Coincidental Couple

Chapter XIV: Winter Date

“Right away Dr. Richardson.” The line went dead.

“Damn viruses.” He muttered under breath, but I managed to hear him. I preferred not to say anything, knowing he wasn’t exactly in a good mood at the moment.

The car gained speed as he turned around and headed towards the outskirts of the city. He pulled into a parking lot, flashed his medical I.D to the guard and headed behind the buildings. The car came to an abrupt halt, placed it in park and looked at me.

“Do you want to come with me or would you prefer to stay?”

“I’ll stay.” I said quietly, almost a whisper.

“Ten minutes, tops. You heard what I said earlier and I meant every word of it. I hope you’ll be in the car when I come back. Ten minutes.” He smiled, grabbed his ID and climbed out of the car. I saw him head into the majestic building, walking diligently but gracefully as he made his way in.

While he was gone, I had played around with the radio, sent a text to Sierra telling her about the ‘date’ already getting off on the wrong start. I wasn’t expecting a quick reply, so I shut my phone and checked myself in the mirror and simply stared out the window.

I was surprised to see him barge out of the building, not so happy but almost ran to the car and climbed back in.

“Oh good, you’re still here. I imagined you’d bail on me. I’m sorry this had to happen, but as you can tell, I wasn’t necessarily expecting that dreadful phone call.” He apologized as he zipped us back to the city.

“It’s alright, I understand. Sometimes people think we have no life and simply work, but it’s not like that.” I sighed.

“Exactly. Now, are you hungry?” He smiled even as he focused on the street ahead of him, which surprisingly made me giggle. Never had I seen someone so enthusiastic about a date like him, especially after everything he saw the day before.

I was somewhat beginning to regret wearing the outfit I had picked. Just seeing from the outside how exclusive the restaurant appeared, it seemed like it wasn’t that simple getting a reservation. If there were to be a next time, I’d have to ask what the concept of ‘fancy’ meant to this man.

A secluded table for two with a breath-taking view of the Chicago night skyline and soft jazz playing in the background made the environment pleasant, not nerve-wracking. There on the table, was a bucket of ice with chilled Champagne, slowly tempting me. As he asked the waiter to open the bottle and serve us, I saw him concentrate on me as I looked out toward the city.

"I really am sorry about that unexpected interruption. You’ll have to forgive me.” He said apologetically as the waiter finished filling my champagne flute.

“You don’t have to worry about it. It wasn’t your fault, it happens sometimes. I understand.” I reached for my glass and laughed to myself for a second. “It appears that we are over-apologetic people. It was me yesterday and tonight it’s you.”

He chuckled along with me. “I guess you’re right. We’ll have to work on that.”

“Maybe this would be a good time to start, a new beginning. Forget the park encounter, forget yesterday and forget that unexpected phone call earlier.”

“Alright, I will. To a fresh start.” He toasted.

“To a fresh start.” I echoed. The sip of the expensive champagne was a sign of a good start.

“Did you like it?” He asked because he probably saw my delighted face.

“Oh yes, it was exquisite. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s a 1980 Moet & Chandon, from France.”