Carolyn Long felt the burning sensation in her cheeks from the happy embarrassment as she listened to her co-workers tease her about her date. The sound of the knife banged against the tiles of the old white prep counter as she chopped up tomatoes. The red juices stained her fingers as she rushed through her nightly chores and the faint smell of dirt from the tomato's previous home danced through her nostrils.
"So lover boy's picking you up here? I'd be concerned if he wasn't such an old fuddy duddy," she heard Cheryl, the oldest of the waitress, ask of her. She could see the hint of excitement in the older woman's tired eyes.
"Yep," she answered with a growing smile, "that means I've got to hurry and get this crap done so I can change. I bought the cutest dress just for the occasion," she chuckled as she thought of how childlike she sounded, but she continued on in the same excited tone, "You have no idea how excited I am for this night! I've waited so long. I can't believe he actually called me! He didn't text me! He called me," she rolled her eyes at her own ramblings, "I really hope this works out."
"Well you've been pining' over him for months," Cheryl said, "Everyone was starting to take a bet on whether or not lover boy would ever catch on."
"I'm really nervous though," Carolyn heard herself admit as she looked away from the older woman that had on so many occasions given her advice on life, "I just really want this to work out. If it doesn't," she shrugged her shoulders, "I think I'll have to swear off men forever."
"It's going to be fine," Cheryl informed her with a reassuring pat on her shoulder, "Soon you'll be Mrs. Dr. Cute Asshole!"
She smiled at the older lady and shook her head as she recalled how all the other waitresses complained about having Frederick Chilton as their customer because he was always so picky about what was put on his plate. He'd never been picky with her. They'd always had polite conversations and he'd never complained about the food. He'd always been the perfect gentleman to her.
She thought back over how many long conversations that had passed between them when it was late at night, close to closing time when it was just the two of them in the dining area. He'd told her bits and pieces about his life, about the hospital, the accident, and plenty of corny jokes that she laughed wholeheartedly at just because they came from his devilishly kissable lips. She'd told him things about herself, about how she was going to go back to school in the fall to continue on with her degree in criminal law.
"Uh! I can't stop shaking," she heard herself complain as she watched the knife shake in her hand, "I'm just so nervous!"
"You deserve this Lynnie," Cheryl informed her, "After everything, you are the one person in this hole that deserves a great guy for once."
As the words soaked into her head, she felt her heart fall just a bit. She'd never had luck picking men. She felt the small ache in her heart as she thought of the man that she had a date with. She so badly wanted him to be Mr. Perfect that it hurt her heart to think about him being another Mr. Wrong.
"I hope you're right," she stated simply as she wiped the tomato juice from her fingers upon her apron.
"Hey," Cheryl stated with a smile, her voice took on a motherly quality, "I'll take care of your chores. You go get dressed."
"Cheryl, you don't have to-"
"Go get dressed to knock lover boy out when he gets here," Cheryl interrupted as she took the knife from Carolyn's hands.
She smiled at the older woman that had two teenage daughters of her own. She could feel the sparkle in her eyes as she watched the woman take over her boring chore.
"Thank you," she whispered as she pulled herself away from the waitress station and towards the old break room where she had hung her dress up.
She cut through the kitchen and smiled at the cook, Sammy.
"You goin' to see your boyfriend tonight," Sammy asked, his voice was deep and reminded her too much of Louis Armstrong.
She smiled at him. She loved when Sammy teased her about her favorite customer. He'd tease her for the way she seemed to bounce about when Frederick was present or how her face was going to split in half from smiling so wide. She'd never tell him that she enjoyed the teasing though.
"He's not my boyfriend," she repeated the same banter for what seemed to be the millionth time.
"That big ol' smile of yours says otherwise," Sammy teased as he pointed at her face.
She forced the smile away, but was unsuccessful and shook her head just as her cheeks turned red once again from the happy embarrassment.
"Wish I could get a girl to smile at me the way the doc gets you to smile," Sammy informed her, "Must be that big ol' degree he's got that does it!"
"Maybe so. How 'bout I let you know," she called out to him as she hurried into the break room to grab her dress.
Carolyn grabbed her purse and her dress and hurried into the bathroom to begin prepping for her date. As she hurried to rip her uniform off, thoughts of how pathetic it was that she had to have her date come pick her up at her work place.
It didn't take long until she had the dress in place. The white fabric fell over her curves and the sleeves were long to protect her from the chilly wind. She could feel the fabric dance against her flesh as she flattened out the small wrinkles and stepped into her lucky black flats that she only wore on special occasions.
She looked to her reflection and smiled. She didn't want to seem to out of place in the little hole in the wall jazz club. She had picked a dress that was cute, but not too flashy. She decided to leave her hair in a ponytail and re-applied her make-up in an attempt to hide the tired lines on her face.
She didn't want to seem too eager to please, though she felt that way on the inside. She wanted the good doctor to see in a good light so he'd ask her out again.
She really wanted him to be Mr. Perfect. She needed him to be Mr. Perfect. Those thoughts had plagued her mind all throughout her work day.
"Hey the doc is here," Sammy announced as he knocked on the bathroom door, successfully pulling her from her thoughts, "You really ridin' into town with him?"
"Yeah," she asked as she examined herself in the mirror for the final time. She could hear her confusion in her voice as she looked into the mirror at her furrowed brows.
"You not worried that he may be some kind of psycho killer or somethin'?"
Carolyn rolled her eyes. She felt as if her eyes were going to fall out of her head as the words rippled through the wooden door. She shook her head and allowed a soft chuckle escape her as she collected her uniform from the floor along with her work shoes.
"I'm sure a killer would have better taste," she said as she turned to open the door to reveal her new attire to the cook, "than to eat the food that you slop up."
Sammy smiled at her new appearance and made a sound of aww to tease her, "Damn I should have become a doctor."
"Do I look okay," she asked as she once again flattened the skirt with her shaking hands.
"You look good," Sammy informed her with a sly smile, "If your boyfriend don't think so then kick him to the curb."
"He's not my boyfriend," she said with a large smile and then shrugged her shoulders, "Well not yet anyways."
She smiled as Sammy walked beside her. She could smell the grease from the kitchen on his shirt from his close proximity along with the soft hint of salt from the sweat that dripped from his forehead when the diner received a bit of a rush.
Carolyn could feel the excitement bubble inside her stomach as she walked out of the kitchen and into the dining area. She watched as Frederick Chilton made himself busy by pretending to be interested in the old photographs of the owner's old cars that had been collected over the years. She took in his attire. He wore the simple navy blue suit that she loved seeing him in. She observed him for only a moment as he leaned into his cane as his absorbed the figures in the old, sepia photographs.
"Dr. Chilton," she heard herself say with a bit too much happiness in her voice, she cleared her throat in an attempt to rid the over excitement from her voice, "I'm sorry you had to come pick me up, I wasn't planning on it."
She watched as the man of her dreams turned to look at her. She felt the bubble of happiness ripple through her as she watched his eyes sparkle at the sight of her in something other than her boring uniform.
She returned his smile as he replied after a few ticks from the clock on the wall, "I think you may have taken my breath away for just a moment."
She heard herself giggle at his attempted flirtation as she watched him place his hand upon his chest in attempt to be dramatic. She could feel the eyes of her co-workers on her back as she stood within Mr. Perfect's presence.
"Well thank you, Doctor," she replied as she leaned in ever so slightly, "you don't look so bad yourself, certainly a bit peppier. Am I to thank for that extra pep?"
She smiled successfully as she watched Frederick's smile grow even larger and the sparkle in his eye shine brighter from happiness that seemed like he could barely contain within him.
"Under the circumstances," Frederick announced as he pulled open the glass door for her to walk through first, "I feel as if we should explore the possibility of us referring to each other on a first name basis considering this new development in our relationship. Call me Frederick."
She felt her heart skip a beat as he opened the passenger side door for her. The butterflies fluttered in her stomach as his words rippled through her mind and the smell of his cologne danced through the night air.
She really hoped he was her Mr. Perfect.