Page 16 of Jake

He didn’t reply, and she had to remind herself not to bite her lip, lest she ruin her carefully placed makeup. She let out a sigh. This wasn’t going well already. Hopefully he had waited for her.

“I’m able to pull up to the door. I will come around and let you out, ma’am,” the driver said as she felt the car come to a stop.

She must have looked like a flight risk for him to remind her that he was going to open the door for her. A nervous giggle escaped as she imagined the man scrambling around to grab the door as she flung it open.

He held the door for her without another word. Clearly, she was not his most interesting ride because he remained stoic as she straightened her skirt before walking away.

“Ma’am,” he called as she stepped toward the restaurant.

Lauren turned to look at him, thinking she must have forgotten something.

“I will be ready for you when you are finished, just text or call.” He handed her a business card.

“Oh, that’s not —”

“Miss Catherine’s orders,” he cut her off.

“Thank you.” She accepted the card and quickly jammed it into her clutch.

“Good luck, miss,” he told her with a wink before walking back around the car.

Stunned didn’t cover it. She stood there trying to process that before giving up and turning back to the restaurant.

Stepping inside, she saw there were chairs lining the walls and a hostess at a podium on the far side. She took a steadying breath before moving toward them.

“Umm, I’m checking in for a reservation. I’m a little late,” Lauren told the lady at the podium.

“Are you Lauren?” she asked her.

“I am.” Lauren nodded.

“Wait right here. I will have someone take you back to your date.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, happy he had waited for her.

“If you’ll follow me,” a voice came from beside her.

“Of course.”

She stepped behind heavy curtains with a small woman who had night-vision goggles strapped around her neck that hung nearly at her waist.

“In the interest of time, I am going to give you a short intro to the process and you can feel free to ask me any questions.”

She let the curtain fall, and the darkness surrounded them.

“I have night-vision goggles so I can see where we are going. You do need to power off your phone and put it away. Last, when I open the next curtain, I will place your hand on my shoulder so you can follow me and know what pace we are at. Any questions?” The woman spoke rapidly, and Lauren struggled to process.

“No questions,” she told her. She wasn’t even sure what had been said enough to have a question.

“Great. I’m going to put your hand on my shoulder now.”

“Okay,” Lauren whispered, suddenly feeling more awkward.

She let the woman lead her through what felt like a maze before she stopped.

“Here is your table.” She took Lauren’s hand from her shoulder and placed it on something solid. “That’s the booth. You can slide in and take your seat. Your date is already here across from you.”

Lauren nodded and then rolled her eyes at herself, since no one could see her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

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