Five Minutes Late (13 page)

“What did he say when you asked him about it?”

“He denied it, of course.”

“Maybe it was just a little white lie. Sometimes people lie to protect others, you know that. I don’t think that’s so bad.”

“I agree. The weird thing was, he was so adamant about not being on the website. If it weren’t for the proof I saw, I would have believed him. In fact, he was looking at me like
I
was lying.”

“Something sounds odd.”

“Yeah.” Ellie heard the front door of the restaurant open and was hit with an odd sensation and the need to turn around to see who it was. A man walked by her with flowers toward the open-air kitchen where the chefs were preparing the meals. Something seemed familiar about him. And there was no mistaking a butt of that caliber.
 

Oh God. Could it be?

The owner of the restaurant looked up and smiled as the man handed her the flowers. They did that cute European-kiss-on-each-cheek thing and followed it up with a hug. That’s when Ellie saw his face clearly and froze.

Cedric.

“You okay, sweetie?” asked Grandpa Frank. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Uh …” Ellie leaned over and grabbed the wine list that was on the table. She opened it and hid behind it, praying Cedric did not see her.

“Wine? Now? What happened to dessert?”

Ellie spoke in a soft voice. “Shush. The man we were just talking about, the man I slapped, is here and is now talking with the owner of the restaurant behind you.”
 

Grandpa Frank started to turn around.
 

“Don’t you dare move; he’ll notice! Okay, okay, this is the worst possible scenario ever. I need to get out of here. We need a distraction. Then I’ll run out the door … and possibly just keep running until I hit the border of Mexico.”

Grandpa Frank laughed. “What’s the big deal if he’s here?”

Ellie ignored his question. “Do you have any grenades on you from your army days?”

Grandpa Frank chuckled again. “Of course, I always happen to keep a few in my back pocket, just in case.”

“God, if he sees me I will die.”

“Why don’t you just go and talk to him?”

“Grandpa, he lied to me.”

“I understand, sugar, but there must have been a reason. Look at you. The last time I saw you this worked up was when that singer announced he was gay.” Grandpa Frank scratched the side of his face, thinking. “What was his name?”

“It doesn’t matter. And I wasn’t worked up.”

“You tore his posters off of your wall and said you’d never love again.”

“I was fifteen. Please focus, Grandpa, I’m in crisis mode here.”

“How about if I focus on the dessert menu? Maybe you should focus on it too and pick something.”

She peeked over the wine menu and watched as Cedric and the woman smiled and laughed, occasionally touching one another on the arm or shoulder.
 

Cedric walked toward Ellie.

Ellie kept her entire head hidden behind the wine menu as Cedric walked in her direction toward the door. Her menu was shaking in her hands, and she had the urge to throw up into it.

She could feel heat from a human being right next to her face, and there was the sweet smell of a man’s cologne in the air. Tommy? Armani? Whatever it was, it made her temperature rise.

She was about to drop her menu, when she heard his sexy voice.
 

“When you’re done hiding behind the wine menu and I’ve left the restaurant, I highly recommend trying a glass of the Horse’s Ass from Sonoma County. You’ll probably agree they named it after me. But also like me, it’s very good … if you give it a chance.”
 

Ellie heard the door open, the noise from the street, then the door closing.

Grandpa Frank laughed as Ellie kept the menu held up against her face.

She whispered, “Is he gone?”

“Yes,” said Grandpa Frank, still chuckling. “He’s gone.”

Ellie lowered the menu and let out a loud breath. “What was that about?”

Grandpa Frank smiled. “That was a gentleman, in my opinion. Apologizing in his own unique way.”

*****

What a pleasant surprise for Cedric, seeing Ellie. She was lovelier than ever, and he was pleased with the way he handled himself. He’d apologized and would do so again the next time he saw her, maybe even follow that up with a gift. As he walked to his car, he felt good about his progress. More and more, he was ready to allow a woman into his life, and he wanted that woman to be Ellie. This time, he hadn’t acted like a fool.

Cedric’s smile disappeared when he spotted the ticket on his windshield.

“Not again …”

He pulled the ticket from his windshield and looked for today’s infraction.

“What?”

He did a double take and read it again. “Expired registration. No way in hell.”

Cedric’s registration didn’t expire for another six months, he was sure of it. He walked to the back of the car and—

“Come on!”

The registration tag on the plate was from last year. Someone had peeled off the current tag. He’d heard about people stealing the tags and sticking them on their cars so they didn’t have to pay for their vehicle registration, but he never thought he’d be the victim of such a theft. He knew it was another easy fix; he just had to pay for a replacement tag.

But still, he didn’t like his recent string of bad luck. Hopefully it wasn’t going to continue.

Chapter Thirteen

“A slap is not as bad as a kick in the jewels,” said Julio. “But I agree with Grandpa Frank. He was definitely apologizing. Looks like you’re back in the game!”

“His profile disappeared from the dating website.”

Julio smiled. “Looking again, were you?”

Ellie shrugged. “Maybe I just happened to notice.”

“Just happen to notice … uh huh.”

“Obviously that means he’s seeing someone if he removed it. He seemed close to the owner of the Vela Veggie. They were all touchy-feely. Maybe he’s seeing her.”

She hoped not. She wasn’t sure about Cedric but still wanted to keep that option open, just in case.

“Victoria Vela? Not possible.”

“Why not?”

“Married.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Her husband is a psychologist. I don’t remember his name.”

That was good to know, but maybe it was something else.

“Must be having an affair,” she said. “I saw them kiss.”

“On the lips?”

“No.”

“If you saw them in a juicy lip-lock, that would be different. Cheek kisses are innocent.” Julio leaned over and kissed Ellie on the cheek and smiled. “See?”

Ellie laughed. “You’re not taking this seriously. He’s got to be seeing somebody. He’s not on the website anymore.”

“Here’s something you may want to consider. Maybe he’s not on the dating website because of you.”

“Right.”

“You never know.”

Ellie took a sip of her wine and thought about Cedric. “Dating should be a lot simpler than this. Like the way my grandpa Frank met my grandma in the malt shop. So sweet.”

“Very sweet. Ooh, a malt for dessert sounds even sweeter, don’t you think?”

“You be a good boy and you may get a treat. I have a surprise.”

“I love surprises.”

Ellie studied Julio as he grabbed another slice of pizza. He looked so relaxed on the couch, like this was a regular thing they did.
 

“This was such a great idea,” she said, grabbing another slice of pizza and taking a bite. “We should do this every week.”

“And you thought having a gay best friend was a cliché. Ha!” Julio took a sip of his wine, smiled, and touched Ellie on the arm. “Just mention wine and pizza together in the same sentence and I’ll come running.”

Ellie wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought of it before, having Julio over. She was seriously lacking in the friends department, but always enjoyed his company at work. They had a lot in common. They loved the same food, the same wine, the same movies, even the same men. Speaking of which …

“When are you going to see Hugo again?”

Julio let out a sigh. “Not for a few more weeks. He’s still in Japan.”

Ellie didn’t know how he could do it. “That has to be difficult.”

“It is, but I know it’s temporary. He’s going to start his own consulting firm so he can set his own hours and be closer to home.”

Ellie rubbed his shoulder. “Well, I guess that means I get to enjoy you even more until that happens!” Ellie smiled and popped the movie into the DVD player.
You’ve Got Mail
.
 

“That you do.” Julio pointed to the TV. “Just to let you know, I’m a crier.”

“Me too!” Ellie wasn’t sure why she was so proud of that.
 

When the movie was over, Ellie and Julio both wiped their eyes and got up to stretch.
 

“I love when Tom Hanks comes around the corner with his dog and Meg Ryan sees him,” said Ellie. “That part gets me every time.”

“Me too,” said Julio.

“Ben and Jerry’s?”

“I think I love you.”

“Yeah. I wish.”

They laughed and Ellie went into the kitchen to get the ice cream. She came back a couple of minutes later with two big bowls of ice cream and two spoons. “You want to see who I’m going out with tomorrow night?”

“Why are you still on that dating site? Go after Cedric.”

“I have to keep my options open, and you know I don’t like to flake on people. Do you want to see my date or not?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Ellie grabbed her laptop and set it on the coffee table in front of them. Her mouth was too full of ice cream to speak so she just pointed to the man on the screen. “Be nice.”

“That’s him?”

She nodded.

Julio leaned forward and frowned. “Okay, this is not going to do. We need larger pictures.” He leaned forward and looked at the man. “Not bad, not bad. Although … I’m surprised you don’t have something on your list about toupees.”

Ellie leaned in for a closer look. “You think that’s fake?”

“Honey, his hair comes from a factory … or previously belonged to another person … or an animal. Guaranteed.”

“No way, Julio Jose.”

“Yes way, Ellie May.”

She looked closer. “I don’t know, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. Anyway, he seems interesting. He owns an import business, he likes animals …”

“Especially that porcupine that’s keeping his head warm.”

She laughed. “Stop. Let’s not judge him. He does match a lot of the things on my list that I’m looking for. So there.”

“Speaking of which…” Julio stuck out his hand “I do need to see this infamous list.”

Ellie got up and grabbed it from the end table and handed it to Julio. “Don’t laugh.”

“I can’t promise that.” Julio glanced over the list and laughed.

“Hey.” Ellie tried to grab the list back.

Julio held it out of her reach. “Damn, girlfriend, I thought I was picky.”

“Okay, give me the list.”

“Number one … punctuality? I bet if you were to survey a thousand people, no, make that a million people, not one of them would have punctuality as their number one preferred trait in someone they wanted to meet. You have honesty at number two. Honesty
below
punctuality. Something is askew here.”

“You know why.”

“Yes, I know why, but your tardiness that day was not the reason for your mother’s death.”

“Yes it was.”

Julio held up his hand. “Okay, let’s not get into this again.”

“I agree.” It was something Ellie did not like to discuss, so she was glad he dropped the subject so quickly this time.
 

“What’s the latest on your fundraising?”

“Peggy said she would update me soon, but I think I’m doing pretty well. I’ve sold forty-five bricks.”

“Great!”

Ellie smiled. “Now if I can just make it to a second date tomorrow with Jim. It’s my last shot at an extra five hundred from Grandpa Frank. Every bit helps.”

“You can do it, girl!” Julio glanced at Ellie’s list again. “I do see a problem with a particular item here, though.”

“What?”

“You say you want a man with a full head of hair, but you don’t specify if the hair has to be real. That, my dear, is a big fat hairy discrepancy.”

She lunged forward. “Give me the list!”

The next evening, Ellie was ready for her fourth and final online date. If this date didn’t work out, she was going to go home, tear up her list, cancel her membership to the dating website, and become a nun … or a lesbian. Maybe Julio could give her advice on the latter.

Fortunately, Jim seemed like he had the most potential out of all of the men she’d seen online. He was tall, attractive, ran a successful import business, volunteered at church, loved his mother, owned a dog, and matched most of the criteria on her list.

Ellie met Jim at a cute French Restaurant in Mountain View. It was located inside of a converted Victorian home, and it was charming and romantic. The clock on the wall said six thirty on the dot when he walked in the door carrying a bag and some flowers.
 

Right on time. So far, so good.

He kissed Ellie on the cheek and handed her flowers.

“They’re beautiful.” Ellie stuck her nose in them. “And they smell so wonderful.”
 

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Did he just frigging quote the Bible?
 

Strike one!

She was pretty sure that was the fastest strike she has ever given.

As they were escorted to their table, Ellie couldn’t help but notice Jim was carrying a bag. She admired the interior of the restaurant, the beautiful colors, the rattan bistro chairs, tables with cabriole legs, and the carved oak hutches against the wall. She glanced out the window at the fountain on the lawn, with its four small sprouting bronze lion heads. “I love this place. Great choice.”
 

“Bless you, child.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry. Old habits are hard to break.”

Ellie had no idea what he was talking about. She shifted her focus to the romantic setting and the good-looking man she had seated before her. He had dark brown wavy hair and wore a charcoal gray tailored Armani suit with an off-white dress shirt and platinum oval mother-of-pearl cuff links. His silky red tie was bold and gave him energy, not that he needed any more. Her eyes drifted back up to his hair. If it was fake, it was good quality.