“You look like hell,” Jess said, glancing up from the paper.
“Thanks,” I croaked. “You have no idea how much that doesn't help.”
“Do us both a favor and have some coffee,” she said taking a sip of her own. “So, where do you plan to go to dinner?”
“That little Middle Eastern place on Sansom.” The coffee maker looked like an oasis sitting there on the counter as I staggered toward it.
“That little hole-in-the wall place? He would take you anywhere you wanted. Why not someplace fancy?”
“That place is really good and the people who own it are sweet. Besides, it's close by. Maybe afterward we can go down to Suburban Station and see if Stan's playing.” I filled my mug and just as I was about to reach for the creamer I stopped myself. This was a black coffee kind of morning.
“Stan? You want your first date with a senator’s son to include a trip to a railway station to listen to a street musician?”
“Stan’s really talented. He’s credited on albums put out by some real blues giants.” I collapsed ungracefully into a seat across from her. Amazingly, I wasn’t hung-over, but it felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck and dragged for a couple of miles.
“Yeah Gab, thirty years ago, but he's a street musician now.”
“I think that if Braden doesn't like Stan and the Middle Eastern place, he's not going to like me much. Besides, I’m going to game night with him!” She smiled and shook her head like she thought that I was crazy but she loved me anyway. Then she got up and went over to the sink to rinse out her mug and put away the dishes in the drying rack.
I quickly finished my coffee and had just started to feel semi-human again when I heard my cell phone start ringing. I froze. Jess swung around and gave me an expectant look.
“Gabrielle! Answer your phone!” she ordered, diving at my purse. She grabbed it and threw a Hail Mary pass across our kitchen that would have had NFL scouts interested. I caught it… and fumbled… but Jess was on it. She threw her body on the bag and thrust her hand in just in time to click answer and pant into the phone like an obscene caller.
“Give me that!” I grabbed it away from her. “Hello?”
“Gabrielle? Are you okay? Was that a dog?”
“Braden? No, that was Jessica. She exerted herself a bit on the way to the phone.” I gave her a “what the hell is wrong with you?” look.
“I see. I think. Uh, anyway, I hope it's not too early…”
“No. I've had my coffee and I'm not even hung-over this morning.” I started straightening my pajamas like he could see me. And like it would matter that Betty Boop's ass looked crooked on my nightshirt.
“Are you usually hung-over on Saturday mornings?”
“No! I just meant that I might have gotten a hangover from last night because I don't usually drink a lot. I would have stopped after two beers and a shot but Mark pawned his shot off on me too.”
“You do remember that we’re supposed to go out tonight?” he teased.
“I wasn’t drunk!”
“So you remember hooking up?”
“What?” I heard him start laughing. He was kidding. Whew.
“Where did you want to go tonight?” He still sounded amused.
“It's not fancy,” I said hesitantly.
“Good. I wear a tie five days a week.”
“It's not that far from my apartment and we could walk there if you didn't mind.”
“Great, the weather's beautiful.”
“It's Middle Eastern food. Is that okay?”
“That's fine.”
“You're very easy to get along with outside of court.”
“Are you saying that I’m not easy to get along with in court?”
“You can be tough sometimes.”
“So can you.”
“You’re being very easy right now though.”
“Maybe I’m hoping you’ll be easy later.” He laughed and I felt myself start to sweat. “I’m teasing you. I said that I would leave everything up to you and I’m fine with all of your suggestions. It just so happens that I like casual, I like walking and I like Middle Eastern food.”
“Okay, well if you like walking we could go for a walk after we ate.”
“Sure. Did you have somewhere in particular you wanted to go?”
“Yeah, it's close by though. Either you'll appreciate it as much as I do or you'll think I'm kind of nuts but it would probably be better that you knew that going in.”
“What time should I pick you up?” he asked, sounding very amused now.
“How about six o'clock? I live in the Chatham. It's just off of Walnut…”
“I know exactly where it is. I live two blocks away from you.”
“Well, that would make a booty call very easy. Oh shit. I said that out loud too didn't I?” I heard him laugh really hard. Good, hopefully he thought I was joking.
“Gabrielle?”
“Yes?”
“I also like you.” I wanted to throw down my phone, jog the two blocks and throw myself into his arms.
“Yeah, well I like you too even if you do put my clients in jail. See you later Mr. Prosecutor.”
“See you later Ms. Saucy Mouth.”
We hung up and I collapsed onto the sofa and starting kicking my legs and making a noise so high-pitched that it probably attracted every canine on the block and was picked up by sonar in the Atlantic. Jess, who had tactfully left me alone, came running back in.
“Jesus, Gabrielle! Are you having a seizure?!”
“Please please please can I keep him mom? I promise I'll take care of him! Oh baby, I’ll take care of him!”
“Good lord. She's finally gone around the bend. Can I have your Manolos when they come to take you away?”
“Jessica, he's so sexy! He’s got such a great sense of humor and he was totally comfortable with me choosing everything. He even said something kinda sorta romantic. I've heard that such men existed but I've never seen one up close.”
“Well, we need to make sure we don't frighten him off. We'll approach him very slowly and speak in quiet gentle tones. Put on some nice perfume and let him sniff you.”
“God, I hope he doesn't think I'm nuts after tonight.”
“Oh don't worry honey. I'm sure that he already knows that you're nuts.”
* * *
At five-thirty Jess was sitting on my bed paging through Glamour while I got ready.
“It says that brown eye shadow really makes hazel eyes pop.”