Page 48 of Already Home

They met in front of the Silver and Stone Restaurant. When shearrived, Cliff was already waiting near the elevator.

For this date Violet had gone with fitted black pants and awhite silk blouse—one of her ten classic wardrobe pieces. She finished heroutfit with black sandals and silver earrings. Casual chic, she told herself asshe walked up to Cliff.

He’d traded in a suit for jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Helooked good, she thought. Normal. He smiled when he saw her, delight brighteninghis hazel-brown eyes.

“You came,” he said as he approached, then took her hands inhis and lightly kissed her cheek.

“Does that surprise you?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “It kind of does. Are you hungry? I’veeaten here before and the steaks are great. So’s the service and they have anice wine list.”

He was talking a lot again. The obvious nervousness wascharming, she thought happily, and made her like him more.

They walked up to the hostess, where Cliff said he had areservation. Calling ahead was a small thing, Violet told herself, but stillthoughtful.

They were shown to a table by the window and handed menus.Cliff ignored his and stared at her.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Would you mind if I ordered a bottle of redwine to have with dinner? This place has a great wine list and they carryseveral of my favorites.”

“That would be nice. I enjoy red wine.”

She had a feeling anything he ordered would be nicer than thestuff she bought at the grocery store.

“Wine is one of my things,” he told her. “I’ve owned a coupleof condos, but never a house. When I finally buy one, I want room for one ofthose freestanding wine cellars. One with temperature and humiditycontrols.”

“Something to keep in your man cave?” she teased.

He grinned. “I don’t think I need a man cave.”

“But there are all those sports to watch.”

He glanced at the table then back at her. “I’m hoping I’ll findsomeone who likes to watch them with me. When I get married again, I want mywife to hang out with me. I’m not looking for space for myself.”

“That sounds nice.”

“I know there are guys who want to be with their friends, andthat would be okay, from time to time.” He grinned. “But I prefer the company ofwomen.”

“We smell better.”

“Yes, you do.”

The server appeared. She was a pretty woman about Violet’s age,with huge breasts and big Texas blond hair.

She introduced herself and talked about the specials. Violetwas surprised when Cliff barely glanced at her. Instead, he smiled at Violet asthe other woman spoke.

“What can I get you to drink?” she asked when she’d finishedher list of specials.

Cliff ordered his bottle of wine. The server’s eyeswidened.

“Yes, sir. I’ll bring that to the table right away.”

She picked up the wineglasses already there and quicklyreplaced them with much larger, more expensive-looking glasses.

Violet raised her eyebrows. “So this isn’t thefourteen-ninety-nine special.”

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