Finally! Even with an outline, this took some turns that I totally wasn’t expecting. Not to mention a whole new character – Charlie wasn’t even a suggestion in my initial notes. :D
Here we have the end of scene 3. Sabrina’s father has just dropped her off in the restaurant for her “date.”
Enjoy! And, as always, I’d love to hear what you think. :)
Inside the restaurant, Sam pops up from the wooden bench in the waiting area like a Jack-in-the-box. “Sabrina!” he calls out, as if the room were filled with people instead of being mostly empty.
“Sam.” I smile at him, because my family’s follies are not his fault, and because this is the nicest restaurant I’ve set foot in for years. I might as well enjoy myself. I let Sam take my arm and we follow the maitre’d to our table, a secluded nook in a dining room peppered with couples and families out enjoying the day after Christmas. Once we’re seated, I find myself staring at the ornate stained glass lamp, knots in the wood paneling that somehow manage to be elegant, the bull horns mounted over the mantel of the fireplace across the room. Anything so as not to look at my partner, who is staring at me intently.
“Damn, you’re hot,” he says. What is one supposed to say to that? Sam is not handsome. He has the lean look of a coyote who’s missed a few good meals. His comment is not a compliment; I have the distinct feeling I am sure must accompany a rabbit in the first moments after meeting a fox.
“I try,” I say finally, throwing my shoulders back and sitting up straighter. There is an instant of silence before Sam bursts out with a loud guffaw. Heads nearest to us turn, then swivel back to their meals and companions.
“You’re good,” Sam says, a grin playing around his lips. “So you’re back now?”
“For a few days,” I reply.
“Your Pa seemed to think you was coming back for good.”
“No, I have a flight back home on Monday.”
“Do you now? He was sure you wouldn’t be leaving again.”
I frown. Could there be something more to this charade than my parents trying to get me hooked up and settled down? I’m hesitant, but part of me whispers that it could be possible, that anything could be possible. “What do you mean?” I ask. “What did he say?”
“He was going on ‘bout how you was coming home, and it was high time for you to get married and settled. Figured that meant you was here for good.” Sam hesitates, leans across the table, and is interrupted by the waitress.
“Merry Christmas, folks, I’m Kelley and I’ll be serving you tonight! Can I start you off with something to drink? We’ve got some great specials over at the bar…” I tune out as she rattles off the drinks of the evening, followed by the day’s plates. Sam must have just misunderstood Father’s words. They couldn’t be planning on keeping me here. Right?
“She’ll have the strawberry daiquiri thing with the beef,” Sam says, and I snap back to attention.
“Actually, no alcohol for me,” I say. The last thing I want is to be drunk in this setting. “And I’ll have the salmon, please.”
“Oho, guess you’re not one for being spoken for,” Sam chortles, and I grit my teeth.
“Have I ever been?”
“Can’t say I remember you do,” he says, tilting his chair back on two legs. “We all thought you was crazy when you just up and left that year. Damn gutsy, I always said.”
“So what makes you think I’d be planning to move back permanently?”
“I dunno… A girl gets tired of city life, I figured. There’s all those songs with wide open spaces and cowboys, they have to mean something, don’t they?”
“Perhaps to someone else.”
Sam’s chair makes a crack on the slate tile as he leans forward. “Look, Sabrina, I’m not a bad catch. I’ve got brains in my head, and I’m working the Double Shoe now, Pa says he’s getting on so’s he’ll let me take it over entirely. That’s a good bit of land, and you know our herd takes the top price each year.”
I stare at the table for a moment, my cheeks burning. My finger traces a crack under the layers of lacquer that coat the wood. “Look, Sam,” I say. “I have a boyfriend back in Chicago, and I’m happy there. I won’t be home again until I forget everything they put me through this week, and that’s going to be a good long while. If you’re looking for a wife, look elsewhere.”
Sam sits sputtering for a moment before I can put meaning to the words coming out of his mouth. “But… your Pa… he promised…”
“Promised what?” I demand. “Promised I’d stay here and marry you?”
“Yeah! Your Ma had me over to dinner, and we talked it through for a good long while. It’s what’s best for you, they said.”
“The hell it is! They haven’t known what was best for me since the day I was born!”
“Aw now, don’t be mean about it. They’re good parents, they’ve got you well set up.”
“I’m 25, and this is 2011! They may be conservative, but this isn’t a First compound. We don’t do this sort of shit in the US.” I spy the waitress coming across the room with our plates, and I hop out of my seat. “Which way are the restrooms, please?”
“Just back around that corner to the left.”
“Thanks,” I say, and beat my retreat.
I pace in front of the bathroom sinks, breathing in air perfumed with rosemary and pine. They’d had him over for dinner! To discuss my marriage! I lean on the counter, willing myself to stop trembling. This wasn’t the time for indignant ‘how dare they’s. I needed to decide what to do. I fish in my purse for my phone and dial Johnny’s number. Again, no answer. I try Charlie.
“Hey sis, has the big date gone south already?”
“Please tell me you’re alone,” I say.
“Out in the barn, all by my lonesome. What’s up?”
“Sam is under the illusion that I’m supposed to marry him.”
“WHAT?”
“Apparently he came over to the ranch for dinner last week, and discussed the entire thing with Mother and Father.”
“Jesus, Sabrina, I…”
“I can’t let him take me back,” I say. “God only knows what he’d try along the way. And I can’t spend another night at the ranch. Not knowing that they did something like that…”
“God, no, you can’t,” Charlie says. “Ugh, the next time I see him I’m going to wring his scrawny little neck!”
“Leave it, Charlie. I need you to help me.”
“Right. What should I do?”
“I need you to come get me and drop me off at the airport. If you can get my stuff without attracting attention, that would be great. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going.”
“Good as done, sis. Just keep that weasel occupied for an hour until I can get there.” The phone cuts off, and I stare at myself in the mirror. My hair is pulled back in a simple French braid, the end tied in a bow. I haven’t worn this dress since high school; there’s a reason I’d left it behind. I look about twelve. I wonder if that’s what my mother had intended.
I jump slightly as the door creaks open, and Kelley the waitress sticks her head around the edge. “Oh, you are all right!” she says, her face breaking into a smile. “Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you, but your fiance was getting worried and he asked me to come check.”
“He’s not my fiance,” I say, taking a step away from the counter and trying to act as if I’ve been washing my hands or examining my makeup in the mirror.
“No? Oh my, well, whatever he is, he was worried for you.” Kelley disappears, and I take a deep breath. I can’t hide here until Charlie arrives. And I am at the nicest restaurant in town. I may as well go out and eat.
“Man, you girls sure to take a while with your primping and pruning,” Sam says as I sit back down.
“Those words. They do not mean what you think they mean,” I say.
“Huh?”
I opt not to respond, and instead pull the cover off my dish and dig into the salmon on my plate. It’s delicious. If I close my eyes, while I chew, I can imagine that I’m at one of the high end places in Chicago, maybe Trotter’s or Alinea, and I’m dining on my own card with my own choice of companion. I ignore Sam for the rest of the meal, amusing myself in my own mind while watching his temper edge toward explosion. He can’t touch me here, and he won’t get a chance to touch me later. I order a second course, then dessert, then a cup of coffee, reveling in the tastes and my own fantasies. I’ve barely started in on the coffee when my phone buzzes. Charlie’s message flashes across the screen: “In parking lot”
“Something else you have to attend to?” Sam asks as I rise.
I put the phone to my ear. “Sorry, have to take this call,” I say, and walk out. I glance back once, to make sure he’s not following me, then stride out of the restaurant. Echos of “Thanks for coming!” and “Merry Christmas!” accompany my exit.
I spy Charlie’s car in the corner, and run across the cold. He grins at me as I dive through the door.
“Good to go?” he asks.
“Yeah, get me the hell out of here,” I say.
“How will you get home? Your flight isn’t until next week, right?” Charlie puts the car in reverse and pulls past the main entrance as Sam comes running out. I lock the doors and wave at him. Charlie rolls down my window and yells out, “You stay the fuck away from my sister, asswipe!” Then he guns it and we shoot out onto the main road. I watch Sam’s angry form recede in the rearview mirror and let my breath out for what feels like the first time in an hour.
“Thank you,” I say.
Charlie punches me half-heartedly in the shoulder. “I couldn’t let them do that to you.”
“They’re not going to be happy you helped me get out,” I say. “Maybe you should come with me to Chicago for a few days.”
“Nah, I’ve got to report back to Pendleton by middle of next week,” he says. “I could drive you up to Chicago, but I’d have to turn right around and drive back.”
“Well, just don’t let them give you any shit, ok?”
“Hey, I’ve got the best role model in the world for that one,” he says. I smile.
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