Love Therapy (Stanton Falls #2) (8 page)

“You called me?
 You’re not quitting because I asked you out, are you?  If so, please
don’t.  I was way out of line and I’m ready to keep our relationship
professional.  I know there is no place in the workplace for that.”

“Oh well if that is how
you feel, I guess I understand.  I was just sitting here thinking though
and I realized that you might be right.  I don’t really work for you so
technically there is nothing wrong with maybe going on a date.”

“What?  Are you
serious?”

“I am.  So about
the invitation to dinner from yesterday…., would that offer by any chance be
accompanied by a movie?”

“I’m sure that can be
arranged.”

Donna laughed as she sat on the porch and continued
to talk to Nick.  She realized how much she was enjoying herself just
talking to him and she knew she had made the right decision.

As he drove his car to
the address that she had given him, Nick was more excited than he had been in a
while.  He was shocked when Donna called him back yesterday but definitely
happy that she had done so.  It hadn’t been that long since she had so
easily brushed him off before.
 
Her
unforeseen change of heart astounded him and he knew it was something beyond
him.  Whatever the reason, he was glad for it.  

He pulled his car up to
the apartment complex that she lived in and got out, hurrying up to the front
door.  He knocked and waited with an enormous amount of anticipation for
her to open it.  For what he was sure was the longest few seconds of his
life, he waited for her to appear at the door.  When he saw the handle
turning, he couldn’t contain his smile.  She peeked her head out to see
him.

“Hi Nick.  I saw
you running up to the door so quickly.  Is everything ok?”

“Everything is fine.
 I wanted to start our date as quickly as possible so that I didn’t give
you a chance to change your mind.  I’ve been looking forward to this for a
few hours now.”

“Have you?”

“Longer than that to be
honest with you, but if I gave you the whole story it might really run you
off.”

“I don’t know about that
happening.  I’ve been looking forward to this as well.  Give me one
second and I will be right out.  I just need to grab my purse.”

“I’ll be waiting right
here.”

Donna closed the door again,
before returning a few seconds later bag in hand.  When she opened the
door, his breath stopped.  She was stunning.

“Donna.  I know
this sounds cliché, but you look beautiful.  I mean really beautiful.”

Donna felt her face warm
at his compliment.

“Thank you Nick.
 You are looking pretty sharp yourself.”

Her smile was
captivating.  It reminded him of something he read about in a book when he
was a kid and he really didn’t want to stop looking at her smile.  Ever.
 

“Here, this is for you.”

He handed her a single
red rose.  

“One flower.  Most
of the time people give these in bunches.”

“True, but I was hoping
to have a few more dates.  I don’t want to fill your house with too many
flowers.”  

“So you are thinking
about next date already?  Don’t get ahead of yourself Nick.”

“I might have considered
it.”

“Well now I have to go
put this in water.  Just one minute more, ok?”

“Sure.  I should
have given it to you before.”

“No worries.  I’ll
be right back… again.”

When she came back, she
locked the door and they headed towards his car.  He opened the door for
her.

“So I see you still
believe in opening the door for a woman?”

“Doesn’t every guy?”

“Nope.  In fact,
the few dates I have gone on in the past few years, I don’t recall any of them
ever opening the door for me or getting my chair or anything like
that  One
guy even made me pay half of the bill.
 Wait, you are paying for this, right?”

“We will have to see.
 I guess it depends on what you order.  How hungry are you again?”

“Starving.  I mean
I could literally eat a cow.”

“Dutch it is!”

“If that’s the case, you
might not need to worry about buying the rest of those flowers buddy.”

“Suddenly I am feeling
like I should just pay for the whole meal.”

Donna laughed at his
quick change.

“I figured you would see
it my way.”

“You know I was joking,
right?  I wouldn’t dream of making you pay for any time I ask you out.”

“Of course, silly.
 You’re a smart enough man to know the basics of a woman’s worth.”

“Good.   I’m
glad that I exude some level of intelligence.”   

“Nick, I hope that none
of our past conversations made you think I thought that about you.”

“Absolutely not.
 So, movie or dinner first?”

“I’m a movie first kind
of girl.  It will give me something to think about at dinner if you bore
me.”

Nick feigned being hurt
by her comment and she giggled at him.  On the drive there, they made
light talk about a few things.  Before the night started, Donna was
concerned about how it was going to go but he had a way about him that put her
at ease.  She was sure that she was going to have a great time with him
that evening and she was extremely happy to have a chance to let loose.  

***

Nick and Donna had
finished their movie and had made their way to a local Italian restaurant.
 Nick was surprised that she had chosen one of the latest science fiction
movies that were all the rage in Hollywood those days.  Most girls he had
dated in the past only wanted to see romantic comedies and the like.  

“I’m still surprised
that you picked that movie.”

“Well, I’m not a typical
girl you know.  I didn’t prefer all of the overly untrue ideas of romance
that’s often pushed on females these days.”

“Wow.  That’s a
little cynical, don’t you think?”

“Not at all.  For
example, I am having a wonderful time with you tonight.  Better than I
imagined and certainly better than I have had on a date with any man, ever.
 Even with that in mind, those movies coax women into thinking every relationship
is going to end with some man rushing to stop her from leaving.  He’ll
profess his unending love for her and she will give in to him.  They live
happily ever after.  The end.  But my experience in life is just that
it doesn’t really work that way.  Not for most of us at least.”  

“We’ll just have to see
what I can do to change your opinion on that, wont we?”

“I don’t think you can,
but I won’t stop you from trying.  I think it will be fun.”

“Whatever.  You
just want to be wined and dined.”

“Of course.  What
woman doesn’t want to be treated special?   I didn’t say I didn’t do
romance--I just said that it’s not really something that is too realistic these
days.  That’s why I haven’t been dating for a while.”

“I don’t want to pry,
but what made you ...like this?  Let me start over because that sounds
horrible.  What I meant to ask is what made you have such a negative view
on relationships?”

Donna hesitated and Nick
could tell he had hit a sore spot.

“You know what.
 You don’t have to tell me.  Giving me the chance to change it is
more than enough.”

“Thanks for your
understanding, but I don’t mind too much talking about it.  My father was
really abusive.  Not physically at all but very much so verbally.  My
mother would love him to her core and put up with anything he said or did.
 When I would turn on the television and see all the romantic comedies and
hear the love songs on the radio, it just didn’t correlate to the examples I
was seeing in real life.”

“I can understand that.
 I never knew that about you.”

“Of course you didn’t.
 How could you.  Women who are abused or deal with it don’t wear a
sign saying to handle with care, we just have to either hope that we find the
right guy or avoid them all together. I chose to always avoid it so I never
even dated until college and then it was just to get my friends to leave me
alone.”

“I imagine that must
have been hard.  Especially when there were guys you must have at least
liked when you were younger.”

“Not really. To be
honest, I have always been the type of person that could do anything I decided
as far as my emotions were concerned.  Plus I didn’t really find any guys
I was really attracted to here in town so it was easy.   What about
you?  Don’t tell me you are a hopeless romantic.  Cute guy like you
probably the town playboy.”

“Not quite.  To be
honest I have the worst time talking to women.  I never really know what
to say or what’s really cool.  That’s part of the reason I never really
asked you out back when you worked at the diner.  By the time I got ready
to make my move, you had left town.”

“Nick, I’m sorry.
 It sounds like you said you wanted to ask me out a few years ago.”

“Yeah.  Even with
all the flirting we did, I just didn’t know what to say to you...”

Donna looked at Nick
with confusion and humor in her eyes.  She waited for his punch line but
there was none.  

“You’re joking right?
 Tell me you are joking.”

“Of course not.”

“Nick when did we ever
flirt?”

“When?  Get
serious.  You used to flirt with me all the time.  Aaron and I would
come in and you would always come serve us pretty quickly.  You’d be all
like ‘How
y’all
boys doing today’ or ‘What can I get
for my favorite customer today.’  That was me.  The favorite
customer.”

“Oh my God you are too
cute right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wasn’t looking at you
like that Nick.  I told you that dating was the furthest from my mind at
the time.  Your timing was way off.”

“No way.  Not
possible.  Even Aaron was sure you had a thing for me back then.”

She almost spat her
drink out as she laughed at him.

“Well I’m glad you
didn’t ask me out back then.  I was much harsher about dating at the time
and wouldn’t have cared in the least bit how you felt.  You probably
wouldn’t have been able to get the nerve to ask me out again and we would have
missed out on this wonderful time.  I would have definitely given you a no
back then.”

“I really can’t believe
that.”

“Sometimes the timing is
just wrong.”

“Yep, but sometimes it
right as well.  Seriously though. Not even
one
date?”

“
Nopers
.”

“Then tell me.  Why
were you so unbelievably nice to me?”

“Um hello.
 Waitress, living off tips to pay for school.  Big tipper gets the
most love.  
It’s
waitressing one-on-one my
friend. “

Nick looked away from
her, slightly embarrassed.

“Don’t tell me that all
that time, you thought I was trying to come on to you?  Now that is a
riot.”

“Hey, hey come on now.
 Man here with an ego and all.  You can’t go laughing at my charms.
 At least not one date in.”

“Ooooh, I’m
sooo
sorry. If it’s any consolation, I did think you were
cute back then.  With your long beard and sideburns.”

“See.  That’s what
I’m talking about.  The charms were working.”

“You could say that.
 In fact, you were the cutest guy in town so even though I never really
had thought about dating anyone, if that had changed I am at least ninety nine
percent sure that you would have been the guy.  How’s that?”

Almost immediately he
shouted louder than he had wanted.

“I’ll take it!”  

They both laughed for a
moment before he spoke again.

“Wait, you’re not just
looking for another tip with that compliment are you?”

“No sir.  We are
well past that time now.  Now you get to hold the title of the guy that got
me to change my stance on dating.  So you see, you are putting in hard
labor there sir.  Knowing everything that you know now, I hope you still
feel like it was worth it.”

Their eyes met before he
responded with a slight grin.