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"Double date?" Don repeated.
"Charlie's met her already, right?" I asked him
"Yeah."
"I know this great place, I've wanted to try! You and Jane are going to love it!" It seemed like the perfect evening. I was so happy that Don finally had a girlfriend, after all this time.
"Will Natalie be okay with this?" Don asked.
"Of course! She's as curious as I am about meeting Jane."
"I'll let you know. I got to talk to Jane" Don told me.
"Ask her if Friday is a good day.
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Double Date? With my Dad and his much younger girlfriend. Oh Geeze! I hope that Nat wasn't going to complain about how animal abuse is not punished enough. I had enough of that speech when I was living with them!
The next day, I called Jane at work.
"Don! I was just thinking about calling you!" she told me. I loved the sound of her voice, especially when she whispered.
"I'm going to dinner with my dad and his girlfriend" I told her. "I was wondering if you wanted to come, so that I won't be a third wheel?"
"Sure!" she said agreeably.
"Great! Though I gotta warn ya..." I began.
"What?"
"My dad's girlfriend is uh...not that much older than us" I wanted to prepare her for the surprise.
"Oh?"
"She's in her forties"
"I see..."
"Is Friday good?" I asked.
"Sure."
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Alan and I met up with Don and his new girlfriend at the restaurant around eight on Friday. Soft music played in the background, as we entered. Soon, Don arrived with Jane.
"Dad, Natalie, this is Jane. Jane, Dad and Natalie" Don made the introductions. We all shook hands. Soon, we were all lead to a square table, with table cloth that was the same shade of blue as a Siamese cat's eyes. A lit candle, in a domed, clear, casing stood in the middle of the table. Before the conversation could start, we were given the wine list.
"Don says you guys met on a case." Alan commented.
"Yeah, we worked together on it and when it was over, he asked me out" she said.
"Nat and I were stuck in the elevator at the doctor's" Alan shared with a smile. "We talked, and after a while I asked her out"
"And I said yes" I added.
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Jane looked great in her light green dress with thin straps. It accentuated the right places. Natalie, as usual, had to add a work anecdote.
"So, I get this couple, Brian and Mabel with a parrot, for a routine checkup. Afterwards, a passing Vet tech's cell phone rings, and the birds says James! In this sexy sultry voice. Brian starts to get demand who the hell this James person is. Mabel denies the whole thing, and they get into this heated argument. Thankfully, it turns out that Carl, one of my business partners was just finished with a patient whose caregiver was a social worker. It took her several minutes to calm them down enough to leave the building!"
"What a horrible way to find out!" Jane commented.
"I could think of worse ways to find out" I said, though I did find the story a little amusing.
We shortly got our menus and then ordered a few minutes later.
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Don's girlfriend, an African American, had a warm smile, was soft spoken, and seemed nice. I could see that Alan was counting his grand chicks before they hatched.
To my surprise, we were served bread rolls by a vet who had lost his license. I only knew how he looked like because a friend pointed him out to me in Santa Monica one day. I had heard about his fraud through the grape vine.
"That guy used to be a vet" I commented when he was out of earshot. "But he lost his license."
"Why? Was he treating humans?" Alan asked.
"From what I heard, he started selling this home made concoction, that was supposed to help feline longevity, but all it did was to shorten it, to say the least." I explained.
"That's terrible!" Alan exclaimed.
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"Was he jailed?" I asked Natalie.
"Yeah, but not for as long as he should have been!" Natalie said regretfully, as Dad motioned for me to give him some more butter. I noticed that Jane looked tense, and was wincing. Guess she was worried about Natalie having a tirade about animal abuse and how it's prosecuted.
I decided to change the subject "Is it me or is the pianist playing a Cole Porter Song?"
"It's not a Cole Porter song" Dad said.
"Oh..."
"I once had a patient, who could only sleep with the radio on" Natalie piped up. At least she went along with the flow. "It was a Pomeranian"
"My aunt has one of those!" Jane said. "Very rambunctious Dog!"
"They can be a handful" Natalie laughed.
"Do you have pets?" Jane asked.
"A Bengal cat, which was a gift, and a golden retriever that I got from the shelter" she said, while buttering some more bread.
"I've heard that Bengal cats are very smart" Jane said.
"Yeah they are." Natalie agreed.
Eventually, our food came.
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I envied Alan's dish, as I had a bit more of my own, which had too much ginger in it. So, I focused my sights on the sides. Noticing this, Alan discreetly gave me some of his entree.
"You shouldn't have!" I protested.
"I need to lower my intake of calories anyway." Alan insisted.
"Thanks babe!"
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"Is there a problem with your dish?" I asked Natalie. What was with her? Getting her and Dad's food. And since when did Dad care about his weight?
"There's a tad too much ginger in it, Don" she told me. Picky isn't she?
"Oh..." I said, as Natalie sipped some more wine. Then asked. "So..Dad...are you on some kinda of diet?"
"I'm just trying to eat less. Thanks to Rocco, I've been taking more walks around the neighborhood." Dad answered.
"oh" I said. So Natalie stuck Dad with her pet owner responsibilities?
Suddenly, a man in his fifties came up to our table. He was a blonde with green eyes, and lots of acne scars.
"Dr. Core! How are you? I didn't mean to disturb dinner with your family, but I just wanted to say hi." he said, then turned to Dad "So, how's Miami? I haven't been then since I visited my brother a few months ago."
"My father is in his eighties" Natalie explained. "This is Alan .We're dating". Since we had been eating, Dad didn't have his arm around her or anything. The main reason for this incident was their age difference. I wanted to laugh. It would have been funnier if this had happened to someone else's dad.
"I'm so sorry!" the man apologized with embarrassment. "Don't take it as an insult!"
"It's all right" Dad said graciously.
Soon, the man excused himself.
"Do you guys get this often?" I asked.
"Just sometimes" Dad told me. Then, I asked Natalie "How do you know him?
"He's got a beagle, and a dachshund that he takes to the clinic." she replied.
"Any exciting projects, Alan?" Jane asked Dad.
"A software company is moving its headquarters to the downtown area. I'm on consultant on it" Dad said. "The architect has some wonderful ideas, that I look forward to seeing implemented."
"Glad to hear." Jane told him.
"You haven't heard from the torture chamber guys again?" Nat teased.
"Huh?" I looked at her in confusion.
"Some stupid crank call I got" Dad rolled his eyes.
"Crank call?" I repeated, and Dad told me about it.
Right after that, I got a call from work. As soon as I hung up I told everyone the bad news.
"That was work. I gotta go." I looked at Jane with an apologetic face.
"Be careful" Jane squeezed my hand softly. We had come in our separate cars, so transportation wouldn't' be an issue for her. Soon, I was gone.
TBC