Daye, Rainey - An Unconventional Love (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (22 page)

“The so-called ‘chef’s special’?” Jess couldn’t resist commenting with a grin that Maggie returned.

“Exactly. Then after that course, they’ll come around and remove those plates and then bring out our main course. They allot us a certain amount of time to eat. Then we’ll either be given our dessert before the show starts, or they’ll wait until the end.”

“Not during the meal?” Jess wanted to know.

“No, they don’t serve you at all during the show, and it’s considered rude to get up and go to the bar to get another drink during it,” Maggie told him.

“Note to self, order another drink before the show starts.”

“Well, they usually have an intermission, and the waiters may or may not come around then, depending, I guess, on how long the intermission lasts. And of course you can go up to the bar then.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the tutorial, Mags. What I Googled just told me what a dinner theater was, not how it operated.”

About that time he noticed that the theater had filled up while they had been talking, and true to what Maggie had told him, waiters rolled out carts loaded with prepared salads, which they placed in front of each diner. The waiter told each patron as he or she placed a salad in front of them, “The dressing is the chef’s special and is made with peanuts” as a warning to anyone who might have an allergy to it. He noticed that a small handful declined their salads when given that warning, and the waiters moved on with their carts.

“What if I don’t like the salad?” he whispered to Maggie before he ventured a bite. “Will they give me something else?”

“’Fraid not, sweetie. If they don’t offer a selection, then they don’t offer substitutes,” she informed him before she took a bite of her salad and announced that it was actually quite good. Jess dubiously sniffed his before sampling it and then grinned at her as he agreed with her assessment.

As busboys began gathering up everyone’s salad plates, the servers made another appearance, with their carts loaded with the main course this time. As they reached each table, they removed the colored card and then placed the correct order in front of each diner with a quiet “enjoy your meal,” and Jess realized that the cards were their color-coded way of alerting the waitstaff who had ordered what. “Very clever,” he remarked to Maggie with a grin.

Along with their meat selection, they both received garlic mashed potatoes without gravy, and steamed vegetables consisting of summer squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Both their meat selections were acceptable, although they were nothing to rave about, and Maggie sliced a couple of pieces from her boneless chicken breast and transferred them to Jess’s plate while he did the same with his prime rib.

After about half an hour, the busboys were back to clear their plates while the waitstaff appeared once again with their carts, this time laden with several different cheesecake selections that they allowed the diners to choose from. The bartenders moved around the tables the entire time, refilling drink orders.

After the desserts had been served, a disembodied voice spoke over the intercom, “The show will commence in fifteen minutes.” And Jess noticed some diners immediately get up and head to the sides of the room. He arched his brow at Maggie as she wiped her mouth with her napkin after only taking one bite of her dessert before she also rose from her seat, explaining, “Potty break before the show starts.”

Jess nodded in understanding as he turned back to his dessert. “I’ll wait here and guard the cheesecakes so that no one takes it before you get a chance to eat it.” Maggie leaned down and kissed his cheek in appreciation before she gathered up her purse and headed to the side of the room where he now noticed glowing restroom signs.

When Maggie returned, it was to fresh drinks and a safe dessert as Jess now rose from his seat to make his own pit stop before the show started. After that, the disembodied voice continued counting down at five minute intervals, and he noticed that the mass migration to the bathrooms continued the entire time. Finally, at the one-minute mark, all the dessert plates had been removed from the tables and the house lights flashed twice as a final warning as the patrons all quickly took their seats. Then the house lights dimmed slowly, and white LED runner lights came on highlighting the back edges of the aisles and the steps on either end of the room as the theater was briefly plunged into darkness before the stage lights came on and the curtain rose.

Jesse reached across the table and took Maggie’s hand as the play began.

By intermission, Jess was thoroughly enjoying the story about Paul and Corrie and was happy that he had indeed written his initial next to Maggie’s date pick. As the lights came up, Maggie quickly hopped up to rush to the bathroom, “Before the lines get too long,” she explained as she hurried out of sight. He shook his head at her empty iced-tea glass and went over to the bar to get two more, since it was time to cut off his own alcohol consumption so he could safely drive them home.

After depositing their drinks on the table, he went off to join the queue at the men’s room. He had just exited the room when he saw Maggie standing a few feet away, peering around. He came up behind her and placed a gentle kiss on her neck. “Oh, there you are,” she breathed. “I didn’t see you at the table so figured you were in the men’s room. Do you want to get another drink before we sit back down?”

“Already got ’em for us,” he told her.

“You refilled our drinks already and still had time to get in and out of the men’s room? That is
so
unfair. I swear they ought to make the ladies’ room twice as large as the men’s.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because men get in and out so much faster than women, and then they stand around and complain about how long we take in there.”

“Well,” he teased her, “if women didn’t insist on touching up their makeup and what have you every time they went into the bathroom, then it wouldn’t take them as long.”

“Hah! We spend most of our time waiting in line for a stall. They really need to double the size of ladies’ rooms to accommodate us since we can’t use a urinal, which I’m sure cuts down on the amount of time you spend waiting in line.”

Laughing, he took her arm and walked back to the table.

Sighing, she took a long drink of her iced tea before remarking drily that she was going to have to make another trip to the ladies’ room after the show. “I’m usually pretty good about holding it in, but once I go, it seems to be my body’s cue to open the floodgate, and then I have to go
constantly
,” she complained to him to his great amusement.

“So, are you enjoying the show, Jess?” she asked as she took another sip of her iced tea before pushing the glass away.

“Yeah, I am. I was just thinking when the lights came up how glad I am that I choose your pick.”

“I am, too,” she breathed as she reached across the table and squeezed his hand just before the two-minute warning lights flashed and people either rushed to the bathrooms or rushed back to their tables.

They finished the play in companionable silence while holding hands across the table. When the final curtain finally fell and the house lights came up, they joined in with the general applause and then continued as the actors came out onto the stage to take their bows. As the great majority of patrons rose from their seats to head for the stairs and the exit, Maggie asked if he minded if they waited for a few minutes so that she wouldn’t have to stand around in the milling throng in her high heels. “Besides,” she reminded him, “I’m going to have to make another visit to the ladies’ room before we leave.”

Jess was fine with remaining at their table for a few extra minutes as the crowd slowly dispersed. Seeing that the people were now walking up the stairs without so many starts and stops as other people from the upper tiers pushed onto the steps, she rose from the table and headed in that direction. When Maggie ducked into the bathroom on their level, Jess did the same and then waited for her to emerge. He was surprised that she rejoined him almost immediately, and when he quirked a brow and commented that that was quick, she grinned flippantly and said that it usually was when there were empty stalls and no lines, but still men were under the delusion that women took forever in the bathroom.

Laughing aloud at her quip, he placed his arm around her waist and walked up the stairs with her and thus to the exit, where he turned over his stub to the valet, and they waited for their car to be brought around. While they were waiting, he noticed Maggie shifting from foot to foot and guided her over to a nearby bench where he drew her down beside him while they waited.

Once in the car, he asked if she was tired.

“A bit,” she admitted.

“Do you want me to take you home now, or are you up for something else?” he asked.

“What did you have in mind?” she wanted to know.

“Well, there’s a scenic overlook a few miles from here, and I thought we could go there…”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Maggie enthusiastically agreed, and Jess breathed a sigh of relief that he would be able to draw their date out longer.

* * * *

Jess drove them to the overlook and parked his car in a spot that was open to the moonlight above and provided a scenic view of a river in the far distance. “Is this your town’s version of a Lover’s Lane?” she asked curiously as she looked around the romantic spot.

“There are actually several other wooded spots employed for that purpose by the high-school crowds,” Jess replied. “This one is a little too open for those looking for a place to make out in the backseats of their cars.”

“Then why did you bring me here? Don’t you want to make out with me?” she teased him.

“Of course I do, but I thought you would like the view here. Besides, here we don’t have to worry about cops knocking on the car window and telling us to leave.”

“Thinking ahead, I can appreciate that,” Maggie breathed, expecting him to lean over to claim a kiss. Instead, he surprised her by getting out of the car and walking over to her side. Opening her door, he extended his hand to her. Taking it, she then allowed him to lead her to the walled edge of the overlook where she could look down on the town below them and then farther out to woods and forest leading up to the edge of the river.

“This is beautiful,” she sighed as she gazed around.

“The best part is that we’re up high enough that the lights from town don’t interfere too much with stargazing.” He directed her sight upward so that she could see the vast panorama of stars overhead with a few wispy clouds scuttling by.

“Ohh,” she breathed appreciatively. “Too bad there’s already dew gathering on the grass, or we could lie down on that blanket you keep in the backseat and gaze up at the stars.”

“I actually thought about that. Wait here a sec,” he said as he walked back to the car and retrieved the blanket from the back before popping the trunk. She arched a brow, wondering if he had a piece of plastic back there to put under the blanket. To her surprise, he pulled a tri-fold lawn chair out of the trunk and rejoined her with a triumphant look on his face.

Maggie surprised him by throwing back her head and letting out a trilling laugh. “Always the Boy Scout, aren’t you?” she teased. “You’re prepared for everything.”

“I try to be,” he admitted. “In fact, I’m going to get a convertible someday so we can do this in more comfort, but until then I figure we can cuddle together under the blanket and gaze at the stars together. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see a falling star so we can make a wish on it.”

“You’re a hopeless romantic, aren’t you? Who would have guessed? You prefer to stargaze and cuddle rather than make out.”

“Hey, I never said that!” he exclaimed in mock outrage. “Besides, you might have noticed that I only brought one chair and blanket for us to share. And I made sure it wasn’t wide enough for us to lie side by side.” With a wink he unfolded the legs and then the top and bottom of the chair as he set it up. He unfurled the blanket over it, then raised an edge and lay down under it before he extended his hand to her. “Come join me, Mags,” he offered in a husky voice as he turned partway on his side.