Chapter Thirty-Nine
Thirty-Nine
Thomas took Mary to a relatively low-key restaurant in Vista Del Mar, not that far from the Legion of Honor.
The owners were a very sweet couple from west Malaysia who, already in their mid-fifties, had brought their expertise in cooking Malay and Pan-Asian street dishes to north San Francisco.
The food was simple but incredibly tasty and just like Mary had wanted, quite light when it came to calories.
Their selection of world wines was also very accomplished.
‘Would you like to choose the wine,’ Thomas said, undoing the top two buttons on his dress shirt, as he handed Mary the wine menu, which in truth was more like a wine booklet.
Mary took it and quickly scanned through it.
The wines were grouped by countries, and the list was seriously extensive.
She chuckled. ‘I think that this goes a little beyond my understanding of wines.’ She flipped through a couple more pages.
‘Umm… I’m open to suggestions here.’ Her eyebrows arched at Thomas. ‘Anything you can recommend?’
‘I’m sure we can find something. Let me see.’ He once again reached for the wine list. ‘OK, give me something to work with – red or white?’
‘Red.’
‘Alright, and would you prefer something a little lighter like a Pinot Noir, or something a little more full-bodied, like a Malbec or Zinfandel?’
‘I actually love Zinfandels,’ Mary replied.
‘OK.’ Thomas smiled and flipped a couple of pages on the menu before pausing and angling his head slightly right. ‘Oh!’ There was no hiding the surprise in his voice.
‘Found something?’ Mary asked.
‘Yeah, I think so. Have you ever tried any Zinfandels from Russian River Valley?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Oh, then you’re in for a great surprise.’
They ordered their meals and a bottle of Williams Selyem Fanucchi Zinfandel.
‘Wow,’ Mary said, as she had her first sip of her wine, after allowing it to breathe for a couple of minutes. ‘This is very nice.’
Thomas breathed out relief before giving Mary a cheeky smile. ‘One of my favorite Californian wineries.’
‘Yeah, I can see why. Cheers.’
They touched glasses.
Mary and Thomas ate their meals, drank their wine, and chatted as if nothing had ever happened.
Not once did Thomas mention the incident back at the Legion of Honor, which pleased Mary, but what had really surprised her was that throughout their entire evening, Thomas never asked her any of the typical questions that most men on a first date would ask.
He never asked her about her past life, never asked her where she was from, or how come she’d ended up in San Francisco.
He never even asked her what she did for a living, as if none of it really mattered to him.
All they did was talk about art, wine, films and music, and laugh a great deal.
Thomas turned out to be a great storyteller, always adding a touch of humor to just about everything.
‘Would you like to have a look at our dessert menu?’ the waiter asked, once Mary and Thomas had finished their meals. ‘We have some great Asian sweets.’
Thomas simply lifted his eyebrows at Mary.
‘Oh no, thank you.’ Mary shook her head, lifting her hand at the waiter. ‘I couldn’t eat another bite of anything.’ She nodded at her completely empty plate. ‘That prawn salad was absolutely delicious, but also incredibly filling.’
‘Same here,’ Thomas agreed, also lifting a hand at the waiter before indicating his plate. There wasn’t a scrap left on it. ‘I couldn’t eat another bite, but please send my compliments to the chef. Everything was simply delicious.’
‘Thank you, sir. My parents will be really pleased to hear that.’ The waiter put his hands together and gently bowed his head at Thomas before repeating the gesture at Mary. ‘Ma’am.’
As the waiter walked away with the empty dishes, Thomas divided the little that was left of the wine between Mary’s glass and his own.
‘We could order another bottle, if you like.’
‘Oh no!’ She gave him a subtle shake of the head as she checked her watch.
‘It’s Wednesday evening. I’ve got things that I’ve got to do tomorrow morning,’ she lied.
‘And another bottle would mean that at the end of the night, counting what we already had back at the Legion, we would’ve drunk more than a bottle of wine each…
that rarely ends up well. I’m actually already feeling a little tipsy. ’
Thomas agreed with a head gesture. ‘Yeah, you’re right. A second bottle would probably be too much alcohol for a Wednesday evening, and when that happens – mistakes usually follow.’
‘Um-hum.’ Mary nodded before finishing her wine and once again locking eyes with Thomas.
This time, they both held each other’s stare for several seconds longer than any of the previous times.
Mary was trying hard to read Thomas’ intentions.
She’d read an article in a women’s magazine a few months back about body language and facial micro-expressions – what they could actually mean (from a romantic standpoint), and how to read and interpret them.
It was a long article. Mary couldn’t remember everything, but something that had stuck with her was when the article mentioned the eyes.
It revealed that a lot could be gathered just from observing a person’s eyes and eye movements, and Mary remembered that the article explained that as two people gazed at each other, if one of them had a strong romantic interest in the other, that person’s eyes would often keep on redirecting their focus to the lower part of the other person’s face – mainly tip of the nose and lips – considered to be the sensual glance area by body language experts.
Mary was trying to figure out if Thomas was focusing his attention on her lips or not. The problem was – instead of looking at his eyes, she kept on diverting her attention to his lips.
‘Shall I order the bill then?’ he asked, finally breaking the silent gaze competition.
Mary blinked out of her daze before nodding. ‘Sure.’
Thomas lifted a hand to signal the waiter for the bill.
‘But I’m getting this,’ Mary added, already reaching for her handbag.
‘What do you mean – you’re getting this?’
‘C’mon,’ Mary countered. ‘You took me to the opening night of a great exhibition and sent me an amazing gift.’
This time, it looked like it was Thomas who was observing Mary’s expressions and micro-expressions.
‘Plus,’ she continued. ‘It’s the least I can do after the way I acted earlier.’
Thomas sat back on his chair and crossed one leg over the other before resting his hands on his thighs. ‘I hear what you’re saying, and it’s appreciated.’ He bit his bottom lip. ‘But hear me out here, OK?’
Mary’s eyes widened at Thomas, but the look in them wasn’t a surprised one. In fact, she looked back at him in the same way that a mother would look back at her child when she already knew that the kid was about to hit her with some bullshit.
‘I try to be as… modern as I can be, but when it comes to certain things, I’ll admit that I am one hundred percent old school. And this is certainly one of them.’
Mary looked around, as if confused. ‘This what? Dinner?’
‘First date dinner,’ Thomas corrected her, and the way in which he clearly held back his smile told Mary that he knew that he was getting ahead of himself right then.
‘I invited you out, Mary,’ he explained.
‘I was the one who suggested, and convinced you, to come to a restaurant with me.’ This time, he looked back at her with puppy eyes.
‘Please, for the sake of my silly male pride… and I know it’s silly – let me get this one and you can get the next one, if you like. ’
Mary pursed her lips and twisted them to one side – a smile hidden somewhere between them.
Once again, Thomas read her like an open book. ‘You noticed that I said “next one”, didn’t you?’
Mary nodded. ‘I did. Very smooth. Subliminally putting forward the suggestion that there will be a second time.’
Thomas replied with a shy smile. ‘Honestly, I’m really hoping that there will be… dinner, drinks, cinema, coffee, whatever, really. For me, it’s been a great night. I really enjoyed your company.’
The waiter came back to them and placed the bill on their table, directly in front of Thomas.
‘Plastic OK?’ Thomas asked.
‘Of course, sir. Let me just go get the machine.’
As the waiter turned and walked away, Thomas reached for his wallet and selected a credit card from the many he had before placing it inside the bill booklet.
‘I haven’t agreed that it’s OK for you to pay this bill yet,’ Mary said, nodding at the booklet.
‘Seriously, Mary, it’s my pleasure. Please, let me get it.’
Mary poked the inside of her left cheek with her tongue. ‘How about we split it then? That’s fair, isn’t it?’
Thomas, once again, sat back on his chair. He looked one hundred percent relaxed. ‘You really want to go Dutch? On the very first night out?’
‘Why not?’
Thomas scratched the underside of his chin.
‘Well, one of the reasons, like I explained, would be that by allowing me to pay for our first-ever dinner, you’d be doing my silly male pride a huge favor, which would be much appreciated, but a second reason, which is even more important, is that…
’ He took a moment, his eyes darting away from Mary before darting back to her.
‘I come from a very superstitious family… just something I grew up with – I can tell you some crazy stories later, if you like – anyway, I don’t really believe most of it, to be honest, but a few selected superstitions, so far, for me, have proven to be true. ’
‘Is that right?’ Mary sounded like she was buying none of it.
‘I’m being serious,’ Thomas carried on. ‘And one of those few is – never go Dutch on a first date. That’s one hundred percent bad luck.’
‘So, we’re fine then,’ Mary replied, matter-of-factly. ‘Because this isn’t really a date.’
Thomas’ eyes widened at Mary. ‘Ouch! Talk about being shut down. No mercy, huh?’
Mary smiled. ‘That’s what you deserve for such a bullshit story. Superstition? Bad luck for going Dutch? Really? I promise you that I’m not as stupid as I look.’
Thomas laughed. ‘Touché.’
Hey, the voice inside Mary’s head came back. If he wants to pay, let him pay. It’s one less time that you’ll be using your credit card, and for us, that’s a good thing, remember?
Mary nodded at the voice, but Thomas thought that she was nodding at him.
‘OK… fine,’ she finally agreed. ‘But with the condition that the next time, it’s on me. Deal?’
‘Absolutely.’ Thomas’ smile was a happy and sincere one because he knew that he’d just bagged a second date. ‘You have my word.’
The waiter got back to their table with the credit card machine. He retrieved Thomas’ card from the bill booklet, inserted it into the machine and handed it to Thomas, who punched in his pin number before returning the machine to the waiter.
‘Is it OK if I leave the tip?’ Mary addressed Thomas, reaching for her handbag for the second time. ‘Or is that bad luck as well?’
‘It’s already included, ma’am,’ the waiter said, as he pulled Thomas’ card out of the machine, ready to return it to him.
‘It’s included,’ Thomas confirmed.
‘Well, I think he deserves extra,’ Mary explained, grabbing two twenty-dollar bills from her wallet and handing them to the waiter.
‘Plus, I don’t like leaving electronic tips.
’ She fixed Thomas with a solid stare. ‘Because when it comes to certain things, I’ll admit that I am one hundred percent old school. ’
Thomas began applauding, as he laughed. ‘Touché, again.’
By sheer misfortune, the waiter tried to return Thomas’ credit card just as he began clapping, which caused him to hit the card with the tips of his fingers and send it flying Mary’s way.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, sir,’ the waiter apologized, his eyes wide, as if he’d just done something terrible.
‘It’s alright,’ Mary said, giving the waiter a sympathetic smile. ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got it.’ She picked up the card, which had skidded over the table to land on her lap.
‘So sorry again, sir,’ the waited repeated himself, bowing at Thomas.
‘It’s OK. It was my fault. I wasn’t looking.’ Though the reply was addressed at the waiter, Thomas’ concerned eyes were focused on Mary. Something had changed in his tone of voice. For some reason, right then, he sounded a little tense.
The waiter bowed one last time at them both before thanking Mary for the extra tip and finally walking away.
‘Sorry about that,’ Thomas said, trying to sound breezy and extending his hand at Mary, ready to get his card back, but Mary held on to it for a second longer.
It wasn’t only Thomas’ tone of voice that had changed.
His demeanor had changed as well. In just a few seconds, he went from being totally relaxed to looking quite anxious.
Mary peeked at the credit card in her hand and her heart stuttered.
‘What the fuck?’ she murmured. Her eyes stayed on the card for another second before jumping to Thomas, then back to the card, then back to Thomas again.
This time, he didn’t hold her stare.
‘Who the fuck are you? Really?’ she asked, anger taking over her tone. She flipped the card around so it would face Thomas. ‘Because your name, sure as shit, ain’t Thomas is it?’
The happy smile that had graced Thomas’ lips just seconds earlier had completely vanished. He looked like a school kid who had been caught out cheating on an exam. His attention finally went back to Mary. The look on his face was as serious as a heart attack.
Mary flicked the card back at him, almost hitting him on the face. ‘Whoever the fuck you are,’ she got to her feet, ‘stay the fuck away from me, you hear?’
‘I’ll cut you a deal,’ the man that Mary knew as Thomas said, as she got up to leave.
‘Fuck you and your deal. How about that?’ Mary reached for her shawl.
‘I’ll tell you who the fuck I really am,’ he said, his tone almost as hard as hers.
‘If you tell me who the fuck you really are… because all this…’ he gestured at her, ‘… is nothing but a front, isn’t it?
You’re not really who you’re pretending to be – are you?
And your name isn’t really Mary, is it?’