“So where we going?” I asked, sniffing the roseagain.
“I thought I could give you a taste of Chicago,” he said. “How about a deep dish pizza orsomething?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. The thought of eating an entire deep dish pizza myself actually was quite satisfying given how hungry I was, but I didn’t think there was anything around here that served anything moderately close. Not that I would pass the opportunity to eat a deep dish pizza in London, but I assumed it wouldn’t even be able to compare to anything back home. “I could really eat a steak,” I said as my stomach growledagain.
I had been craving red meat for days, but didn’t know any takeout places that would deliver. The thought of sinking my teeth into a massive steak sent shivers up my spine, and I knew that’s exactly what I wanted. I looked at James eagerly as he smiled back at me. “Okay, perfect. I know just theplace.”
13
“What restaurant areyou taking us to?” I asked after James had driven me around for about half an hour through town. He glanced out the window at the passing cars, trying to pretend that my stomach wasn’t eatingitself.
“You’ll see,” he said cheekily. “Trust me, it’s worththewait.”
We drove for another ten minutes before he pulled into a side alley and parked at the back of a regular looking brick building. It was a residential area, and it didn’t really look like there was a restaurant anywhere nearby. I didn’t ask questions, though, as I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. He looked so excited about where he was taking me, I didn’t want to take that awayfromhim.
He opened his door and came around to let me out of my side like a gentleman, and I took his hand as I stepped out of the car. He then led me further down the alleyway until we came upon a small black door with a star on the front of it. I raised my eyebrows and looked up at him but he smiled down at me reassuringly as he knocked three times on the door. We both waited in silence for a moment, and I wondered just where the hell he was taking me. If this is some kind of strange undergrad sex club, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle any of that just now. It took me at least a few days to recover from my last experience, not that I was going to admit thattohim.
The door creaked open a moment later, and a man in a white chef’s hat and long grease stained apronsteppedout.
“Mr. James, so happy to see you. Come right this way,please.”
James offered me his elbow and I accepted it, intrigued as to where he was taking me. We followed the chef into the door and down a long hallway, into a room that was full of light and people. It was the last thing I expected after being led down the darkhallway.
It was an old converted warehouse, with massive skylights above us and exposed wooden structures. Large chandeliers hung from the ceiling beams, and there were tables full of people scattered around the room. The men led us to the far corner of the room next to a window, and we took our seats at a small two person table. The man welcomed us and said he’d be right back with the wine menu. I watched him walk away and then turned and noticed the enormous grin that was that spread across James’s face. I smiled back at him and laughed. “Okay okay, I’mimpressed.”
He seemed rather pleased with himself as he tucked his chair closer to the table and leaned in towards me. I pulled my chair in as well and leaned towards him and put my hand on his. “Thank you so much for this, James. I really needed anightout.”
He gave my hand a squeeze and looked into my eyes. “Well, I’m glad I could help. Now, tell me aboutyourhair.”
I was confused for a moment and I looked at him with my eyebrows furrowed before remembering I had just died my hair not two hours before. “Oh, I totally forgot. Yeah, it was time to go back to my natural colour. What do you think?” I shook my head and let my hair tumble down around my face. I could still smell the ammonia smell of the hair dye, but I hoped that it was masked enough by myperfume.
James sat back in his chair and crossed his arms and inspected me. I waited a moment for him to answer and then frowned when he didn’t say anything. He then laughed suddenly and smiled again. “It’s beautiful. Of course, it’s beautiful. But then again, you look great with anycolouredhair.”
I blushed just a little bit, nervously running my fingers through my hair. “Oh good, I’m glad you like it. I wasn’t sure if you are into blondes orbrunettes.”
“I’mintoyou.”
His forward statement set me back a moment, but then I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re forward, Ilikethat.”
He winked at me and smiled. “Well,doyou?”
I looked at him puzzled, “DoIwhat?”
“Do youlikeme?”
I grinned back at him and shrugged. “We’ll see.” Gotta give the man at least a little mystery,right?
James looked amused and was about to say something back to me when the chef came back with the wine menu and a young, good looking waitress. “This is Chantel,” the chef said. “She’ll take excellent care of you this evening. Anything you want, just ask. The kitchen is yours tonight, so please if there’s something that you would like that’s not on the menu, do not be afraid to ask.” He then bowed to us and turned andwalkedaway.
I raised my eyebrow at James and wondered how he had so many great connections. That was a question for later, though. For now, I was focused on dinner. “Here’s the wine menu,” the waitress said with their bubbly sweet voice. “What can I startyouwith?”
James looked up at me expectantly and gave me a moment to look over the wine menu. “What wouldyoulike?”
I ran my finger down the list of wines, and then shrugged. “I don’t know. I like both red and white.” I looked at him embarrassed, but both he and the waitress laughed warmly. “I’ll leave it to you todecide.”
“We’ll have a bottle of the vintage Merlot,” he said, taking the wine list from me. He handed the menu back to the waitress as she nodded and walked away to take care of our drinkorder.
“Hungry?” heaskedme.
