A Table for Two (7 page)

Before long, the last customers were served and brunch was over. Dana removed her apron and hung it over a hook on the wall. After she washed and dried her hands, she said goodbye to Tracy and the kitchen staff and came over to Ridley. "Are you in a hurry to get somewhere?"

"No. I don't have to be anywhere," Ridley replied.

"Why don't you come upstairs and see where I live?"

"I'd love to." Ridley waved her farewell to Tracy and followed Dana through the back door and up a flight of stairs to the second floor apartment. "Laurie and Karen never told me you lived on top of your restaurant. I had no idea where you lived."

"It's very convenient and I love that I don't have to drive to work." Dana kicked off her clogs on a mat near the front door and pointed to the sofa. "Why don't you sit down? Would you like something to drink? I'm going to have some iced tea."

Ridley sat on one end of the sofa. "That sounds good to me."

Dana returned with two glasses of iced tea. She handed one to Ridley and then she sat down on the opposite end of the sofa and drank half of hers. "That's so refreshing. I didn't realize how thirsty I was." She propped her feet up on the coffee table. "It feels good to get off my feet. You have to stand all day in my line of work."

"Your place is nice. I love the wall color."

"Thanks. They called it "solitude" and I thought it was cool and soothing. The painters just finished last week. I bought more furniture than this, but it won't be delivered until the middle of next week and I'm still not finished unpacking some of my things."

"That takes time. Are you renting this building?"

"Believe it or not, I own it thanks to my more than generous father. He told me he considers it my early inheritance." Dana glowed as she spoke of her father. "I wouldn't have any of this if it weren't for him. I saved as much as I could, but no matter how much I put aside, it wouldn't have been enough to get this restaurant started, not without taking out a huge loan. I still had to borrow money, but it was a loan I can easily pay off."

"Aren't you the lucky one?"

"I am. My dad's a great guy."

"He must be awfully proud of you." Ridley thought of her own father and wondered if he would have been proud of her if he were still alive.

"He is. He's told me so more than once. He's banking on the fact that I'll be successful and he said he wanted to help me now so he could see how his money was being spent. I think he was joking about that last part."

"I'm sure he was, but what he said makes a lot of sense," Ridley said.

"I agree. He paid for most of the restaurant renovations and he and my mother got a huge kick out of helping me design and decorate it. That allowed me to use my own money to fix up my apartment and get new furniture."

"Well, everything came out great. It's all very nice."

"Thanks. Tracy and I love it. She lives here too."

"Oh...I didn't know." Ridley nearly choked as her last swallow of iced tea started heading down the wrong pipe. That clinched it. They must be a couple. Ridley couldn't help but be bowled over by her rotten luck. "It sounds like you have great parents," she said in an attempt to conceal her real reaction.

"I do. My father insisted on helping me and he had the money, so I decided, as his devoted and loving daughter, that I couldn't deny him something that would bring him so much pleasure. It was the least I could do, don't you agree?"

"Absolutely, and I think that was mighty big of you." Ridley extended her arm out so she could click the rim of her iced tea glass against Dana's.

"So, Karen said you were a teacher, but she didn't tell me what you teach."

"I teach physical education, but I'm not just an old-fashioned gym teacher. I teach health education classes and I'm going to coach the girl's varsity softball team at my new school. I've also coached volleyball in the past and track and field."

"No wonder you look so physically fit."

"I've always been physically active since I was a kid. I used to play softball and volleyball in college and I competed in track and field in high school."

Dana's cheeks looked as if they had rouge on them. "I never played competitive sports. I run three or four times a week, but I don't have time for much else."

"It must be hard to watch what you eat when you're a chef." Dana had a nice trim body with feminine curves in all the right places and no matter what she did or didn't do to stay fit, Ridley thought she was fine just the way she was.

"Sometimes it is." Dana shrugged. "I love to eat, but Tracy and I don't eat a lot of the rich foods we serve in the restaurant and we rarely have dessert, or if we do it's just a small portion. We have to taste what we make, but we only eat a small amount and most nights, we just have a salad for dinner."

"I was pretty sure you couldn't eat like that every night."

"Good heavens, no. We consider it our mission in life to make other people overeat."

"And pay handsomely for it," Ridley added.

Dana raised her glass. "I'll drink to the pay handsomely part."

Ridley finished her iced tea, set the glass on the coffee table and got up. "I should be going. You must be tired and I've taken up enough of your time."

Dana stood. "I enjoyed having you here and talking to you."

"I enjoyed being here. Thanks for inviting me." Ridley paused. "I just had an idea. How would you feel about coming to my school to talk to the students about healthy eating? Maybe you could show them a few simple recipes they can make at home, something healthier than cheese fries and pop tarts. I know they'd like meeting a chef and it wouldn't hurt them to hear about some of the job opportunities in the food industry."

"I don't know. I've never done anything like that."

"You'd probably enjoy it. The kids are a trip." Ridley wondered where this insane idea had come from and why she was pushing it, especially now that she suspected Dana and Tracy were together. All she was certain of was that she wanted to see Dana again and she was attracted to her. In the back of her mind the voice of reason warned her she might be heading into dangerous territory, but she chose not to listen. She could handle it.

Dana took a while to consider Ridley's proposal. "Okay, why not? They used to make us teach classes and do demonstrations in culinary school, so I'm sure I can do the same thing with high school students. When would you like to do this?"

"Let's see..." In her head, Ridley checked her schedule and did a quick review of her lesson plans for the next two weeks. "What about Monday, two weeks from tomorrow? I have two afternoon classes back to back and we could do both."

"Stay here while I get my calendar." Dana went into another room and came back with a leather appointment book and a pen. She opened it and flipped the pages until she came to the day in question. "I don't have anything scheduled that day, so I'll write it in. Just call me if it doesn't work out." Dana pulled one of her business cards out of a pocket in the front of the book. "My e-mail address and the phone number at the restaurant are on this card." She flipped the business card over and wrote on it. "And my cell phone number is on the back."

Ridley took the card and slid it into her pocket. "Do you have a piece of paper and a pen? I should give you my numbers in case you need them."

Dana tore a piece of paper from a pad in her appointment book and handed it to Ridley along with the pen and as she did, her fingers brushed against Ridley's.

Dana's touch triggered a fluttering in Ridley's stomach and she had to keep her hand from shaking as she wrote on the paper and gave it back to Dana. "Here's my cell phone number, my home number and my work number in case you need to reach me. I have a direct line in the gym office and voice mail, so leave a message if I'm not there and I'll call you back. I'll have to make sure this is okay with my principal but I don't see why it wouldn't be. Consider it a date-- well, you know what I mean." Ridley cleared her throat and shook her head, hoping to clear it as well. "I'll call you next week to discuss the details. Thanks for a great afternoon."

"I'll talk to you later. Be careful driving home."

RIDLEY WEIGHED THE pros and cons of stopping at Karen and Laurie's house on the way home to pump them for more information about Dana, but in the end, she resisted the temptation and drove straight home. Knowing them, they'd see right through her no matter how subtle she tried to be. She'd find out soon enough about Dana and Tracy now that they were all going to be friends and she could not bear to have her suspicions confirmed by Laurie and Karen. Having to endure their sympathy would be more than she could bear.

The attraction Ridley felt for Dana had flared up something fierce and now it burned deep inside of her like a chronic inflammation for which she could find no relief. For her sake and just in case it was all for nothing in the end, she decided it would be wise to keep her feelings to herself, at least for the time being.

AFTER RIDLEY WENT home, Dana felt too restless to stay in her apartment, so she went down to the kitchen to see if Tracy needed any help.

"How's it going down here?" she asked Tracy when she came through the door.

"I'm just putting these last few pans away and wiping the counters."

"Did everyone else leave?"

"They ran out of here like the place was on fire." Tracy stretched her arm up and hung a sauté pan on the pot rack above her head. "I like Ridley a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah, I suppose. She's okay."

Tracy stopped what she was doing and faced Dana head on. "She's okay? Are you out of your mind? She's totally cute as in the cutest thing I've seen in a hell of a long time. Did you check out those sparkling green eyes and that dark auburn hair? I don't think I need to point out that she also has a fabulous body, do I?"

"No. I did notice that, thank you very much." Dana stuck her tongue out.

"I'll choose to overlook that childish gesture," Tracy said. "She is gay, isn't she? I'm sure she is because she hangs out with Laurie and Karen and they are."

"That doesn't mean she is and besides, I don't know and I really don't care. I'm certain if she and I continue to be friends, there'll be no way I can avoid finding out all about her sexual preferences at some point." Dana picked up the dripping stock pot on the counter, dried it and set it on one of the back burners.

"Well, I'd like to know." Tracy said as she started wiping down the counters

"Why? Are you interested in her?"

"No, I'm not. I'm just interested in her on your behalf."

"Well then, feel free to ask her the next time you see her and if I happen to find out in the meantime, I'll report my findings to you immediately." Dana enunciated each word.

Tracy put her hands on her hips. "You don't have to get snippy about it."

Dana went over to the sink and wet a dish towel. "I'm sorry. She's definitely cute I'll grant you that, but she's nothing more than a potential friend. That's it, period. End of story."

"Hopefully it's not the end of your story."

"Listen to me, Tracy, I'm happy with my life the way it is and I don't want to mess it up." Dana shook the dish towel out and busied herself by wiping the counter tops with it. She wasn't sure why Tracy's comments had made her feel this irritated. Couldn't she meet an attractive woman and not have to think of her as a potential love interest? Why was it so important to Tracy that she have a girlfriend?

"I already wiped all that."

"You missed a few spots." Dana whipped her arm around so vigorously she knocked a large stainless steel bowl off the counter. She winced and covered her ears as it crashed onto the tile floor and shook noisily to a standstill like a renegade cymbal. She scowled as she bent over to retrieve it, embarrassed by her own actions. "If she is gay, you can bet she's not single. Someone like her would never be without a girlfriend."

"And she didn't bring this girlfriend with her last Saturday night?"

"Maybe she was out of town," Dana proposed. "Or maybe she had to work or she was sick or taking care of her ailing grandmother."

"Try this. Maybe she couldn't make it because she doesn't exist. I hate to break it to you, but I got the impression Ridley was interested in you. It was obvious to me."

"That's ridiculous." Dana felt her face heat up and she hoped Tracy wouldn't notice she was blushing. "She was just being friendly."

"Then why couldn't she take her eyes off of you?"

"So she's good at making eye contact. So what?"

"Did you see how nervous she was, how she kept fidgeting with her hands and stumbling over her words? I swear she was blushing just like you are now," Tracy pointed out.

"I'm not blushing, it's just warm in here and I think you're seeing things."

"You think so? Tell you what we'll do. Let's call Karen and Laurie and find out if Ridley said anything to them about you or about coming here today."

"We won't do any such thing. You're imagination's running wild, Tracy, and even if you're right, I'm not ready to get involved with anyone. I may never be."

"Dana, you can't avoid romance forever. It's not normal or healthy. I know you were hurt by Sarah, but don't you think it's time to move on? Don't you ever feel lonely? And what about being close to someone and being physically intimate? It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"You know it has, not that it's any of your business. I think the need for sex is highly over-rated. I do get lonely at times, but who doesn't? I'm busy, I have friends and I've come to realize that I'm better off alone. Relationships are nothing but trouble." Dana's words rang false in her own ears but she needed to hide in the safety of them and she'd recited those words to herself so many times she'd almost come to believe them. Right now, what she needed was to convince Tracy that they were true.

"You want to be alone forever? That's absurd. You're not that kind of person."

"I'm touched by your concern, really I am, and I love you for it, but you're wrong. I am that kind of person. I'm not unhappy and I have everything I've ever dreamed of. What more could I possibly want?"