering in her ear as I braid my fingers around hers, leading us into the restaurant.
We follow the hostess to a large table in the back. Jim and his wife are laughing with Mrs. Gadory and her husband. He spots me and jumps up from his seat.
“Doug, hey, right on time. We just got seated.” He comes around the table and slaps me on the back. “And who's this?” he asks as his attention falls on Lyllian.
She's standing shyly behind me. I pull her around front and rest my hands on her shoulders. “This is my girlfriend, Lyllian.” The sentence comes out of my mouth far too easily, causing my chest to tighten.
I stun myself silent, trying to process how easy it is for me to just call her that. I expected to hesitate or lose my words, but I didn't. I said it without a hitch. I said it like it's the truth and not a bold face lie we concocted yesterday.
“Lyllian, it's so nice to meet you.” Jim turns to everyone else and introduces us. “Mrs. Gadory, this is Doug. Doug this is Mrs. Gadory, her husband Tony, and my wife Meg.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Gadory,” I say, holding out my hand. “This is my girlfriend Lyllian.”
Lyl leans over and shakes her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Gadory.”
“Please, call me Eileen. I might be almost seventy, but Mrs. Gadory just makes me think of Tony's mother. Bless her soul.” She chuckles and shakes my hand. “Please, sit,” she says. “I'm really excited to finally get the chance to talk with you both.”
I pull out Lyllian's chair, and push it in as she sits. Taking the seat next to her, I instinctively rest my hand on her thigh. She gives me a quick look, but it quickly fades. Her hands sit on the table, folded together like she's in grade school.
She's so nervous. I can feel her anxiety. Her leg is shaking rapidly as she taps her heel against the floor. Her chest is rising and falling quickly, and every few breaths she lets out a long slow exhale. Leaning in, I whisper in her ear. “You're doing fine, just relax.”
“You see that, honey,” Eileen says. “Chivalry still exists. Why don't you pull out my chair for me anymore?”
“Because we have almost forty-five years under our belt. All those niceties are what happens with young love.” Her husband turns to me and smirks. “After this many years of marriage, she's lucky if I use the bathroom with the door shut anymore.”
Eileen slaps his chest and rolls her eyes. “Don't mind him, he thinks romance has an expiration date. I, on the other hand, do not. Which is probably why I make the movies I do.” Her eyes fall on Lyllian. “What about you, dear? Do you like romance?”
“I think every girl dreams of that classic romance at some point in her life. The sweep you off your feet, make you feel like the only girl in the world kind of romance. But only some of us are lucky enough to have it.” She smiles at me, laying her head on my shoulder for a second.
In that brief moment, a million different emotions flood my body. Excitement, happiness, fullness, desire, lust, and everything in between. My heart gallops in my chest, forcing the blood to pump through my ears and drown out the room around me.
All I feel is her. The weight of her head on me, the scent of her shampoo, the smooth plane of her neck that looks so damn kissable. I want to wrap my arm around her body and hold her. Something about this feels so right.
It's wrong! It's very, very wrong!
I give her a peck on the top of her head, and nod. “I have to agree, she got lucky my mother taught me right.”
Jim's wife glares at him and frowns. “You see, you should be taking notes.”
We all laugh, and I feel a lot better about being here, living in this lie for the moment. A lie that's far too comfortable. I know that tomorrow this will all be gone because lies can only breathe if they have life.
We're snuffing out this lie the second we leave. But for now, for now this is our reality.
The night couldn't be going more perfectly. Lyllian is chatting it up with Mrs. Gadory. They're talking about books they love, and the movies that go with them. The second Lyllian mentions her favorite love story of all time is Casting Shadows, Eileen lights up.
“That's my favorite too. It was my first book.”
“You wrote that?”
Eileen smiles and nods. “I did, under a different pen name. It didn't do as well as I had hoped, so I scrapped that name and just decided to write under my real name. It was the best decision I've ever made, but that story still owns a piece of my heart.”