Page 38 of Tempted By the Princess

“I’m going back to work tomorrow. Can we meet for dinner around six-thirty? It can be our official first date.”

“Okay, where should we go?”

“How do you feel about falafel?”

***

We met at one of the few restaurants I knew downtown. At my core I was a homebody, so I didn’t eat out often, but I’d been to Taboosh a few times for office birthdays. It was a nice restaurant, but pretty casual and not too spendy.

Carrie was waiting for me when I arrived at six-thirty. I was wearing the pencil skirt and blouse I’d worn to work, and her eyes looked me over appreciatively as I walked up. She was wearing dark washed jeans with a crisp white blouse tucked in, and a brown braided leather belt at the waist which matched her dark brown shoes.

“You look nice,” I said, pulling her into a quick hug.

“You look… taller,” she said, taking in the three inch heels I was wearing.

I grinned and held out one foot. “These are my power shoes. Shall we go in?”

Taboosh wasn’t the kind of place where you made a reservation, but we only had to wait about three minutes before they found a table for us near the back. A stunningly beautiful Middle Eastern woman hustled over, filling our water glasses and bringing us a plate of pita bread and a dish of oil and spices to dip it in.

“Cute place,” Carrie said, looking around.

“The food here is great. How do you feel about sharing a mezza for two?” I suggested. “Then we can have a little bit of everything.”

“Sounds great,” she said, putting down her menu.

After we ordered our food I leaned back in my chair and gave Carrie a smile. “Why catering?”

I realized that for all the time we’d spent together before I left, I’d never asked why she’d chosen this career.

“When I was in college I majored in business and accounting,” she explained. “After graduation, I worked in a couple of places, two accounting firms, a marketing company, but nothing really kept my interest. Meanwhile, my friend Amy and I started catering on the side for extra money. Turns out I really loved it. Eventually Amy was downsized out of her job, and she asked me to work with her to take the business full-time.”

“Was it hard, making that switch?” I asked.

“Yeah, there’s all this stuff you need to think about when you run your own business like taxes and health insurance. The first couple of years were leaner than either of us would have preferred, but we gradually built up a solid business. We get a lot of repeat customers for things like birthdays and retirement parties, those are our bread and butter. We don’t do big, complicated jobs like weddings, that’s too much stress for us even though we know it’s leaving money on the table.”

We paused as the server brought a giant platter of food with hummus, tabouli, baba ghanoush, falafel, chicken skewers, and olives, along with some little spinach hand pies and salad.

“Wow.” Carrie’s eyes widened as she saw the spread before us. “That’s a lot of food.”

“I always end up taking some home.”

As we ate we continued our easy conversation. We’d talked a lot back when I was hiding out at Carrie’s house, but I realized that we’d kept things at a surface level. Favorite TV shows and books. Dating horror stories. Basic information about our families. Now we were digging in deeper, learning about each other in a way we hadn’t done before.

It felt nice. Normal.

“I settled things with my parents,” I told her when the conversation lulled. “I understand now why they did what they did, and I explained my own motivation for running away. I think it’s safe to say that none of us are proud of our behavior, but we were able to put it behind us.”

“I’m glad. How’s your dad doing?”

We argued over the check when it came, Carrie winning.

“I pay for our next date then,” I said firmly.

“There’s going to be a next date?” she teased.

“Of course. What’s your schedule like for the rest of the week?”

Carrie thought for a few seconds. “I have a client meeting tomorrow and catering jobs Friday and Saturday, but Wednesday and Thursday are open.”