I set out of the office earlier the usual, much to the shock of everyone there. This being a rarity on par with Halley’s Comet.
“You feeling okay?” Aden asked.
“Better than ever.”
“What?” Aden asked, hearing Camilla snicker.
“Nothing,” his fiancée said.
“What the heck is going on!” asked a perplexed Aden as I reached the elevator.
“Remember when you told me to decide how I feel about Shae?”
“Yeah.”
“I did.”
The elevator closed before he could ask me any questions, and I was able to laugh at the dumbfounded look on his face.
Almost whistling as I made my way to the car, I hopped in and took off, the first chapter of Men Who Hate Women, released in the US as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, starting up on the stereo. The smooth Swedish verbs flowing out like water.
There were no ambulances out front, so I pulled into the front loop, hoping to heck that Shae would be ready. She only had a staff meeting at work, so she was able to go out to dinner. Turns out, I knew her pretty well even after such a short time, and it was less than a minute between the engine dying down and Shae getting into the passenger seat.
“Naughty boy,” the nurse teased, doing up her seat belt.
“I have my moments,” I said, pulling out of the ambulance driveway just slow enough not to get a ticket.
Parking at the restaurant was pretty easy to find. It was still pretty early in the day, and most of the commuters on the road were more concerned with getting home than where to go get a bite to eat. The post-Lunch drop, as my brother liked to say.
“Where is everyone?” Shae asked.
“Trying to get home without getting shot.”
“That’s pretty dark,” Shae said.
“Yet sadly true. I’ve learned how to avoid confrontation at a young age. Part of how I’ve lived so long.”
“How old are you?” she asked, looking skeptical.
“Thirty-one, but that’s beside the point.”
“No, I would say that’s very much the point actually, particularly considering that I’m a year younger than you. I don’t feel like I’m about to keel over.”
“Well, no, but women live longer.”
“Not that much!” she laughed.
“Agree to disagree,” I said, unable to keep from smiling.
“Was that a joke?”
“My stars and garters! I do believe it was!”
I held the car door open for Shae. I knew it wasn’t needed, but I still liked to do it. Going so far as to hold out my hand to help her up out of her seat.
“Why, thank you, kind sir,” Shae said, not mockingly.
“No problem at all,” I hummed, feeling a spring in my step.
Given our choice of tables, we took one near the window, so we could keep an eye on the setting sun and the Vegas lights. The waiter came by with a menu for Shae before heading back to the kitchen.
“Where’s yours?”
“They know what I want,” I explained, leaning back and putting my arm along the top of the booth.
“How?”
“I always get the same thing.”
“Of course, you do.”
I considered asking what the heck she meant by that but realized that I knew full well. It wasn’t exactly comfortable for Shae to figure out my oddities, but I assumed it would have to happen sooner or later, and in a way, I was glad that it seemed to be sooner. The more comfortable she got with me, the more natural this all would be.
“I can’t read this,” Shae said, looking over the menu.
“Oh, right, sorry, I forgot to ask for the English version.”
“You read Koran.”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
She shook her head slightly. “What’s good?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Well you clearly eat meat, pork anyway. Do you like spice?”
“Some yeah, not a lot, though.”
“Allergic to shellfish?” She shook her head. “Good.”
“You have some suggestions.”
“Three, all of which are about the same price.”
“Okay, get whatever you think I’d like.”
“That’s a lot of trust,” I pointed out.
“I know.”
The actual eating part of the outing went reasonably well. Shae really liked what I ordered for her and had eaten most of it before I had really started. Her chopsticks skills were truly impressive. For a while, I wondered if I might have to get her a fork. Turned out, she was a lot more worldly than I had assumed. I made a mental to avoid embarrassment in the future.
“So, what are we going to tell your family?” I asked, distracting her attention from the food.
“Could we tell the truth?”
“Odd, but let’s roll with it. We met at the office?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, we did really. Granted, I was stalking you at the time, but still.”
“Don’t say that. You were perusing me for sure, but the feeling was mutual.”
“It was?” Shae asked, seeming taken by surprise. A pink blush covered her cheeks.
“Of course.”
“Camilla helped.”
“We can work that in, too. I mean, we first met when Aden invited you to the office party, and Camilla helped you get closer to me after. It is pretty romantic when you think about it.”