Page 21 of Promising You
My ears pop as the elevator takes us to the top floor. It opens to the restaurant which has windows on all sides showing off views of the city.
Garret leads me to the coat check room where a tall, dark-haired woman in a red dress is waiting. She’s very pretty and looks like she’s only a couple years older than me. We take off our coats and hand them to her. Her face puckers up as she holds mine between her thumb and index finger, like it’s dirty or something. There’s not a speck of dirt on it, but compared to the long expensive coats hanging behind her, mine looks pretty shabby.
Garret doesn’t even notice the rude but beautiful coat check girl. He slips his arm around my waist and goes up to the hostess. “Kensington for two.”
When he says it I feel like we’re a married couple and a stir of happiness goes through me. Damn Garret and those damn rings! What is he doing to me? I’m not even the marrying type. Or at least I didn’t think I was.
The hostess seats us at a small table next to the window.
“It’s great, right?” Garret says, checking out the view.
“Yeah. I love seeing the city up high like this.” I glance around. “So what did you mean when you said this place rotates?”
“It slowly rotates while you’re eating, so by the time our dinner arrives we’ll probably be over there.” He points to the other side of the room.”
“How do they do that?”
“Well, if you’d listened to me earlier you would know.” He pretends to act annoyed.
“I’m sorry. Now tell me.”
He smiles. “I was kidding. I have no idea how it works. I just wanted you to admit you weren’t listening.”
We open our menus. Everything is a la carte. The main dish is just a piece of meat and you order the sides separate. I notice the person next to me eating a pork chop topped with some type of sauce.
“What do you think you want to order?” Garret asks.
“Probably the pork.”
“And what else?”
“I’m not sure yet.” I glance at the menu again. “Why aren’t there any prices on here? How are you supposed to know what things cost?”
He leans in and lowers his voice. “Because if you have to ask you shouldn’t be here. A lot of fancy restaurants don’t list the prices.”
“Oh. Well, that’s just weird.”
Garret reaches across the table and pushes my menu down. “I don’t want you to talk about, or even think about, how much this costs, okay? I’ve been wanting to take you here for a really long time and I just want you to enjoy it. I don’t want a lecture about how I’m spending too much.”
“I’m not lecturing you. I just—”
“Jade. Please.”
“All right. I won’t say anything.”
“Hey, look.” He points out the window. “We’re at a different spot now. That building that was in front of us is behind me now.”
He’s right. The restaurant moved and I hadn’t even noticed. “Okay, whatever this costs, it’s worth it. This is really cool.”
The waiter comes by to take our order. Just as he’s leaving our table, we hear a girl squealing across the room. We look over and see a guy on his knee, putting a diamond ring on her finger.
“Looks like she said yes,” Garret says.
“Then why is she crying?” I glance over to see the girl wiping her tears with her napkin.
“Because she’s happy. They’re tears of joy.”
“I don’t get that. I’ve never understood the crying-because-you’re-happy thing.”
