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"Look!" Natalie pointed at the table with her head. "The woman is one of my regulars and is married."
"And the man with her is not her husband" I finished for her. I had figured that out from the look on her face. "Anyway...let's see what's on the menu" I opened it.
"They've got crème broule "Natalie pointed out. It was also a favorite of hers. She ribbed, ""Maybe I should have just have that for dinner".
"Be my guest "I deadpanned and drank some more wine.
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"That song sounds familiar, but I can't place it" I remarked about the piano music. It added to the atmosphere.
"They Can't take that away" Alan informed me, then asked softly. "What is a seven letter word for stunning?"
"Alan! I didn't come here to talk about crosswords" I told him with a sigh.
"Guess. Humor me." He insisted.
"Fine. If you'll give me a four letter word for a person who gets obsessed with crosswords" I countered. He smiled.
"You first!"
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"Alan!" Natalie groaned at me.
"It's just as well. I've figured out the answer." I informed her.
"What is it?"
"Natalie" I took her hand and looked her in the eye.
Her face lit up, and she smiled.
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The moment was ruined by the server coming in with our food! Damn! Alan was such an old school romantic!
"I'm thinking of getting you Alpacas for your birthday!" he taunted me a few minutes later. "Maybe around two hundred, so that you can retire"
"Make it five. What the hell" I played along. We both laughed.
"You know, I've started to read that James Herriot book you lent me." Alan said.
"Great! There's a lot more where that came from" I said. One of my favorite authors, he was a vet from England who had written books about animals, and doctoring them. All Creatures Great and small, was the one I had lent to Alan.
"I'm thinking of recommending it for the Book Club" Alan was in a book club run by a friend of his named Phil.
"You should also recommend the Cat Who books" I told him. It was a series of books, where a crime reporter, with the help of his two Siamese cats, one of whom is way smarter than average, solves murders that always seem to happen in the small town where they live. Another series I loved was about a black cat, which lives in Vegas, and solves mysteries.
"I guess we could analyze why such a small town has more murders per capita than L.A" Alan teased me. He had read a couple of the Cat Who novels.
Eventually, it was time for desert. Alan and I just shared the crème broule between us.
The next day, Brian came into the clinic. In between patients, we talked.
"You look great!" he told me.
"Thank you!" I said.
"So uh..Alan...was he a date? Friend? What?" he asked, always the blunt guy.
"Boyfriend" I told him.
"Oh..." he tried to hide his look of surprise, but failed.
"I know, he's older than I normally go, but he's a great guy!" We both sat in the break room.
"Does he have grown kids?" he got himself some coffee.
"Yeah ."
"I feel for ya! My last ex was a few years older and had grown kids. Man! That was hard!" he said, while adding sugar to his coffee.
"We've got a dog seizing!" Rick popped his head in and yelled.
We were out of the break room in a flash.
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"I still can't believe that Don's father is going out with a much younger woman! He didn't seem the type." I heard David comment to Colby as I came towards them. I guess they didn't see me coming. I had decided to visit in case Don needed something.
"I just hope to be half as lucky when I'm his age" Colby smirked.
"What? You can't get lucky now?" I teased, though I was annoyed by what they said.
"Charlie...I uh..." Colby stuttered.
"Don't worry about. I'd probably say the same thing is one of your dads were dating her." I told him.
"Where's Don?"
"He's at his desk." David said.
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"Alan!"
"Rach!" I got up and hugged her. It was great that she had come to visit me at the office."How's my favorite sister?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm your only sister."
"I still mean it!" I gave her my best smile.
"Frank came to visit last week" she said. He was our little brother.
"Who's this?" she picked up a picture I had taken of Natalie during a trip we took to Santa Barbara. Then she groaned. "Please tell me that she's dating one of your boys!"
"Rach...she's a wonderful person!"
"I just can't help but think about how sometimes my widowed or divorced friends can't get dates because men their age go out with much younger women." she sighed and gave me a look of disapproval.
"I don't go out with her just because she's younger!" I argued. All the women I had dated before Natalie were in their fifties or sixties. "In fact, when I first saw her, the first thought was that maybe she'd be great for Charlie or Don. I swear!"
"How did you meet her anyway?" she asked.
"We were stuck in an elevator together. Both of us had doctor's appointments in the same building" I explained. "When we first starting talking, I told her about my boys, hoping that maybe she might be interested. But then, after a while we started to click. By the time, the elevator worked again, three hours later, we had a date. I swear to you, before this, the youngest woman I dated was in her early fifties!"
"I'll need to meet her." she said. "I'm here visiting Sarah and the kids until the day after tomorrow" Sarah was her eldest daughter.
"How about tomorrow night?" I knew that Natalie needed at least some notice.
"Sure"
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I went to meet Alan and his sister at a nice, small place in Pasadena, called South Lake Italian Kitchen, which was one of my favorites. Alan had apologized for the short notice, but explained that Rachael wasn't going to be in the L.A area long and that her visit had been a surprise. When I got to the place, they were already at a green colored booth, waiting for me. All over the walls, were pictures of Bassett hounds wearing different costumes .Rachael kinda looked like Alan.
"Rachael, this is Natalie." Alan said as I shook hands with her.
"It's a pleasure" she said.
"Same here. Sorry I'm late, traffic got bad" I told her.
"No problem."
Soon, the owner came out to greet us in a heavy Boston accent. She had dyed blonde hair.
"It's so good to see you two again!" she exclaimed and cooed. "How are you?"
"Good" Alan said, then introduced his sister "This is my sister, Rachael."
"Nice to meet you! Here are your menus" she gave them to us, and excused herself.
"Alan was just telling me that you are a vet" Rachael began.
"I co-own a practice with two other vets" I explained. "We mostly treat household animals."
Just then, the owner asked us if we wanted some wine.
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The three of us each ordered a glass of something different.
"Alan mentioned that you were a teacher until a few years ago" Natalie commented.
"Yes at the High School level" Rach explained. "I taught English"
"I see" Natalie said.
"Rach is a bigger crossword addict than I am!" I commented with a smile.
"Are you a big fan of crosswords?" Rach asked Nat, who looked wonderful in her yellow dress.
"Not really."
"She's starting to get into golf!" I piped up. "She's a quicker study at it than Charlie and Don were" I truly meant that.
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"It's just that I've got such a great teacher!" I told Alan.
"So...what's good here?" Rach asked. Alan made a few recommendations, as did I. She decided to get herself a pasta dish.
"I'll get the spaghetti with meat sauce" Alan said.
"I'm getting the lasagna." I said.
Soon, another server came and we gave him our orders. With a thank you, he left.
"Do you have any kids?" she turned to me
" Yeah two: my cat and dog." I answered.
"How do they get along?" Rachael asked me with curiosity.
"Great! I got the cat, named Layla as a kitten, so she essentially grew up with Rocko, my lab." I explained. "She loves to sleep next to him"
"Layla is one of those Bengal cats." Alan commented. "Have you heard of them?"
"Oh yes I have! A friend of mine has one! It almost looked like a tiger!" Rachael commented.
"Well, the breed was developed by mating domestic cats with Asian Leopard cats. The cats sold by breeders are about usually four generations away from that type of mating." I explained.
"That's interesting" Rachael said.
I started to talk about the many health issues faced by Bengal cats.
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Natalie's explanation was quite detailed, and fascinating. It lasted until our food came.
"This is delicious!" Rachael said after taking a bite. "I'm definitely recommending this place to Sarah!"
We all ordered more wine to go with our food.
A while after we finished, the bill came.
"Let me pay!" Natalie insisted, and got the bill before I could stop her.
"It is my prerogative!" Rachael said.
"No! Both of you are my guests!" I argued.
"Who's to say that you guys aren't my guests?" Natalie countered, and took out a credit card.
After some more arguing, she won.
"I'm paying next time!" Rachael warned her. "Well, I need to go. I want to spend time with my grandkids before I leave tomorrow."
"I'll walk you to your car" I said, wishing I had grandkids to spend time with. "While Natalie takes care of the bill."
As soon as we were out of the restaurant, she commented
"She seems nice"
"I sense a but in there" I commented.
"Well...what if she wants kids?" Rach asked me. "Or what if she gets pregnant?"
"That's none of your business!" I exclaimed and glared at my sister.
"How do you relate to her? She looks at animals as children, and doesn't seem to share your interests." Rach added. "Then she talks about ear mites at the dinner table!"
"Rach!" I gave her a look.
"How do the boys feel about her?" she asked me.
"They've been supportive, especially Don" I said. "He even let me invite her to his birthday party"
She paused and said "You're lucky to have him as a son"
"Don't I know it!" I couldn't help but think that she mean something by that comment.
"I just want you to be happy" she explained. "I don't want you to get hurt." It's always been this way with us, her trying to look after me, while I insisted thatI didn't need it.
"I'll be fine" I told her.
"Look, I don't want to keep the kids waiting. Just ..think about what I said, okay" she told me and got into her car.
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"Don, How do you think Natalie is doing with Aunt Rach?" Charlie asked me, as he graded papers and I looked through files in the living room.
"I've heard her complain about her widowed and divorced friends not getting dates, so I don't think Natalie's doing too well" I shrugged.
"Do you think Aunt Rach will talk sense into dad?" Charlie wondered hopefully.
"We can only hope so buddy." I told him.
TBC