Page 23 of Seasoned
Renee laughed shakily to dispel the haze of lust that had temporarily consumed her. “You promised me the best burger in San Diego, and I’m ready for it.”
Clive groaned. “My ability to sell has done me in again.”
Laughing with genuine humor this time, Renee climbed into the truck, and he shut the door. He paused for a moment outside, and time stood still as they looked at each other through the window. There was a tiny shift that she couldn’t quite put her finger on but recognized in that brief moment. Their relationship had changed. They weren’t just sleeping together. This was their first date, and the magnitude of this moment was not lost on her, and apparently not on him either.
Clive rounded the front of the truck and climbed in. Once he hit the road, he placed a hand on Renee’s knee, demonstrating his affectionate nature once again. Holding her breath, Renee placed her hand over his, doing her best not to live up to the accusation of her last lover—that she had intimacy issues.
He turned away briefly from the road and smiled at her, and she relaxed, smiling back and absorbing the silence of riding in the comfort of the truck’s cab, on the way to dinner with her man.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Clive came around and opened her door and also held open the door of Stanley O’s Burgers so she could pass in ahead of him. They walked up to the counter and perused the options. The restaurant contained eight tables sprinkled around the small dining room, and dimmed bulbs that offset the glare of the street lights coming in from the wall to ceiling windows. Behind the counter was a chalkboard with the handwritten specials of the night, as well as a permanent board that listed all the regular menu items.
“Know what you want?” Clive’s left arm snaked around her waist, and she leaned back into the strength of his chest.
Renee shook her head. “What do you suggest?”
“I always get the same thing—the American cheeseburger, which comes with bacon.”
“Hmm. I’m going to get the California, with the guacamole, and the sweet potato fries.”
“I’m sure you will not be disappointed. What do you want to drink?”
“Tonight’s drink special is a root beer float, so I’ll have one of those.”
“I missed that. I’ll have one, too.” Clive slipped away to pay for their meal and took the numbered flag, which he placed on the table when they sat down at a table near the window.
“How did you find this place?” Renee asked.
“My daughter found it, actually. One night after she and her coworkers left work, they stopped in here on a whim. She and her friends all enjoyed their meals, so she told me about it because she knows how much I love a good burger.”
“How did your son’s proposal go?”
“She said yes.” Clive grinned.
“That’s wonderful! You’re about to have a new addition to your family.”
Clive laughed. “She’s a great girl. When he called and asked for my opinion, I wasn’t sure he’d go through with the proposal. I’m glad he listened to his old man.”
“There was no way for you to know that she would say yes.”
“And there was no way for him to know that she’d say no, unless he asked. If you want something, you gotta go after it. I learned that playing football.”
“How long did you play?”
“Until I busted up my knee in college and couldn’t play anymore, but it was fun while it lasted.” He shrugged dismissively, but she saw the disappointment in his face.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Were you planning to go pro?”
“I was never good enough for pro,” he said with a shake of his head. “But I had a great time. Enough about me. What made you want to become a teacher?”
Renee was surprised by the quick change of subject, as if he didn’t want her to learn any more about him. Which was odd, since she considered him one of the most open people that she knew.
“My mother was big on giving back. She required my brothers and me to do volunteer work, whether it was in the community, at church, or both. During the holidays we volunteered at the food bank and the homeless shelter. During the school year, I had a part-time job but managed to squeeze in tutoring elementary school kids a couple of times per week. One of the instructors told me I was a natural and suggested I go into teaching.
“At the time I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I thought something in business administration or even nursing. I literally had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up.” She laughed at her naïveté at the time. “But when she made that suggestion, something clicked, and I knew I was meant to be a teacher. English was my strongest subject. From then on, I worked my butt off and always earned A’s. Now, here I am, twenty-three years later, and I’ll be retiring in a couple of years.”
Clive had listened closely while she talked and now asked, “What will you do when you retire?”
“I don’t know. I might work harder to turn editing into a real business. Or maybe I’ll just lounge around the house like my neighbor, Clive.”
