Let Justice Prevail

Chapter Eight

"Come on now, you should know me better than that - that's not my nature. Believe me; I have long toyed with the idea of calling you, each second of the day since we parted." A short silence followed his remarks while they were being served.  

"Go on. So why didn't you?" She pushed further right after the waiter left.  

"Please just accept my apologies, besides, I did not know that you had expected me to return." After this, he leaned forward, took her hands and kissed them.  

"You mean, after I had been so obvious with you at the time we parted, you still did not get the fact that I liked you. You men are sometimes very blind," she confessed with a bit of a disappointment in her voice.  

"So you really like me?" he probed, while - at the same time - the thought of that swirled through his brain.  

"I did not say that," she smiled and protested simultaneously.  

"What did you say then?" He pressed on in confusion.  

"I used past tense," she teased him.  

"I know that, but that does not mean that you don't like me now. Does it?" He wondered, and he hoped that she would still admit that she liked him and not be afraid - or even ashamed - to say so.  

"Yes it does and unless you do something worth restoring my feelings to you, it will remain that way," she said, while she ingenuously smiled at him.  

"I always thought that the case would end quickly, but it seems to be taking an eternity," Ojijo replied since he had found this to be the only conversation to get the night moving.  

"How is your son?" She inquired, trying to take things from a new direction; she knew Austin would not hold to the end of his bargain if she decided to probe his line of work.  

"He is okay. Today I did not see your daughter, was she not around?" Ojijo responded in relief about the change of subject.  

"She went to visit my brother," she answered.  

"So, that means you are all alone?" He questioned her in a teasing way.  

"Why, do you want to spend the night with me?" Jane offered.  

"Not really, I was just stating the obvious. Anyway, are you enjoying your dinner so far?" He went on.  

"Yes I am, I must say that this Norwegian salmon with asparagus and the sweet potatoes are simply superb," she answered, and at the same time it went through her mind as to why he had not invited himself to her home when the opportunity to do so had been so readily open.  

"Yes it is," he agreed, "Well, we still have a movie to catch by eight thirty, so let's literally try to hurry up," he suggested, hoping that she hadn't made any other plans for the night.  

"I am sorry, but I cannot stay up late tonight. I have to work tomorrow and I don't want to be worn out in front of my employees," she presented her excuse.  

"I have to work, too. We could skip the movie and do something else instead if you like," Ojijo suggested and he secretly hoped that she would not ask him what it was.  

"And what might that be?" She sounded indifferent about his idea.  

"We can still figure it out, let us just concentrate on our dinner for the time being," he hinted for the second time, expecting it to be the end of that discussion.  

"How have you been since we last saw each other?" She wondered.  

"Not fine. I had clearly missed you," he told her with great sincerity, "Also, work had been very overwhelming."