It was Harper herself who came through with an actual location, and she kept her message directly to the point. She would see me in a few hours, and she was looking forward to the night. That was really it. She didn’t give me anything to go on as far as how dressed up she planned to get or what was planned for the rest of the night.
Just that we would be meeting, and it would be fun.
But, as I walked into the restaurant, I noticed almost immediately that Harper was sitting alone. She was in a booth about halfway to the back of the dining room, and she looked nervous. But, she was also every bit as beautiful as ever, and my heart skipped a beat when I realized we would be having dinner on our own.
I hardly dared allow myself to be excited for such a thing. Gwen could very well be in the bathroom, after all, and I half expected her to step out to the table and join us. But, when I walked over and greeted Harper, it wasn’t long before she told me that it was, in fact, just the two of us that afternoon.
“Mom said she was tired after we got back from the hospital, and it didn’t matter how much I tried to get through to her and convince her she ought to show up to the dinner she invited you to, but she just told me that she didn’t have it in her, and I would have to do for company.” Harper sighed. “I’m sorry. She can be a real handful at times.”
“I’m really starting to sense that,” I agreed. “But I like her. She’s the kind of woman you meet and just can’t get enough of.”
“Try having her for a mom,” Harper muttered, then she laughed. “I should be nicer. It’s just that, you know.”
“No, I get it. It’s tough when you’re talking about parents. There’s times when you are painfully reminded over the fact they are human.”
“Or the times you have to consider they have set you up on purpose because they feel like they really should have a hand in your dating life and aren’t taking no for an answer,” she said.
I laughed, and she apologized once more. “I really should have a better attitude about this. I mean, I’m glad you came, and I’m not at all saying I didn’t want to have dinner with you, but I don’t know. It’s just that I wish she would have given me more of a heads up before she went out and got me a date for the night.”
“Did you have other plans?” I asked as I sat down. “I’m guessing you had a better date offer to go to.”
“Oh, stop,” she said.
“What? I’m not blind. You are beautiful, and I can’t imagine you have a free night in your week with all the dates you must go on,” I said. “Sorry, I don’t mean to overdo, but I don’t think I would be able to live with myself if I never told you just how beautiful you are.”
“I appreciate that,” she said with a smile. “And you know? I am glad to be able to have dinner with you tonight. I don’t have a lot of date offers, but thank you for the flattery anyway. I do appreciate it.”
“I doubt it counts as flattery when I’m just telling the truth,” I said with a shrug. She blushed, and I was satisfied within myself. I was quickly becoming infatuated with this young woman, and I was glad her mother was crazy enough to do something like this for her. In the short time I knew Gwen, I couldn’t say I was surprised.
But still.
I wanted this to be fun for both of us, so I did my best to make the conversation as much about Harper as possible. Of course, I was okay with that anyway. She was stunning, and I wanted to get to know her. From what I could tell, it seemed that she wanted to get to know me as well.
There was no denying the fact that we just clicked.
Maybe this was a good idea after all.
She certainly had her moments, that Gwen. I didn’t know what to expect when it came to her. But, if this was her latest idea, it was probably one of the best she’d ever had. Not that I had known her for too long. She was older and had been battling breast cancer.
Her other doctor, Dr. Lang, had just retired, and his patients were scattered among the other professionals in the hospital. I was more than happy to take on Gwen, and though I was elated she was in recovery, I would miss her. But then, she went and did something like this – something that I wasn’t even entirely sure how to respond.
I was also flattered she thought of her daughter when she met me, and I hoped I was making as big of a good impression on Harper as I had on her mother.
All I knew was that dinner was going way too fast.
I couldn’t just let her leave me at the restaurant now. I was having too good of a time.
It would be a gamble, and it would show her that I was the one who was also on board with this if I asked her to hang out with me beyond just dinner. But, I couldn’t stop myself.
The fact that she was so amazing was enough to make me willing to go through quite a bit to get to see her again. A young schoolteacher with a heart of gold. She was the woman I had no idea I was dreaming of, and I was beyond interested.
I kept the conversation on her as much as possible, answering her questions about my own life but for the most part keeping things on her. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to know about me or my life, but I didn’t want to brag. I didn’t see myself as anything remarkable, but I also didn’t want her to feel like I was being secretive about my past.
Shit, the more time passed, the more I wanted to hang out with her. She was funny, outgoing, and I couldn’t get enough of her laugh, or her smile, either, for that matter. I did everything I could to be as funny as possible, trying to draw out her laugh as much as I could.
It made me feel good hearing her laugh at what I had to say, especially since I tended to have a dry sense of humor. It was nice to have someone who understood my sense of humor and thought it was funny, laughing at it right away. It was encouraging, that was for sure.
So while I took my time with the meal, it still felt it had gone by too quickly when the time came for me to pick up the tab.