Chapter 22

I was at working the morning shift on Saturday when I felt a vibrating in my pocket. I glanced around and saw that the floor manager wasn’t around and spared a glance at my phone. It was a message from David.

‘Want to go to Abuela’s tonight? We haven’t been there in a while?’

‘Yes please!’ I typed out quickly, and put my phone away. t was true that we hadn’t been to Abuela’s since we’d started dating. I’d hoped that the waitress, Julie would be there. She would be excited to hear about us. Being openly in a relationship with David had been absolutely wonderful. Kisses ‘good morning’ and ‘good night’ happened almost every day, as had cuddling on the couch in the evenings. I smiled as they came to mind. My tail started swishing back and forth thinking about it!

“Someone looks happy!” Sara’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Thinking about someone special?” She teased.

“I’m going out with David tonight, that’s all.”

“That’s nice.” She motioned for me to come closer and I leaned down to listen, “just make sure not to let the manager catch you on your phone!” Embarrassed at being caught I just nodded. “And don’t knock anything over either!” She exclaimed, laughing and pointing at my tail. I stopped, now even more embarrassed.

The excitement for the evening made the rest of the day seem to crawl by, but eventually my shift was over. I said goodbye to Sara on my way out, and she wished us a good time.

As I was leaving the building, I was pleasantly surprised when David’s truck pulled up to the curb, and my tail started swishing again as I walked up to it.

“Hey, sweetheart. Thought you might like getting picked up,” greeted David when I opened the door.

“Then you thought correctly,” I replied with a smile and climbed into the truck. He almost immediately took my hand once I was seated and buckled.

“Would you like to go home first? Or just go straight there?” He asked. I was surprised at the question, but since it was almost dinner time it did make sense. I was already dressed nicely from work anyway.

“I suppose we could go straight there,” I answered and David grinned.

On the way to the restaurant I started telling David about my day, but he was unusually quiet, and only responded in absent acknowledgements.

“Is everything alright?” I asked, when my curiosity got the better of me.

“Oh, yeah. Everything’s good,” he answered, but the way he rushed his response had me curious. However, since we were almost at the restaurant, I decided not to push until later and the last few minutes of the drive were spent in awkward silence.

We pulled into the parking lot, and as I was about to get out of the truck, David kept hold of my hand and squeezed it.

“I love you, Ruth.” I turned back to look at him. There was an obvious tension in his voice that I didn’t know what to make of. It had me a little concerned, but I wasn’t too worried.

“I love you too.” I reached out and cupped his face, stroking his cheek with my thumb. He put his hand over mine and nuzzled into my palm, smiling as he did so. His response reminded me that he’d be with me through whatever it was. “And I trust you.” He smiled widely.

The hostess working was the same one that seated us on our first date.

“Welcome back,” she greeted with the same amused smirk as before. “Just you two I assume?”

“That’s right,” answered David, and she led us to our seats and took our drinks. I got a daiquiri, as before, and David got the same amber beer.

Barely a minute later, Julie to come hurrying to the table with our drinks.

“Hi guys!” She greeted enthusiastically with a very wide grin.

“Hello, Julie,” I greeted in return and David waved.

“So, you guys need a minute? Or you all set?”

“I think we need a little time,” answered David.

“Hey, I’ve really got to use the restroom,” David said a few minutes later, “but if Julie comes back could you order me chicken fajitas?” Almost immediately after he left Julie walked back up.

“I think we’re all set to order,” I said right as she arrived. Her mouth opened as if to speak, but she shut it a second later and instead pulled out her check pad and a pen. I relayed David’s order, and ordered a vegetarian quesadilla. After ordering, Julie hovered for a few seconds as if she wanted to talk. It was a little awkward.

“What is it?” I asked. She rubbed the back of her neck.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how are things with David?”

“They are going quite well,” I replied, feeling rather confused. Julie huffed a little.

“Last time you were in here you were still just going on dates, is it still like that?”

“Oh,” I grunted. “No it isn’t. We’re together now.” Julie grinned so widely it almost looked like she was about to burst.

“That’s great. I’m happy for you!” She said quickly. “I told Taban about you two the first time you came in because I though you would make such a cute couple!”

“Who’s Taban?” I asked, getting more confused by the second. Julie’s eyes shifted back and forth looking around, and she leaned in closer.

“My mate,” she said quietly. My eyes shot open. “He’s a jinko, sort of a tiger person.” My jaw fell open slightly. Ignoring my shock she continued. “There’s another guy named Kenneth that comes in sometimes with his mate, a ghirtablilu named Chandra. They’re both a little rough around the edges, but nice. They’re also really good tippers!” My mind was already buzzing, but then Julie dropped the biggest bombshell yet.

“There’s a restaurant that’s run by a lamia named Serafina in the city. She’s mated to a young man named Van!”

“There’s no way,” I muttered in disbelief. “I’ve been going to Serafina’s diner for years, and that’s just not possible!”

“People in mixed relationships like ours are often open with each other, but outside of that we tend to prefer keeping our private life ... private.” I just sat there reeling from the new information. “Welcome to the interspecies mates club!” I took a deep breath and shook my head to try to clear it.