“We need another exit.”
The manager looked at Richard’s hand around my wrist, then met my eyes.
“Ma’am, do you want to go with him?”
“Sir, guests aren’t permitted through the kitchen.”
I pulled free.
“No. I don’t.”
The manager shifted between us.
One of the men from the SUV entered the restaurant.
I pulled free.
He spotted Richard near the kitchen and walked toward us.
“Richard.”
Richard pressed two fingers to his forehead.
The stranger stopped several feet away.
His anger seemed aimed entirely at my date.
He spotted Richard near the kitchen and walked toward us.
“Where are you going?”
I stayed beside the manager. “Who are you?”
The man looked surprised. “I’m Eleanor’s husband.”
“Who is Eleanor?”
“Where are you going?”
Richard studied the floor tiles.
“His daughter,” the man answered. “The daughter he asked to drive past this restaurant tonight.”
I turned toward Richard. “You arranged this?”
“His daughter.”
The man introduced himself as Daniel.
The other man was the driver, waiting near the SUV.
Neither had come for me.
“Eleanor thought you wanted her to see something,” Daniel told Richard. “Why did you run when we arrived?”
The man introduced himself as Daniel.
“I panicked.”
“Because of me?” I asked.
Richard rubbed the side of his thumb against his palm.
“I wanted Eleanor to see us together. She has worried about me since her mother died. I thought if she saw me enjoying dinner, she’d stop treating me like I was falling apart.”
“I panicked.”
The window table, the watch, and the heels settled into one ugly picture.
“You asked me to stand so your daughter couldn’t miss me.”
He looked toward the dining room rather than at me.
“You weren’t admiring my height,” I added. “You were using it as a sign in the window.”
The heels settled into one ugly picture.
“Marilyn, I do admire you.”
“Did you ever plan to tell me she was coming?”
His lips parted, but no answer followed.
The request for heels had made me feel chosen.
“Marilyn, I do admire you.”
Now I understood that Richard had chosen me partly because no passing car could overlook me.
A woman entered in a wheelchair and moved toward us with practiced, quick turns.
Daniel stepped aside.
Her eyes went first to Richard, then to me, and finally to the wrist I was rubbing.
A woman entered in a wheelchair.
“What happened?”
“Eleanor,” Richard began, “I can explain.”
She ignored him. “Ma’am, are you all right?”
“I’m Marilyn,” I said. “Your father grabbed me when he saw the SUV.”
Eleanor’s hand settled on one wheel. “Did he tell you I was coming?”
“What happened?”
“No.”
She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, as though she’d heard a version of this before.
“Dad, I agreed to drive past because you said there was something you wanted me to see. I didn’t agree to watch you turn a woman into part of an argument.”
She’d heard a version of this before.
“I wanted you to know I was fine, sweetheart.”
“Then you could have told me. You could have told her too.”
Richard looked smaller than he had at the entrance, and not because I was wearing heels.
“I wanted you to know I was fine, sweetheart.”
The manager offered to arrange a car for me.
Before leaving, I faced Richard.
“Richie, I came because I liked you.”
“I like you too,” he whispered.
The manager offered to arrange a car for me.
“Then you should have trusted me with the truth.”
He stepped forward.
My shoe moved back against the tile, and he stopped.
My granddaughter was waiting when I got home.
“You should have trusted me with the truth.”
I sat on the sofa and reached for the buckle on my left shoe, but my fingers kept missing it.
She knelt without asking and removed both heels.
I told her everything.
“Are you deleting the app?” she asked.
I told her everything.
