“No. I've had my coffee and I'm not even hung-over this morning.” I started straightening my pajamas like he could see me. And like it would matter that Betty Boop's ass looked crooked on my nightshirt.
“Are you usually hung-over on Saturday mornings?”
“No! I just meant that I might have gotten a hangover from last night because I don't usually drink a lot. I would have stopped after two beers and a shot but Mark pawned his shot off on me too.”
“You do remember that we’re supposed to go out tonight?” he teased.
“I wasn’t drunk!”
“So you remember hooking up?”
“What?” I heard him start laughing. He was kidding. Whew.
“Where did you want to go tonight?” He still sounded amused.
“It's not fancy,” I said hesitantly.
“Good. I wear a tie five days a week.”
“It's not that far from my apartment and we could walk there if you didn't mind.”
“Great, the weather's beautiful.”
“It's Middle Eastern food. Is that okay?”
“That's fine.”
“You're very easy to get along with outside of court.”
“Are you saying that I’m not easy to get along with in court?”
“You can be tough sometimes.”
“So can you.”
“You’re being very easy right now though.”
“Maybe I’m hoping you’ll be easy later.” He laughed and I felt myself start to sweat. “I’m teasing you. I said that I would leave everything up to you and I’m fine with all of your suggestions. It just so happens that I like casual, I like walking and I like Middle Eastern food.”
“Okay, well if you like walking we could go for a walk after we ate.”
“Sure. Did you have somewhere in particular you wanted to go?”
“Yeah, it's close by though. Either you'll appreciate it as much as I do or you'll think I'm kind of nuts but it would probably be better that you knew that going in.”
“What time should I pick you up?” he asked, sounding very amused now.
“How about six o'clock? I live in the Chatham. It's just off of Walnut…”
“I know exactly where it is. I live two blocks away from you.”
“Well, that would make a booty call very easy. Oh shit. I said that out loud too didn't I?” I heard him laugh really hard. Good, hopefully he thought I was joking.
“Gabrielle?”
“Yes?”
“I also like you.” I wanted to throw down my phone, jog the two blocks and throw myself into his arms.
“Yeah, well I like you too even if you do put my clients in jail. See you later Mr. Prosecutor.”
“See you later Ms. Saucy Mouth.”
We hung up and I collapsed onto the sofa and starting kicking my legs and making a noise so high-pitched that it probably attracted every canine on the block and was picked up by sonar in the Atlantic. Jess, who had tactfully left me alone, came running back in.
“Jesus, Gabrielle! Are you having a seizure?!”
“Please please please can I keep him mom? I promise I'll take care of him! Oh baby, I’ll take care of him!”
“Good lord. She's finally gone around the bend. Can I have your Manolos when they come to take you away?”
“Jessica, he's so sexy! He’s got such a great sense of humor and he was totally comfortable with me choosing everything. He even said something kinda sorta romantic. I've heard that such men existed but I've never seen one up close.”
“Well, we need to make sure we don't frighten him off. We'll approach him very slowly and speak in quiet gentle tones. Put on some nice perfume and let him sniff you.”
“God, I hope he doesn't think I'm nuts after tonight.”
“Oh don't worry honey. I'm sure that he already knows that you're nuts.”
* * *
At five-thirty Jess was sitting on my bed paging through Glamour while I got ready.
“It says that brown eye shadow really makes hazel eyes pop.”
“Why would I want my eyes to pop?” I asked, pulling a brush through my hair. I was leaving it down even though it was a warm night because he had seemed to find it so appealing the night before. I figured that if I was willing to shove my feet into high heels every day I had already demonstrated a willingness to undergo a little discomfort in the interest of looking good.
“You know what I mean.” Jess was the fashion and beauty expert of the two of us. She always looked great. Of course it didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous. She had long auburn hair, big chocolate brown eyes, creamy white skin and seriously dangerous curves. She couldn’t look bad if she tried.
“What are you wearing?” I picked up a short cotton skirt and a white scoop neck top.