CHAPTER 16
Arlowe Romano: What time will you be done there?
Eline Claasen: No later than six, but I’m trying to leave sooner than that if I can. We have a patch to deploy. It goes out tomorrow morning, and we’ll have some downtime, so I need to make sure everything is good before I leave, but I can still meet you at seven like we planned.
Arlowe Romano: If you need to push it back or reschedule, I’d understand. I wouldn’t be happy about it; I’d actually be disappointed, but I’d understand.
Eline smiled down at Arlowe’s most recent text message.
She loved how honest this woman was, how she’d never had to guess how Arlowe felt about her back then, and she wasn’t sure that she had to guess today, either.
She knew what they were headed toward here, and she wanted to protect it.
She needed to keep it safe and make sure that it happened; that they didn’t go too fast. She didn’t want to go too slowly, either, but Arlowe was worth it, and their relationship could be too if they took their time and got to know one another again, which Eline wanted to do because, if they were going to be together today, she needed to be sure that she loved this version of Arlowe and wasn’t just holding on to the old version of her that she once knew.
They’d agreed to meet at this little restaurant that was on the shore, if Eline could call it that, of a man-made lake owned by one of the big tech companies that had moved in a few years ago.
The office building was twenty stories high, and the restaurant was on the first floor, but despite the whole office-slash-parking-lot vibe, the restaurant was actually lit up like a nice place at night.
It probably offered employees in the building a decent lunch place during the day, too, but it had a great dinner vibe with red and yellow lighting that was dim and a back patio for dining that overlooked the lake and the path that surrounded it.
Eline had looked the place up after Arlowe had recommended it, which was what she usually did the first time she went to a new restaurant because she liked looking at menus in advance, wanting to make sure she could find something to eat there or plan ahead and eat something else before going if she was meeting people, and when she’d pulled up the restaurant’s website, she’d gone to the menu first and noticed a few things that had her smiling.
For one, it was an upscale restaurant, without being too fancy, and two, they had a menu with a little European flair.
She should’ve known that since Arlowe had chosen this place, there would be something for her to eat there because Arlowe had always been a considerate person.
The menu had things like roasted chicken with cabbage, pork medallions in an onion sauce with roasted potatoes and peppers, coq au vin, and a roasted duck with spaetzle, which Arlowe had to remember that Eline had loved since a trip to Germany as a kid with her parents, where she’d had it for the first time.
There were other options of a more American variety as well, which was probably why Arlowe had chosen it for them: they’d both be able to find something they liked.
Eline walked into the restaurant and wished that she’d picked Arlowe up or vice versa, but she understood why they had opted to meet there instead.
If one of them had picked the other up, it would’ve felt too much like a date, and while she wanted that, Arlowe had used the words hang out to describe the night, so Eline wanted to respect that and let them work their way up to a date.
She found Arlowe sitting in the lobby, looking down at her phone, and walked over to her.
Arlowe was wearing yet another blazer, a checked-patterned shirt on underneath it, and she had on nice skinny jeans and some boots that those jeans were tucked into. Yet again, she looked perfect.
“Hi,” she greeted.
Arlowe looked up at her, gave her a smile, and tucked her phone into the interior pocket of her jacket.
“Hey. I was getting worried. You usually beat me everywhere.”
“It’s six-forty-five. I’m actually early,” she said. “Traffic wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
“I just got here, but they told me that even with a reservation, I had to wait for my whole party to get here before they’d seat me.
” Arlowe stood up then and walked over to the podium.
“Hi. My whole party is here. Romano for two. Reservation is at seven, so if we need to sit at the bar first, that’s fine. ”
Eline joined her at the podium and waited for the host, who was looking down at a tablet.
“I can seat you now,” he replied after a moment and went to grab a couple of menus before nodding for them to follow him down a row of tables.
“Great. Thanks,” Arlowe said and added to Eline, “After you.”
Then, her hand was on Eline’s back, and they walked side by side like that until Eline realized that they were heading outside.
“We’re eating on the patio?” she asked.
“Is that not okay? I should have asked. You just used to like when we could get a table outside. Well, until winter came. Then, you’d practically run inside a restaurant looking for the warmest spot in the place.”
Eline laughed a little as they were led outside and replied, “It’s perfect. It’s a nice night, and I didn’t realize how pretty it was over here until I looked up the restaurant and saw some of their photos. It almost looks like a real lake at night that is surrounded by office buildings.”
“Here you are,” the host said and set the menus down on the table for them.
Arlowe looked at him like that was a strange thing to do and waited for him to walk off. When he did, she pulled out one of the two chairs and motioned for Eline to sit there.
“For you.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked.
“I’m always nice to you,” Arlowe answered and pushed the chair in a little with Eline’s help.
Eline sat down and then watched Arlowe walk around to sit down in her own chair. Once settled, Arlowe picked up the menu, and when she didn’t, Arlowe looked over her own at her.
“You looked it up already, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Spaetzle?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “But I’m going to ask to have it with the chicken. I’m not a fan of duck. I’m assuming you looked up spaetzle and local restaurants?”
“Yup,” Arlowe replied before lifting her menu back up to review it. “Told you, I’m always nice to you. I think I’ll get the steak with the broccoli.”
“Broccoli? Since when do you eat that?”
“I like it now. It has to be cooked right, and it isn’t always, but I bet this place can do it right. It needs just a little crunch for me, some salt, and I’m a happy camper.”
“So grown-up now,” Eline noted, laughing a bit. “When I knew you last, you lived off macaroni and cheese that you bought from the grocery store, noodles, and French fries.”
“I was a poor college student. I had no choice. That mac and cheese wasn’t good, but it was cheap. Those noodles were decent, but most importantly–”
“Cheap?” she teased.
“Yes.” Arlowe laughed. “I still like cheap food, and I don’t exactly eat healthy. I just happen to like broccoli now, and the steak sounds good, so I’m going with that. If you’re nice to me, I might even give you a bite of it.”
“Would I be required to share my meal with you?”
“Only the chicken. I’d never ask you to share your favorite side dish in the world.”
“Is broccoli yours?”
“No. I think I’d prefer something in potato form.
I’m not specific, though. Fries can be terrible or amazing, so it depends.
I love a well-cooked baked potato, but one that’s not cooked through isn’t great.
Yeah, I’d say really good potato… something is probably my favorite side dish.
There’s this place, over on Market Street, that only sells potatoes.
It’s amazing. You get a big potato that they’ve baked for you, they slice it open, and you get to pick the toppings you want.
They have, like, fifty choices. I had a brisket-topped one once and added barbecue sauce.
Then, last time, I got something a little more standard – just butter, sour cream, cheese, chives, and bacon – and it was so good.
Yeah… Um… Why am I talking about potatoes so much right now? ”
“No idea.” Eline laughed. “But I like it. Will you take me there sometime? Make some recommendations?”
“Sure. They have pulled chicken that they brine and roast. It’s really good, too.”
“I love that you know the word brine now. I don’t think we were talking about brined food back in college.”
“No, I don’t remember any conversations about that,” Arlowe agreed.
“I feel like we talked about everything else, though.”
“I’d agree with that,” Arlowe said, and when their waiter arrived, she motioned for Eline to order first.
Eline got a glass of red wine and ordered her entrée after checking with Arlowe on appetizers.
Arlowe ordered a glass of red that was different than the one Eline had chosen, along with her steak, and when the waiter walked off to take care of their order, Eline thought about how they used to order the cheapest wine on the menu and only did that a few times because neither of them had had much money.
Now, they could pick and choose what they wanted – within reason, of course, since neither of them was rich – and it felt good to be able to share a nice meal with Arlowe where they didn’t have to check prices on menus and do mental math to make sure they had enough money to spend at the bar with Arlowe’s friends later that night, which had taken precedence back then.
“So, I feel like we should talk,” Arlowe said after their wine arrived. “Actually…” She lifted her glass. “I feel like we should toast. Then, we can talk.”
“You want to toast?”
“Yeah, I do.” Arlowe smiled at her. “I want to toast to the fact that you’re here, sitting across the table from me, enjoying this nice night and soon-to-be great meal. I still can’t believe it, but I want to toast to that.”
Eline lifted her glass, too, and said, “Then, let’s toast.”
“To tonight,” Arlowe said.
“To tonight,” she replied and clinked her glass against Arlowe’s, having made a mental note of the word choice in that toast.
Arlowe hadn’t made a toast to them by saying, ‘To us.’ She had made a toast to the night, to their evening together, which was fine, but she also would’ve been okay with Arlowe toasting to them and whatever was happening between them again.
“So, you wanted to talk?” she asked after taking a sip of the really good wine and setting the glass back down.
“I think we both know what’s going on here,” Arlowe replied. “We’re hanging out tonight, but… what we had… it was…”
“Real?” Eline guessed.
“It was real love, and we’re both here now. We’re also both single, and that thing that we’ve had that I could never define is still there for me.”
“For me, too,” she said and leaned forward a little. “So, what do we do about it?”
“I think we have to keep talking, like we said,” Arlowe suggested. “Make sure that you can still like broccoli-loving Arlowe how you did noodle- and French-fry-loving Arlowe.”
Eline laughed softly and replied, “Okay. How do we do that?”
“Talk about our lives from when we last saw each other until now and maybe talk about the big stuff, too.”
“Big stuff?”
“Yeah, make sure that we’re both on the same path this time.”
“The same path?”
“Before, you wanted to stay in Holland and get a job as an engineer. You also wanted to get married and have kids. You live here now, so I guess I’m wondering if anything else in your old plan has changed,” Arlowe said and looked like she wasn’t finished talking, so Eline didn’t say anything just yet.
“And I guess I’m wondering if you plan to stay here, too.
You mentioned things being an adjustment, and your texts suggest that your job is fine but not ideal, so I–”
“You think I’m going to leave,” she said softly.
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”
“I don’t know, either, Arlowe. I’m here on a work visa, so I can’t tell you that I’ll stay here forever unless I try to go through the whole green card process or try to get citizenship later.
I am here, though. And I know I said it was an adjustment – it has been, and I do miss home – but I like it here. ”
“Because I’m here, or because you really like it here?”
“I like that you’re here, yes, but I like living here, too,” she replied.
“My apartment was built in this century, and yes, I have to drive, but I also have a car now, which means I can go wherever I want whenever I want, and I don’t have to wait for a tram or train, or ride there on my bike.
I like that you have these massive stores where I can buy things that I need to decorate my apartment and my groceries for the week in the same place.
” She chuckled. “So, I can go home and visit my family, or they can come here to visit me, and I think I’ll go back to visit them sometime this year if I can, but I want to live here. ”
Arlowe nodded but didn’t say anything.
“I still want the other stuff, too, Arlowe.”
“You do?”
“The wife and kids, yes. Although, I don’t know how many children I’ll have now, given my age.
When I was twenty-two, I thought I had all the time in the world, and when you and I would talk about that stuff, I thought I’d get my career going, get married, and start the process to have a child, but after you, I never met anyone whom I wanted to do that with.
I know I could’ve been a single mother, but I didn’t want that for myself, so here I am, all these years later, and I think I’d like to have at least one child if I can. ”
“Me too,” Arlowe said.
“You too what?” she asked with a little laugh.
“I still want what I wanted then – I want to get married and figure out the kids part.”
“You never met a woman you wanted to do that stuff with?”
“No, I did. She just lived in Amsterdam, and I lived here,” Arlowe replied. “Other than her, though, no.”
“I have your entrées for you,” their waiter said, which gave them both a moment to breathe in what had turned out to be a pretty big conversation.