by Sam Mariano
"She's really nice," Aaron remarked. "I wonder if she wants a different job."
"Hey, no shop talk."
"What? I could use another waitress. Or a hostess. Do you think she's cute?"
"Oh my God, if you say you do, we are not finishing this date," Julie stated, turning around and looking at Aaron, eyebrows as high as they could go.
He raised his eyebrows in response and said, "Me? No, I don't think she is personally. She's… totally unattractive to me, but when I'm hiring waitresses… in the back of my mind, yeah, I might consider how the average customer might… You know what, never mind. Let's make a bear."
Julie made an exaggerated pout, then she turned around and picked another bear skin out of the bin. Turning back around, she held them both up. "Which one do you like?"
He glanced between both of them and then pointed to the one in her right hand. "I think that one."
"Okay," she said with a nod. "I like this one too. And yes, the bubbly blonde is attractive."
Smiling, he said, "We have dropped the subject."
Sighing, she said, "We don't have to drop the subject. I'm just… not used to you, I'm used to Jack, and if I went out on a date with Jack and he saw a girl he found reasonably attractive he had absolutely no problem telling me just how hot he finds her. It has always made me crazy, even back when we were friends and not really dating. But you're not Jack, and you're not going to sleep with her, so… you're right. She's very pretty, she's very friendly, and she would probably make a very good waitress. Now, let's go stuff the bear."
"Hey," he said, lightly grabbing her around the waist and pulling her back, leaning around her shoulder and placing a little kiss on her cheek. "I have no interest in anyone but you, Julie."
Grinning, she said, "I know. And I'm sorry if now and in the future we have little moments like that where a trigger of mine is… pushed."
"Hey, we all have triggers. I'm hardly the most trigger-free guy in the world. If someone says the name Matt even talking to someone else, I feel every nerve in my body tense."
"Well, at least we can be freaks together."
Chuckling, he said, "There's your silver lining."
With a smile, Julie took his hand and hauled him back to finish making their bear.
---
Aaron took Julie and their new bear named Poppy Seed back to the car after Build-A-Bear, then he hauled them away from Navy Pier and onto the second portion of their date.
"So, where are you taking me now?" she asked, taking his hand as they walked up the sidewalk. "Crib-shopping?"
Smiling, he said, "No, this is the more traditional part of our date. I hope you're hungry."
"Mm," she said, rubbing her tummy. "I'm pregnant; I'm always hungry."
"When you're not nauseated, you mean?"
"Eh, the baby is being very good recently. Hopefully I'm on my way out of morning sickness."
Glancing down at his feet, he ventured to say, "You know, we should probably start going through places. I know it seems like we still have a while before the baby comes, but there's paperwork to take care of once we find a place you actually like, the nursery and everything needs to be decorated, our stuff needs to be moved…"
"I thought we had already discussed that it's too soon for that."
"But I don't think it is," he disagreed. "And next month I'm opening up Flavor; I'm not going to have a lot of spare time to go apartment hunting. I was hoping we could get started on that soon, that way if we find something we both like, we can start the ball rolling."
"Well… I haven't been looking or anything, I thought we still had a lot of time."
"I found one you might like. I actually stumbled across it on accident," he admitted.
"Oh yeah? How's that?" she asked curiously.
"Well, I was looking at this other property from a guy I know—he's in the middle of a pretty ugly divorce and he was selling this space cheap to free up some money, so he was showing it to me to consider buying it off him. Anyway, the realtor and I got to talking and I told him about my situation and needing a bigger place, and he suggested this nice little two bedroom condo. I saw the print-out, it looks really cute, he said it's bright inside, everything is really nice, and… I don't know, I thought it was something you might be interested in."
Frowning, she said, "You're buying another space?"
"I already did. I had to, the deal was too good to pass up. It's eight apartment units and two retail units and he sold it to me dirt cheap. The apartments needed some work—I've actually already been over there and fixed some of it when I was trying to avoid you—but I already have one of them rented out, one of them that I just cleaned up I already have someone scheduled to go through, and… I mean, it was a golden investment."
"Are they livable?"
"Some of them. One of the apartments is really nasty, I'm going to have to gut it completely, but the one he already has rented to someone must not be too bad, and the one I cleaned out with all my free time wasn't bad, it just needed some TLC."
"And the other ones?"
"All need work, but I still have some time to work on those before Flavor opens and what I'm bringing in from the two apartments I'm going to be renting out pretty much pays my monthly payment on the whole unit. Not quite, but once I get another unit up and running that should cover it. By the time I get four rented out I'll be seeing some profit."
Shaking her head, Julie stated, "Aaron, you're too ambitious."
"Nah, I just want to give our little poppy seed a nice life," he said, giving her a little smile.
"Which we could do with your income from the café alone, and once I get my bachelor's degree I'll be able to help out, too."
Shrugging, he said, "Getting the place cleaned up will be the most work; once I get the place fixed and rented out I’ll just have to maintain it. I've never minded work, Julie."
"I know," she said with a slight nod. "But I want you to want to be home more than you want to be at work."
Chuckling, he said, "Well, obviously."
"Can we afford all this?" she asked, beginning to get concerned. "I mean… I'm only working part-time, and I'm working for you. You're running the café, opening another restaurant, buying apartment buildings and now looking at a condo? Why don't we just stay where we are at least until we make sure we can finance all this?"
Laughing, Aaron said, "Julie, if I couldn't finance it I wouldn't be doing it. Don't worry about it."
Realizing she really knew nothing at all about Aaron's financial situation, she began to wonder about it. She should probably check into that if they were going to get serious.
"Well… why don't I help you?"
"With what?"
"With the apartments. I mean, I can't do any of the big manual labor because I'm pregnant, but I could do simple things like cleaning the apartments up and helping you pick out stuff."
"The apartment I'm working in now does need to be completely retiled," he acknowledged. "You could probably help me pick that out and do some of the easier stuff. I could take you through it if you want."
Smiling, she told him, "I would love that. I want to be included, I want to help out. And I'm a good decorator, too; I could help you make the apartments really cute."
"You can't do very much, you're pregnant."
"I may not be able to lift a couch over my head, but I can certainly pick things out," she reasoned.
"True," he allowed. "You can pick colors and things like that." Then he looked up and smiled a little. "But enough shop talk, we're arriving at our second part of the date."
"Oooh," she said teasingly, smiling up at him. "What is it?"
Just as she asked they arrived at a little shop front that she couldn't see in, because there was some sort of black covering over the window. Frowning a little, she said, "You're going to murder me and hide the body, aren't you?"
"Damn, you ruined the surprise."
"Let me at least freshen up my lipstick first."
Aaron tossed a smile her way and then he stopped in front of the door, getting a key out and putting it in the lock. He held the door open, gesturing for her to walk in.
Giving him a funny smile, she walked through the door and walked up the three steps onto the raised hardwood floor. To her left and right were beautifully upholstered beige and burgundy seats that ran the length of the wall to the hostess booth. In front of the booths there were short round tables—two on each side.
Inside she was met with the sound of Frank Sinatra playing from the speakers and a smiling blond girl in a little black dress who came walking from the hostess booth holding two menus.
"This," Aaron said, lightly placing a hand at her elbow as he walked up beside her, "is my new restaurant."
Grinning, she said, "It isn't open yet."
"I figured we could be the first customers."
"Are you going to give yourself a discount?" she asked teasingly.
"Of course; why do you think I brought you here?"
The hostess turned around and led them over to a booth in the back right corner with brand new burgundy seats and a lit candle in the center of the table. Julie scooted in and looked around, taking in the ambiance of the restaurant.
Aaron caught her glance and confirmed her thoughts by saying, "That is where people wait to be seated. When the place is actually open, there's going to be a tray with glasses on each table for anyone who might be thirsty. There will also be menus available for anyone who wants to get a head start."
Smiling, she said, "This place is really nice."
The whole restaurant was nice—nicer than any she had been to. The hardwood floors were new and shiny, all of the seats were lavish and inviting. The walls were the same wood as the floor, but there were paintings and plants hanging on each side, and the wall at the very back of the restaurant were covered completely in mirrors, except for two doors, one marked "ladies" and one marked "gentlemen."
"You like it?" he asked, pulling her from her appraisal.
"Like it? I love it—it's amazing."
He handed her a menu, which she realized she had forgotten to take from the blonde. Looking up at the girl, she said, "Oh, sorry."
The young woman just smiled. "No problem. Can I start you off with something to drink?"
"Just water for me," Julie said.
"Iced tea for me, Kelsie. Thank you," replied Aaron.
Smiling at him across the table, Julie said, "Thank you for bringing me here. This is completely perfect."
"The restaurant or the date?" he asked teasingly.
"Both. And you. Everything."
Leaning over, he placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I'm glad you think so."
"And thank you for getting me Poppy Seed the bear."
Shrugging, he said, "Technically he's not for you."
"Thank you anyway," she said. "This date got off to a rough start, but it's definitely turning out to be the best date of my life."
"Wow, best date of your whole life. That's some date. Were all the other ones ice hockey games and community service gigs?"
"Yeah," she drawled. "And then there was that one surprise bungee jumping date…"
"I thought so," he said with a little smile, betraying the solemn tone he tried to keep.
"Next on my agenda, since you moved us into baby talk… I want to start stocking the baby's library. I've decided that each paycheck I get, I'm going to go to the bookstore and pick a quality piece of children's literature for Poppy Seed's first year. I want a wide variety, and I want to read to him or her at least twice a day."
"Agreed," he said with a nod. "I'll get a bookshelf as soon as we get this whole apartment issue settled."
Glancing up as Kelsie brought them their drinks, Julie said, "So… you still want to pursue that?"
"Yes."
"Completely disregarding my logical idea to wait and make sure you like dating me before we move in together officially?"
"Exactly."
"And if I turn out to be a complete troll who has just been charming you thus far…?"
"I will build you a bridge to live under."
Feigning irritation, she said, "How am I going to get rid of you now?"
"If you ever want to, just sleep with Matt. I promise it'll do the trick."
Wrinkling up her nose, she said, "Eh, I think I'd prefer to live under the bridge."
With a wide smile, he said, "Hey, good answer."
"My turn," she said, rubbing her hands together. "Hey, you know, that Kelsie girl is really pretty."
"Is she? I hadn't even noticed."
Grinning, she said, "Oh, you're good at this, too."
Aaron shook his head, saying, "You are crazy."
Kelsie was approaching the table again with a basket of bread and butter, and she said she was going to bring out the salads, and asked which dressing they wanted.
"Italian for me," Aaron said.
"Ranch please," Julie requested.
"Those will be right out, then I'll take your order."
Raising her eyebrows Julie said, "Oh, we're really ordering? I figured since we were the only ones here…"
Aaron shook his head. "No, you can order whatever you want. Personally, I recommend the pesto. It's pretty amazing."
Nodding her head, she said, "I will trust you on that, and if you're wrong… we can stop at Pizza Hut on the way home."
"It's a deal," he agreed, smiling at her.
---
"Songs. I could write songs about how good that pesto was," Julie stated as she and Aaron walked up the hallway to their apartment.
"Oh my God, the list continues?" he asked, exasperated.
"Endlessly. I would even write the songs on those little grains of rice, like those guys at the mall write names on. Yeah, I would write poems and love songs to pesto—or, the cook for making pesto."
"Keep you away from the cook," he said with a nod, pulling his key out of his pocket. "Noted."
"Let's see, what do we have now?"
Sighing, Aaron said, "You would choreograph a dance routine for the pesto. You would choreograph an interpretive dance to interpret pesto. You would name a country after pesto. You would name your child after pesto. Since I said no, you suggested we get a fish named Pesto, which you would feed pesto and inadvertently kill, and then we would have a funeral for Pesto. Along the way you said you would perform cheers for pesto, write poetry for pesto, take pictures of pesto, and finally write songs—even on grains of rice. I think you liked the pesto."
"It was so good. I would write a book about it."
"You need a self-help book," he stated.
Grinning at him, she said, "It's not my fault, you should have never recommended it."
"Well, I've never made it myself, so you're going to have to temper this addiction with something else."
"Mm, I have just the thing," she said, lightly grabbing him by the arm to slow down and then catching up to him, leaning in against his shoulder and giving him a little kiss on his cheek.
"I can only hope you like me as much as pesto."
"Maybe after tonight," she said with a nod.
"Vixen," he stated, shaking his head, but lightly twining his hand around her waist and pulling her closer, giving her a slightly longer kiss on the lips.
Sighing against his mouth, she said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm so glad we got this first date thing out of the way."
"I'm getting the feeling you're just using me for sex," he said, his tone playfully offended.
Smiling wickedly, she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him against her, backing up against the wall and asking, "Is that going to be a problem?"
"Not at all," he said, closing the distance between them again. He kissed her longer that time, taking his time to gently kiss every inch of her mouth—even light kisses in the corners, which made her smile—and pushing her gently up against the wall.
Julie's hands worked their way up his sides and around his back, pullin
g him even closer as they continued to kiss right there in the hallway.
"Someone could catch us out here," he murmured against her throat, trailing kisses down her neck.
"I can't say that I care right now."
He trailed his kisses back up her neck, lingering around her ear and nibbling a bit, then finally making his way to her lips and placing a quick kiss on her nose before leaning his forehead against hers and smiling a little.
"We need to go inside," he stated.
"I couldn't agree more," she said, anticipation warming her body.
Hand in hand, they walked inside, and Aaron kicked the door shut behind them, locking the door and going to switch on the light, then hesitating. "Do we really need this?"
"No," she said, taking his hand and leading him back toward the bedroom.
"So, despite your impatience, did you enjoy the date?"
"Once we left the apartment building, very much," she said, pulling him inside the bedroom and peeling off her coat.
"I really am sorry about that," Aaron said, a slight grimace on his face as he peeled the coat off. "I didn't mean to get all… Misery on you."
Smiling as she walked over to him and began unbuttoning his shirt, she said, "If you start reminding me of Kathy Bates, then I'll worry."
"I really want to trust you, and I… have no reason not to."
"I know," she said, trailing light kisses down his neck as she unbuttoned the last of the buttons and pulled the shirt back, easing it down over his muscled arms until she could push it in the floor. "And I understand. When someone wrongs you like that, it makes it harder to trust—especially considering the parallel in our situations. You don't trust me yet, but you will. I know that you will."
"You do?" he murmured, reaching out and unbuttoning her shirt as well.
"Yes. You will have no reason not to."
Goosebumps spread all over as his thumb lightly brushed the skin of her stomach as he undid the last button, pulling her shirt back exactly as she had and pushing it to the floor.
"You're very understanding, has anyone ever told you that?"
Chuckling a little, she said, "Actually, no."
"You are. And beautiful, very beautiful."
Closing her eyes as he trailed his hand down her cheek and along her jaw line, Julie sighed, leaning into him ever so slightly.
