Tonight's not over

Chapter 21

We stepped out on the street and into the glazing sun.
"I don't know if you know but this hotel is really close to Central Park so I figured we'd start our date there. It's a beautiful place to just walk. That sound OK?" He asked me.
"Sounds perfect." I replied as I smiled at him.
With that he gave my hand a squeeze and we headed off to start our date. Chris was right about Central Park, it was beautiful. We walked past statues, over bridges, through gardens, past fountains and even sat watching the ducks. Chris pointed out things of interest as we walked. We'd been out for a couple of hours when Chris glanced at his phone.
"Is there a problem?" I asked.
"Nope! I just needed to check the time. Come on there's somewhere we need to be."
He grinned and gave my hand a gentle pull as he started to walk a bit quicker.
"Where are we going?" I asked, intrigued.
"You'll see." he laughed as we carried on walking.
When we walked over a bridge Chris let go of my hand
"Wait there a minute." He said
"Why?"

He just smiled and ran over to talk to someone. When he returned a minute later I was looking over at a couple having a picnic on the grass.
"Now that's what I call a picnic." I said pointing over to them. "How on Earth did they carry all that into the park?"
"They didn't have to." Chris said and laughed a little.
"What?"
"You can book a picnic. They set it all up, you come along, eat and then they clear it all away afterwards."
"Really? That sounds so cool."
"I'm glad you think so because that one over there is ours."
He pointed over to a blanket laid out with two cushions and parasols on top of it. Beside the cushions I could see a wicker picnic basket, a small posy of flowers and a sign that read 'Shiflett' on it. For a moment I stood just staring at the picnic before me. I was shocked that Chris had arranged all this so quickly.
"Now you know why I needed to make some phone calls before we came out this morning." He smiled and took my hand
Chris led me over to the blanket and we both sat down. Immediately I leaned over and kissed him.
"Thank you for this. It's amazing."
A huge smile spread across his face as he said
"I'm glad you like it."
"I love it." I told him. "And I'm starving!"
"Let's eat then" Chris laughed
He opened the picnic basket and inside I could see so much food, meats, cheeses, olives, nuts and bread together with fresh fruit and chocolate for after. Chris picked out a bottle of champagne and I picked out the two crystal glasses. He opened the champagne and poured it into the glasses before standing the bottle down beside us. He took one of the glasses from me and we chinked them together before take a sip. It was the best champagne I'd ever tasted. Chris took some of the food from the basket and then lay down on his side his elbow leaning on one of the pillows.
"So you gonna join me?" he asked.
I nodded and quickly lay down the same way looking over at him.  My heart skipped as I felt myself floating away gazing into his light blue eyes. We started eating, and the food was just as amazing as it looked.

"So did you always think you were going to be in a famous rock band?" I asked him while we were eating.
He laughed a little.
"Well I guess I always dreamed of it. When we were growing up in Santa Barbara me and my brothers played in bands but I was never sure I could make a living at it."
"What did you plan to do instead then?" I said
"You're not gonna believe me but I thought about being an accountant."
I was just sipping my champagne when he said it and I nearly choked as I started laughing, it seemed like such an unlikely thing for him to say.
"Told you, you wouldn't believe me." he grinned
"Sorry" I said as I got my laughter under control "but I certainly didn't expect that."
"Well it was just an idea I had for a while but in the end I dropped out of school and got a job in LA."
"So when did you become a professional musician?" I asked, eager to get to know everything about this man.
"Well I was in a few bands but the first band I toured with was a band called No Use For A Name when I was about 24."
"And the rest as they say is history." I joked.
"Exactly!" he laughed.

When we'd finished eating Chris refilled our glasses and he lay down against his pillow. He held out his arm towards me and I lay beside him, my head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around my back. I felt him kiss my head and heard him sigh contentedly. It felt good hearing him sound as happy as I felt. Although Central Park was busy it felt so peaceful lying with Chris that I almost fell asleep."
Well I guess we should be moving on." Chris whispered and pushed a string of hair out of my face.
I raised my head from his chest to look into his eyes
"Do we have to?" I asked.
"As much as I'm enjoying being here like this with you I'm afraid our time is up."
I sighed before moving just enough that I could reach Chris' lips to give him a kiss.
"Thank you for arranging such a fantastic date." I smiled.
"Hey, just because I said we've got to move does not mean this date is over."
"But..."
"Just this bit is over. We have a whole day to be together and I intend to use every minute of it." he grinned.
With that he reached up and returned my kiss before taking his phone from his pocket and calling someone to say we were ready to leave.
A few minutes later a young man arrived and we both stood to talk to him.
"Was everything alright Mr Shiflett?" he asked.
"It was great thanks. Wasn't it Mia?"
"It was perfect. Thank you."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." he smiled at me before turning back to Chris "Your carriage will be here in just a minute Mr Shiflett."
"Thanks man"
"Carriage?" I asked confused.
"Yeah carriage. I noticed you watching all the horse drawn carriages we passed as we walked through the park so I figured you might like to take a ride in one."
I squealed with delight as I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. I loved horses and I was amazed that he'd noticed me taking an interest without me even saying a word.
"Thank you so much. I didn't think this date could get any better but it just did." As I loosened my grip and leaned back I could see the huge smile on his face. He leaned his forehead on mine
"I just want to make you happy."