Previously:
"So, judging by the grin on your face, everything went well," Berga said when Luck arrived back at Coraggioso to help them close up.
"You could say that. Joe is gone, and I'm taking Charlie on a date tomorrow."
"How is he gone? Did you…?"
"No. Charlie got rid of him."
"That's good. So there's no doubt she picked you over him, then."
"…..."
Keith was pleased for his younger brother.
"Where are you taking her?" Berga asked.
"That new Chinese restaurant. Golden Dragon."
"Chinese, huh? That's an unusual choice for a first date. Then again, Charlie's an unusual girl."
Chapter 6: First Date
Somewhere in China Town. Golden Dragon.
Charlie and Luck stood outside the restaurant. A golden dragon blazed in the sunlight above a wooden signboard that had Golden Dragon and some Chinese characters painted on it in red letters.
"I guess this is it," Charlie said.
"If it isn't, I'll eat my hat," Luck said.
They stepped inside and were greeted by a hostess in a beautiful qipao that was blue silk with gold and silver embroidery. This Chinese woman was almost as pretty as Lia, but whereas there was a childish quality to the way Lia spoke an acted, this woman was all grace and maturity.
"Follow me, please."
She said it in perfect English with a local accent as she picked up two menus, and she led them to their table, a red booth by one of the large windows in the storefront.
"Your waiter will be with you shortly."
She left them to it and returned to her post near the door to greet the next customers.
They only had a few minutes to read the menu when a young Chinese man, who was wearing a white shirt with a mandarin collar and black pants, came over to their table.
"Hello, I your waiter," he said in broken English. "What I get you?"
Charlie looked at the menu again. "I think I'll have… the chicken chow mein."
"And I'll have the Presidential Chicken," Luck said. "And can you bring me a knife and fork?"
"Very good."
The waiter took their menus, and he left to fill their orders.
"Presidential Chicken?"
"It's chicken, vegetables, and peanuts in a spicy sauce."
"Hmm. That sounds good."
"You want me to call him back?"
"No. If it's okay with you, I'll just have a little taste of yours."
"Sure. As long as you don't mind me tasting yours."
"It's a deal."
While Charlie and Luck waited for their meal they chatted about the usual things and smiled and laughed, enjoying each other's company.
"So, I was wondering… how did your brothers react to us dating?" Charlie asked after a while.
"They said, 'It's about time.'"
Charlie laughed a little, smiling at his answer.
"So there's no problem?"
"Why would there be? You've always gotten along with them. They think of you like a little sister."
"But not you?"
Luck reached across the table to hold her hand and looked her in the eye as he smiled.
"Definitely not."
Charlie tried not to blush too much, but her cheeks turned pink.
Just then, their waiter arrived with their food. Luck withdrew his hand so the waiter could put their food on the table.
"Presidential Chicken and Chicken chow mein."
The waiter said the name of each dish as he placed it in front of its owner.
"Thanks," Charlie said to the waiter.
The waiter nodded at her and continued his work by heading to the next table.
Charlie picked up her chopsticks and took her first bite of food.
"How is it?" Luck asked.
Charlie swallowed her mouthful.
"It's delicious!"
"That's good."
He smiled and he took his first bite of food. At first, it was delicious, then a burning sensation slowly spread through his mouth, making it and his throat feel like they were on fire. He quickly grabbed his glass of water and drank until the burning was reduced to a tolerable level.
"Something wrong?"
"It's really spicy."
Luck didn't know what was so "presidential" about getting your tastebuds burned off.
"Can I try some?"
"At your own risk."
Charlie reached out with her chopsticks and took a small clump of vegetables from his plate. She ate it.
"You're right. It is spicy."
She agreed with him, but she didn't reach for her water.
"Why don't you try mine, and if you like it, we can switch?"
Luck didn't want Charlie to think less of him because he couldn't handle some spice, but he could see from her calm smile that wouldn't be a problem. She wasn't judging him. And, on reflection, given that this was the same girl who had drank tabasco straight from a bottle on a dare, without drinking any water for thirty minutes, he probably shouldn't feel so bad that she could handle the Presidential Chicken when he couldn't.
Luck reached out with his fork and tried a little of her chicken chow mein. It suited him much better.
"I think I'll take you up on that offer."
So they switched plates and continued eating. After three bites, Charlie had to reach for the water, too, but she only took a small sip compared to his big gulps, so Luck knew she was doing all right.
"Thanks for taking that off my hands."
"Oh, no problem. It's really good if you can stand the spice."
"Yeah, the split-second taste I got before my mouth caught on fire was delicious."
"Even some people in Louisiana can't handle spice like this."
"Oh?"
"One of my friends, Susanne Bergeron, hated spicy food. And she was born and raised in New Orleans."
"Did you have a lot of friends back in Louisiana?"
"I had a handful, but we grew apart as they got married."
"It sounds like your friends married young."
"Yeah, they did. I guess they didn't see any point in waiting around, since they were all convinced they had found the perfect man for themselves."
"You don't sound convinced."
"I don't think a 'perfect' person exists. I know I'm not perfect. So I think it's unfair to push those kind of expectations onto other people."
"I think that's very wise of you."
"Don't tease."
"I'm not. Is that how you were able to accept us?"
"That and, if there's one thing I've learned living among the sinners and saints of New Orleans, it's that everyone is capable of good and evil. Everyone."
"I don't know if that's cynical or just practical."
"Well, think about it. You can't be a good person all the time to everyone you meet. You might have to disappoint one person to please another. For example, let's say a robber breaks into your house, and you kill him to protect your family. Protecting your family is a good thing, right? But say the robber had just turned to crime to feed his family. He tried to help them, and he got killed for it. From their point of view, you're the bad one."
"I see what you're saying. We often end up doing the wrong things for the right reason."
"Right? I think everyone is like that. It just varies on how far up or down the scale a person is willing to go."
"You're so smart, you should go to college."
"Maybe I will. I have all the time I need to save up and go now."
"That's true. Any idea what you would major in? Music?"
"I don't know. I'd like to learn something I don't already know. What about you?"
"What about me?" Luck asked.
"What would you study if you went to college?"
"I've never thought about it. ...I guess I'd pick something that could help the Family."
"Like accounting?"
"It would make keeping the books a lot easier, but I'm not sure I'm up for that."
"No, it doesn't sound like much fun."
"Besides, don't you need to know Latin or Greek to gain admission?"
Latin, Greek, and algebra were subjects that were rarely taught in public schools at the time.
"Do you? Well, I should be able to scrape by if it's Latin."
"You can speak Latin?"
"Etiam, possum loqui latine."
"I'm guessing that's a yes. You must've gone to a good school."
"Mrs. Aggie insisted that Dino and I should attend Catholic schools. So I got sent to Ursaline Academy."
They continued to talk until they had finished eating, and then Luck paid the bill, and they left together.
"Ah, that was good."
Charlie was totally satisfied with her meal.
"We'll have to go back sometime."
"Miss Charlie!"
They looked in the direction of the call and saw Lia smiling and waving at her with one hand and holding a bag full of her shopping in the other.
"Hey, Lia! Getting your shopping done?" Charlie asked.
Lia crossed the street and went over to them. "I finished getting groceries. I was just picking up special tea."
"Oh, good. We were running out of that."
"Special tea?" Luck asked.
"It's good for what ails you—headaches, cramps, stomach aches, colds—I'm telling you it's like a miracle drug."
Charlie ticked off the different symptoms on her fingers as she spoke.
"Made with ancient Chinese wisdom," Lia added.
"Sounds too good to be true."
"I'll bring you some next time you're suffering. Twenty minutes, and it's like it never happened."
Charlie said it as it was an unquestionable truth.
"Are you going back to your apartment, too? I'll carry that for you."
Luck politely offered to take the bag off Lia's hands. He and Charlie were headed that way anyway.
"Oh, thank you."
Lia said handed over her shopping bag. "Such gentleman. Miss Charlie is lucky lady."
"Yep."
Charlie agreed, smiling at Luck.
The three of them made their way to Lia and Charlie's apartment. On the way, Luck learned it was Lia's turn to cook dinner, so it would be a Chinese dish.
"You're eating Chinese again?"
"It's different. Lia's making kung pao chicken. It's really good."
"Miss Charlie makes caponata tomorrow. It's really good, too."
"You know how to make caponata?"
"Mrs. Aggie taught me. She thought I should know some tradition Italian dishes in addition to the New Orleans cuisine I learned from our cook. She said, 'You may not be Italian, but that doesn't mean you can't cook like one.'"
"You're not Italian?"
"Only by adoption. I'm mostly French with some Irish and German thrown in."
"Well, we won't hold that against you."
"Glad to hear it."
—∞—
"I'll see you tomorrow," Charlie told Luck as the stood outside her and Lia's apartment. She would be performing at Coraggioso then.
Lia looked at Charlie then Luck and tactfully slipped into the apartment to give them some space.
"Tomorrow," Luck agreed. He leaned down and they kissed. They kept it simple and brief in case Mrs. Henderson came out again.
Charlie smiled at Luck when they ended the kiss and held her arms out.
"I'd better take that from you."
Luck was still holding Lia's shopping bag.
"I suppose you'd better."
Luck handed it over to her.
"Thanks."
"Anytime."
Charlie watched him leave then went into the apartment.
Lia grinned at her.
"You were on a date, yes?"
"Yes. We tried out the new restaurant you recommended. It was delicious."
"Good. You have fun?"
"We did. The food was good, and we had a nice talk."
"Talk? You did more than talk."
"Not in a crowded restaurant."
"Maybe I should have took longer shopping. I came home too early."
"No, you didn't. What exactly do you think we would've done?"
"I think you know."
Charlie's cheeks had turned pink.
"It's only our first date."
"Maybe after more dates you want apartment to yourself?"
Lia smiled mischievously.
"Stop teasing me. It's my turn to do the dishes, right? I'll go do that."
Charlie ducked into the kitchen to get away from Lia, who was still smiling at her. Charlie was surprised. She had thought her roommate was more innocent than that.
—∞—
In the basement of Coraggioso, which they used as an office, there was a room that was like a reception room. Luck found Keith and Berga in there.
"So how did it go?" Berga asked Luck when he stepped inside to join them.
"I think it went well."
"How far did you get?"
"What kind of question is that? You don't really expect me to tell you that sort of thing."
"Well? Come on, you can tell us."
"It's only the first date. We're taking it slow."
"How slow?"
"I don't want to do anything she isn't ready for."
"…..."
Keith thought that was a good thing.
"You sure are patient. You've at least kissed her, right?"
"Of course. What do you take me for?"
"Good. Sweep her off her feet and make her our sister-in-law already."
"Easy for you to say. I told you, we're taking things slow."
"You saying you don't want to marry her?"
"That's not what I said. Look, we're both immortal. There is no 'til death do you part'. If we get married, we really have to mean it. I just think it's important that we make sure we'll really be good for each other before taking that step."
"Wow, you've really thought this out, haven't you?"
"… Good decision," Keith said.