Chapter 3

"Yeah? She's a neat girl. She's a lot more mature than most females her age."

Jake laughed and told him about his own white ass being mistaken for Billy's. Billy said she had been out to the house a few times, more as a friend than anything else, but a couple of times to help with one of the dogs who couldn't seem to shake an ear infection.

Billy admitted he was aware of Janet's mild crush, but also knew it wasn't anything serious. She just didn't have a current boyfriend to capture her attention. "Some lucky guy is going to find out about her some day. I just hope he doesn't keep her from finishing school. She'll make a great veterinarian."

"I've got a little problem, Billy. Maybe I could use my younger brother's advice."

"Oh, yeah?"

"It's about Janet."

"Oh, it's like that, is it? I tell ya man, she's a special one."

"You don't think the age thing is a problem?"

"I don't think so. Some women have a level head when they're fifteen and others still can't make a good decision when they're forty. But dammit, don't you hurt her."

"I did some pretty heavy thinking last night. I won't hurt her."

"Whew Jake, I'm not sure if I should even tell you this, but it seems like now is as good a time as any. You know I met Cathy on a blind date. I was just doing a favor for a friend, she was visiting his girlfriend. Man, I knew, like ten minutes after I saw her and before we even left for the movies. I knew. It was that fast."

Jake took a deep breath, "If you had told me that last week, I'd have said you were nuts. I'm not so sure I can say that today."

"Don't you hurt her Jake. But hey, big brother, don't let her hurt you either. Give her some time if she needs it. Cathy needed a few weeks and then told me she didn't understand why I waited so long."

"I think I'll take her to Sidney's tomorrow night."

"Oh shit man, that's only five days."

"Yeah, but I might wait until Thursday to ask. I've got special plans for Wednesday night."

"Call me if you need the combination to the safe. Oh hell, forget that, Jake. It's your birth date and then mine."

Jake met Janet outside Tuesday morning when she arrived. After making sure she was ready for her tough exam that day, he asked, "Can you have dinner with me tonight?"

"Dinner? You mean like a date?"

Jake laughed, "Yes, Janet, just like a date. You know, wear a nice dress, fix your hair, put on makeup. I'll shave very carefully, put on a suit, and come pick you up."

"Wow, it's just like in those old movies?"

"Not quite, but you get the idea. Now, can you have dinner with me tonight?"

"Oh, sorry I ... yes, Jake Tranton, I'd love to have dinner with you tonight." Trying for a note of sophistication, Janet asked, "What time will you call for me?" However, her question was barely out of her mouth before the giggles started.

"I have a reservation for Sidney's at eight o'clock."

She did not manage to hide the awe in her voice when she repeated, "Sidney's?"

"I thought you might like that."

"That's a ... it's a ... my folks went there on their twenty-fifth anniversary a couple of years ago."

"Then you know it's an elegant dining establishment, rather than just a simple restaurant."

"Yeah ... yes ... oh wow, Sidney's."

"Give me your address and tell me if you can be ready at a little after seven?"

Janet nodded and seemed to finish her job of feeding the dogs and washing the kennels in a daze. Jake spent most of the morning inside the house in the office. When he could finally get away from the telephone her car was already gone. It took him an hour to realize he felt depressed because he hadn't been able to kiss her.

The truck bringing the dog food arrived shortly after that, giving Jake something to do. Although the driver unloaded the bags, Jake still had several bins to fill and varmint traps to check and bait. By the time he finished in the storage room, all he wanted was a cool place to sit until the muscles in his arms stopped trembling from hefting fifty pound bags.

The only time that afternoon he moved from the couch was to answer the front door to receive several boxes from Billy's favorite harness and leash supplier. Somewhere around five o'clock Jake was so hot and sweaty, tired of the musty smell of dog food and overwhelmed with the cloying odor of new leather, that he was glad he had time for a soak in the whirlpool bath in the master bathroom.

"Jake I'm scared I'll do something wrong, like a social gaffe."

"I guess I understand that. I wasn't much better off the first time I had a meal in a place like this."

After spending a few minutes in the bar with mixed drinks, they were sitting at their table. Janet's hands were shaking after the maitre de led them across the very quite small dining room with low lighting on the individual tables filled with gold trimmed china and sparkling crystal.

"I'll tell you a secret," Jake spoke softly, as he held Janet's hand on top of the table. When she turned her attention from their surroundings to look at him, he lowered his voice. "I learned most of the waiters are just a little snobbish but they enjoy being asked for help. They like to show their skills to someone who may not be familiar with the food, utensils, and wine served during a multi-course meal. Ask you questions quietly and look at him, he'll tell you what to do."

During the first course, Janet could barely eat her appetizer because she was so busy looking around the dining room at the service people. They seemed to move about without making a sound as they removed dishes and replaced them for other couples also enjoying a very special meal.

During the second course, she was finally able to taste the soup, appreciating the waiter who unobtrusively touched the end of the soup spoon indicating which utensil she should use. She listened to Jake and understood when he suggested she take only a few sips of the wine.

During the third course, Jake looked up from his salad, "Janet, you can't keep looking at me like that."

"Why? Does it bother you that I'm impressed?"

"I don't mean those looks. It's the ones where you lick your lips as you watch me. Even if I were desperate, I could not walk across this room without embarrassing myself."

As the waiter removed the half-eaten salads, and another brought the fourth course, a light sorbet to cleanse the palate, Janet asked, "Why, Jake, are you aroused?"

"Yes dammit, and you know it. That dress just barely covers your nipples and you are absolutely naked under it."

"I'm not dressed inappropriately, am I?"

Abandoning the sorbet, Jake leaned back in his chair. "No, you're not dressed inappropriately. I doubt any other man in the room knows how you are dressed with that sweet little jacket covering half of what most of them want to see. Besides, the lighting is low and they are giving their attention to their partners. It's just that I know it."

"Okay then, since I'm doing it for you, just enjoy what you know and look but don't touch. That's what you want, right?"

When he had arrived at her parent's house, as she had instructed, her mother had opened the front door, introduced herself, and invited him inside to meet Janet's father. The two men were seated in comfortable chairs, conversing about Jake's job, when he heard a small noise at the living room door. Unaware he had done so after his lower jaw dropped, Jake stood when Janet entered the room.

"Oh darling, you look lovely," Sarah Beyer had complimented her daughter. "You're wearing the jacket too, aren't you?"

"Yes, Mother, I'm wearing the jacket." Janet had walked across the room, put her hands on Jake's shoulders and rose on her toes to kiss him on the cheek as his hands went to her waist. From the low cut of the front of the body hugging dress, and the lack of a single seam showing beneath the clinging fabric, he knew without a doubt she was wearing absolutely nothing under the dress except her skin. He had no idea how her stockings were held up. She was ravishingly beautiful and he told her so.

As if she was familiar with the process and had done it many times, she had handed her short jacket to Jake and turned her back to him. From the nape of her neck to a few inches above her waist all he saw was skin. He had held her jacket as any gentlemen should. She slipped her hands into the sleeves, changing her small handbag from one hand to the other as if with practiced ease. Then he rested his hands on her shoulders for a moment while he used every ounce of his willpower not to lean over and kiss the back of her neck. It wasn't that he didn't dare kiss her like that in front of her parents; he feared he could not stop there.

Jake had felt a tingle in his groin and knew he was going to be in a similar state for the remainder of the evening. Why he had ever suggested and then agreed to the ridiculous notion of hands off, he did not know and was learning to regret his impulsiveness with each passing day. If he had been thinking with the head on his shoulders, he never would have suggested such a thing. He only hoped Janet was a miserable as he was, but he doubted it. She seemed to be enjoying showing him what he was missing.

Hiram Beyer had walked to his daughter and patted her on the shoulder, shook hands with Jake and announced, "You two young folks have fun. I remember how wonderful our meal was when I took Sarah. Don't pass it up if they have macadamia cups with passion fruit and cream for dessert."

Now, as the fifth course was placed before them, Jake was struggling to give his attention to the chicken. He had no interest whatsoever in listening to the waiter describe how the poultry was prepared with a coating of almond crusted with blueberries, peaches, & Grand Marnier. Nor did he care what vintage the wine was, nor the vineyard from which it came.

"Jake?"

"What, sweetheart?" Oh God, Jake was ready to kick himself and call himself every kind of a love-sick fool. He had just used a term of endearment for a woman he had only known for a few days. That he could count, he had spent somewhat less than fifteen hours with her and he was already so captivated, enchanted, and fascinated he couldn't think straight.