CHAPTER 10:
Betty walked in Daniel's office with his morning bagel and coffee
"Hey, Daniel"
"Hey Betty. How are you this morning?"
"I'm…fine? You're in a good mood."
"Why wouldn't I be? It's a beautiful day." He took a bite of his bagel "By the way thanks for bringing me breakfast."
"It's my job… Daniel?"
"Yeah?"
"What's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've been in an unusually good mood lately."
"It's just…Things are going well in my life at the moment, Betty."
"Your mother is still in hiding and the cops are looking for her. How well could things be going?"
"I know."
"There's only one other explanation for…this. And I think it's a woman."
"You do? Betty, really…"
"And I think I know who it is."
"You…do?" Now he was getting nervous
"Yes. Daniel, I thought you were better than this…I mean her of all people? She's just gonna hurt you."
"Betty, people change…"
"Didn't you learn anything the first time? Women like her don't change. Daniel I don't want to see you hurt again."
"Betty…"
"Don't you remember that you were hiding in your loft for weeks after she dumped you on national T.V? How she humiliated you? And you're back together with her?"
"Betty who are talking…wait you're talking about Sofia? Sofia Reyes?"
"Yes. Isn't she the mystery woman that Amanda has been going on about you seeing?"
"God no. Betty I'm seeing someone but I can assure you it's not Sofia Reyes."
"Then who is she?"
"I'm sorry, Betty but I can't say anything yet. I want to be sure where this is going and I promise you that when all the media circus about her…I mean Wilhelmina and My Dad's wedding has died down and my mother is safe, you'll be the first to know."
"Okay." Betty said in a skeptically and left his office
A few days later:
"Tada!" Daniel sang "New York's best-kept secret"
"Wow, a Himalayan Yak Restaurant?"
"You mentioned that you once you went for a shoot in Nepal and you enjoyed the food. "Plus you are a philanthropist to Tibet so I thought…you know "
"You remembered?" She was clearly surprised as they walked in hand-in-hand
"Of course."
"You are much more attentive than I give you credit for." Willie said as they were being shown to their table
They sat opposite each other while looking at the menu.
"Uh…babe what is a…uh dre-ngo?"
"It's roasted rice."
"Huh…okay." Willie smiled at him while he smiled nervously
"Good evening, sir, good evening ma'am. Are you guys ready to order?" The friendly waiter came over to ask them
"Danny, are you ready to…?"
"Uh, yeah, yeah…I'll get this" He pointed at the item on the menu
"One boiled yak tongue." The waiter wrote on his pad
"Uh…No I'll get this. Don't tell me what it is though." He said nervously
"Thenthuck, It's Tibetan noodle soup." He felt relieved
"And for your wife?" The waiter looked Willie. Daniel's ears went into shock as soon as the waiter called Wilhelmina his wife, he didn't even hear her order.
"Daniel? Earth to Daniel."
"Huh?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah…I'm fine."
"It's that waiter isn't it?"
"Who?"
"The waiter, he mistakenly called me your wife. Don't worry I corrected him."
"You did?"
"Yes I did, you probably didn't hear me though. Most single guys space out when they hear the words 'wife' or 'wedding." He laughed
"Is that so?"
"Oh yeah…Uh…Daniel you seem nervous. Are you sure you're okay? Look if it's about what the waiter said…"
"No, don't be silly, Willie. I just I'm nervous 'cause I don't usually…you know…"
"What?"
"It's just that…You're the first woman ever that I actually want to go on dates with. You know..like go on more than one date. I don't…with other women all I cared about was the sex we going to have later. You're the first woman in my adult life that I actually care about what you have to say while sitting across from you. I'm not good at the dating…relationship thing."
"Don't worry about that 'cause I'm not that good at it either"
"You're not?... So what is it?"
"What?" He smirked before asking, not sure how she'll react
"I mean…uh…are men just disposable to you?"
"No. Obviously there's been men, but um…"
"What?"
"Well it sounds awful but they've all been such terrible disappointments."
"Well I've seen you in action and you are a very formidable woman. I'm sure they find it hard to keep up."
"Well with that complement you can't possibly be that bad at the dating game."
"Well I'd like think that I… kind of do have a romantic side."
"You do?"
"Well there was a time where I was the loyal boyfriend type, sort of."
"So when did the transition take place, for you to become the playboy?"
"Sophomore year of college, I got a lot of female attention and I used it to my advantage. That attention made up for what I lacked back at home…you know…being the second best, the spare, the screw up. I did some stupid things back in college though, broke a few hearts…at the time I thought I was the man but now…"
"It's all in the past, Daniel. College is a really exciting time, you get to experiment with everything, you have sex with dozens of people, it's how it was meant to be, take it from a former playgirl."
"A what?"
"I'm telling you, Danny. I went to college for a short while but in those months I was a wild kid. I did some pretty crazy things." They laughed
"Enough said. So which college did you attend?"
"Cornell but My dad wanted me to attend Princeton…but please let's not talk about that and… him."
"Any word on Claire yet? Still MIA?" Her smile soon faded and she changed the subject. Daniel found it a little irritating when she did that- changing the subject and shutting him out. But he knew that Wilhelmina is a guarded person and he would just have to wait to get to know the real her.
"Yeah and this is going to jeopardize her trial. This is going to totally discredit her as the 'victim' in the whole thing.'
"You are going with insanity, Danny. This may be credited to her 'craziness'."
"I just want her back, back home or even back behind bars or something. Either way she'll be safe."
"I can't lie and say I know exactly what you're going through because I don't. I mean this woman is your mom and you don't even know if she's okay. Have you hired people to look for her?"
"Wils, the cops are doing everything they can."
"I'm not talking about the cops. I'm talking about a PI, a person who'll investigate the potential hideouts of Claire."
"My mom was shunned by her friends after the arrest. I doubt…"
"Maybe you should try some secret locations that she used to visit with Bradford or something. You should have her fellow prisoners that she was last seen with investigated, find out where the women lived and who they know and used to know. It's very likely that wherever she is, she is with that woman who was reported missing from that prison bus."
"You think so?"
"Of course and when once the private investigator has found her, convince her to turn herself in, again. That way her punishment won't be that harsh."
"That's a genius idea, Willie"
"I know." She said with a smirk and they both laughed. Suddenly something on Willie's plate caught his eye
"May I?"
"Of course" He stuck his fork and took a chunk of the meat and stuck it in his mouth and chewed.
"So what is this?"
"It's blood sausage." He flashed that nervous grin once again and chewed nervously
"You sure can taste the… blood."
"Danny, If you're…"
"No, no, no" Before she could answer him her phone vibrated on the table and she looked at it and ignored it, clearly not amused.
"This is my publicist probably wanting to update me on what was said about the wedding to the media." Daniel was happy thinking that Wilhelmina must really like him - to actually ignore a publicist's phone call? And then suddenly he was overwhelmed with….something.
"Are you okay, Daniel?"
"I'm fine, yep. It's just this thing with my dad, you know, and keeping us a secret and the press…and my mom. It just makes me feel…"
"Makes you feel what?"
"Just…sort of weird. What are we drinking?"
"Fermented yak butter tea. Apparently it's Tibetan delicacy. Why?" Daniel shot up from his chair and covered his mouth running, obviously looking for the bathroom.
"Daniel!" He turned at Willie's voice "I think the bathroom is that way." He ran the opposite direction heading towards the bathroom.
The next morning:
Daniel was lying back on his chaise as early as 7:30 in the morning replaying the previous evening's events. Wilhelmina had invited him back to her house but he refused. He was really embarrassed about the evening's events because all he wanted to do was have a special date with his girlfriend. He wanted something different for her, for them. He wanted a memorable place that they were not familiar with. He wanted them to have a special night.
Willie decided to come in early and get some work done. She tried calling Daniel last night but he didn't pick up, he replied with a text and almost an hour later. She was relieved that he was okay and decided to bring him some medicine. She wasn't expecting anyone to be in that early at the office, so she was surprised when she saw Daniel lying back on his chaise.
"Hey, how are you feeling? I tried calling you last night."
"I know. I'm sorry I ignored your phone calls, it's just…I was embarrassed."
"Are you okay?" He spotted the brown package she was holding
"Yeah. Oh, God those better not be leftovers." She took a seat next to him on the chaise
"Apparently yak tongue always tastes good the next day. It's just like pizza."
"You actually eat pizza?"
"I haven't had pizza in years. I brought you some club soda, medicine." She said while fixing a stray hair on his head
"I'm sorry about last night. worst. date. ever."
"No it wasn't."
"I threw up on the statue of Buddha." He reminded her matter-of-factly. "I really wanted it to be special, you know, something we could remember as our night."
"You don't have to worry about that, Daniel. I thought we agreed that we are going to take things slow. We will have 'our night' in the future."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"What do you mean?"
"I've never been in a relationship that lasted longer than six months. I'm afraid of screwing this up, Wils."
"Well I won't let you." She said while caressing his cheek "And for the record, last night might not have been perfect, but it was definitely memorable." They stared at each other's eyes and got lost in them. Finally she spoke "I would kiss you right now but I'm gonna save it for later. I don't want us to take that risk."
Too late because Marc stood paralyzed outside, his mouth agape, with shock written all over his pretty face while watching from the glass wall of Daniel's office. He had come in early to finish some work and now…this. He was standing from a distance so he didn't hear a single word but the duo's body language said everything for him. 'NO WAY. Willie's mystery man is…Daniel? Daniel Meade? Pasty face? She has completely lost her mind!' He quickly ran to his desk to process what he just witnessed.
Back in Daniel's office:
"Hey what do you say we get away this weekend?"
"You mean leave the city? Spend some quality time together?" Daniel couldn't hide his excitement. 'Finally sometime alone to get to know her- the real her.' Those were his thoughts
"Yeah, you know… away from work, the people we know and all the craziness here. I think it'll be good for us."
"Yeah so where do you think we should go? Jersey?"
"I'm thinking…NO. I have a beach house in the Hamptons. We can drive on Friday after work."
"Deal."
"Now let's get to work." She got up and headed for the door "By the way…I really like that tie." She said with a smile
"Thanks. I like your dress, it really outlines your…I mean…it works."
"What you meant is that my ass looks cute in this dress."
"I didn't want to be presumptuous but yeah that's…that's what I meant."
"I know." She winked at him.
For the rest of the day Marc tried to avoid Wilhelmina as much as he possibly could because he didn't want to slip and yell 'I know you're doing pasty face!' He couldn't hear a word of what was said during the meetings of the day, he spent his time studying the couple's body language, how they were at ease with each other and when the meeting ended without a single insult from Willie to Daniel, that confirmed his suspicion.
He only managed to keep this secret for a few hours because Wilhelmina could tell that something was wrong and she kept asking him what the problem was. After work he decided to visit her and he stood in front of her door and he didn't care if he left without any appendages- as long as Willie told him how the hell she and pasty face ended up doing the nasty. He knocked on her door and waited as Willie took her time to get the door.
"Marc? What are you…"
"I know about you and Daniel." He blurted out before he lost his nerve