Chapter 2 : A Present For A Girl
Mark leaned back in his chair, drumming his fingers against the table, waiting for Sarah to turn up. She finally entered the restaurant, looking around for him. Seeing him, she gave him a smile and crossed the room. "Hey, sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's fine… it's just fine. I have plenty of time anyway."
Sarah frowned. "You know, Mark, the problem with you is that sometimes people can't tell if you're being sincere or sarcastic. Maybe that's why you can't get a girlfriend; the girls are just so confused."
"Wow, Sarah, you are really tactful," Mark said dryly. "And yes, that was sarcasm."
Sarah grinned. "Okay, thanks for telling me. Now, shall we order, or shall we just sit here?"
"Order," Mark agreed, raising his hand to get the attention of a waitress.
"Mark! Sarah!" A waitress exclaimed, hurrying over.
"Aurelia!" Sarah was definitely surprised to see her here. "It's so nice to see you! Definitely didn't expect to see you here."
"I didn't expect to see you either," Aurelia replied with a smile.
Mark smiled, shaking Aurelia's hand. "I didn't expect you to work. Thought you'd be enjoying married life with Jamie at home, having some off time."
Aurelia laughed. "I'm used to working, and Jamie has quite a lot of writing to do at home anyway. So I thought I would just work, perhaps for a little while."
"Wow, you're English has really improved!" Sarah commented approvingly.
"Thank you, Jamie has helped a lot. His Portuguese is getting better as well," Aurelia replied, blushing under the praise.
"Well, it should, I heard that he was horrible at first," Mark said with a laugh. "Anyway, I guess we should place our orders now, and not take up too much of your time. I'm sure there are other tables desperate for your attention."
To that Aurelia agreed, and took their orders, lingering to chat a little longer before continuing with her work.
"She looks happy," Sarah remarked with a wistful smile. "Good for her."
"Yeah, I totally agree." Mark played around with his fork. "Anyway… how have you been?"
"Pretty good, pretty good. No complaints. Well, there are a few complaints. But they're not all that important. So, yeah, I'm good."
"That's good," Mark said awkwardly, trying to figure out just how he could obtain the information he wanted. "I've been pretty good myself."
"Ah…" Sarah began, but was cut off when her mobile rang. "Ooh, excuse me." She held up a finger. "Hello? Oh, I'm not busy, what is it, sweetheart?"
Her brother again. Mark waited patiently as Sarah spoke with her brother, knowing better than to try and interrupt. After knowing her for about three years, he had grown used to these frequent phone calls. Sarah would never ignore a call from her brother, and he was always the first thing on her mind. Even Karl… even Karl came second.
Sarah finally hung up, and gave Mark a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry about that."
"That's all right," Mark said, waving away her apologies. "But, you know, Sarah, Michael's fine. He's being well taken care of, you don't have to worry about him so much. Sometimes I think you should have a little break, and just spend a week or something doing things that you want. Michael will be fine."
Sarah sighed. "I know. But there are just some things that the doctors and nurses can't do for Michael. And he counts on me… he calls me for comfort, see? I just have to be there for him when he needs me."
"So you'll give up your whole life for him?"
"I'm… I… I'm not giving up anything. I'm fine, I'm fine, I really am," Sarah protested.
Mark just gave her a look, and then changed the subject. "All right then… well, anyway… I wanted to ask you, what's a good present for a girl?"
"Why on earth do you want to know?"
"Why on earth is it your business?" Mark replied with a grin. "I was just… erm… wondering."
Sarah glanced at him slyly. "You have a girlfriend, don't you?"
It's going to be difficult otherwise, Mark told himself. "Erm… yeah, yeah I have a girlfriend. Or am hoping to. Come on, help me out here, I need to impress!"
Sarah leaned back in her chair. "Well… since you're so desperate…" She tapped her forehead thoughtfully, then said, "Something pretty, pretty things always work."
"Specific?"
"Aw, come on, Mark. You work in an art gallery! You should know what pretty is."
"Guys have very different tastes in pretty things. For instance, I think that black Harley outside is really pretty. Do you?"
Sarah turned to look at the mentioned black Harley outside the restaurant. "No, I don't think it's pretty," she admitted. "And it's going to be towed away, if the owner doesn't leave soon. All right, all right, I get your point. Pretty… like a necklace, or a bracelet or something. Jewellery works well." Her look grew wistful, and dreamy, and Mark knew he was going to get what he wanted to know. "Just like that day… I saw this lovely pearl bracelet. The salesgirl said that lots of people go for the black pearl one because it looked sleek, but probably it was just because it was more expensive and they wanted to show off. I would have gone for the pink one myself… but…" She shook herself, and stopped, but that was all right. Mark already got the information he needed. "Look at me, rambling off on what I like. Sorry about that."
"No, no that's fine. Gave me some insight. So… jewellery, then? All righty."
Sarah looked at him pointedly. "That's it? Not even giving me a little bit of gossip? Come on, tell me, who's the girl?"
"No one you know," Mark said hastily. "Ah, here comes our food. Let's eat!"
The rest of the meal was spent gossip (mostly about Mia and Harry; that was always interesting) and Sarah answering her brother's calls.
"Well… thank you for lunch," Sarah said after they had said goodbye to Aurelia and were standing outside the restaurant.
"No problem. I wanted a favour from you anyway, it was only right that I paid for the meal."
"All right. Thanks anyway. I should get going now. Get back a little early, and get to work. Bye then."
"Bye, we'll do lunch again some other time."
"All right." Sarah turned right, and Mark turned left, both returning to work. For Sarah, there was a little anticipation because she would see Karl (more than two years, and still she couldn't get over seeing him). For Mark, it was just boredom. Oh, and that phone call to Karl.
