Lunangelique (The Lunangelique Series) (8 page)

Cole puts the keys in the ignition and starts the car. “Ready?” he asks shakily. I’ve never seen him appear nervous but he seems as nervous as I am about this date. That gives me the courage to lean over the console and kiss his cheek gently.

He turns to me and smiles. “Ready,” I tell him. And then lean in again to kiss his lips, the sweetest kiss we’ve yet to share. “Where are we going by the way?” I ask him, adjusting back in my seat as he puts the car into gear and shoots the car forward.

“Mahi Mah’s,” he responds. “Have you been there?”

I shake my head. “No, but I’ve been past it thousands of times.”

“Yeah, me too.” He navigates the car, going entirely way too fast than I would drive. “They have local bands perform there often and I thought that would be kind of cool to check out.”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome.” I’m concentrating more on his speedometer than him. He must have noticed because he lets up on the gas. “Thanks,” I sigh out in relief.

He grins at me and I look out the window to see we are already at the strip. Damn and I thought he slowed down on my benefit.

“No problem,” he responds, still grinning at my faux pas.

He parks the car in front of the hotel so the valet can take it. Parking in Virginia Beach in the summer is a disaster. You do not want to do it yourself because chances are; you will be parking a mile inland.

There are hotels lined up along three miles of Atlantic Avenue, many of the hotels have restaurants on the bottom floor, opening up to the street and the boardwalk behind it. Some of the hotels have parking garages but you have to be a guest to use them. There are a couple of other parking garages along the street but chances are, in the summer months, they’re full.

Cole gets out of the car and exchanges the keys for a ticket with the valet before coming around and opening my door. He entwines his fingers with mine and we set off next door to the restaurant. He opens the door for me as I enter and pull him in with our hands still entwined. We walk up to the hostess stand and Cole is about to speak to her when we hear a voice direct him from behind.

“Cole, what a pleasant surprise running into you here.” I turn to the man who has addressed Cole and find myself looking at a very handsome man to be about late twenties, maybe thirty-years-old. He has dark, dirty blond hair that is swooped to the side and deep blue eyes. I’m mesmerized by how striking his resemblance is to Alex.

“Hello, Edmund,” Cole addresses the man. “I didn’t realize you were in town.” It might just be me but Cole seems really nervous to see this Edmund here. And I am feeling an uncanny recognition to the man. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before but I feel like I should know him. Maybe it’s because of his resemblance to Alex. I told Alex this would happen: seeing someone who may be a family member but not knowing because we don’t know who our family is.

Edmund ignores Cole’s last statement and says, “Aren’t you going to introduce me to this stunning young lady?” He looks me up and down and then smiles at me like he’s approving me.

“I’m sorry how
rude
of me,” he pronunciates the word rude like he’s trying to make a point to Edmund. Maybe because Edmund is interfering with our date. “Alexis this is Edmund…”

“Edmund Kakabel,” Edmund interrupts Cole and sticks out his hand to shake mine. “It’s a great pleasure to meet you.” He looks at me with nothing but sheer delight on his face. It’s as if this is the greatest honor of his life.

“Pleasure to meet you too,” I tell him as he continues to hold on to my hand.

“Well, if you will excuse us, Edmund, we have dinner reservations.” He pulls me behind him so Edmund will release my hand.

“I was just coming here to eat too. Do you mind if I join you?” I’m a little disappointed in him asking. I really wanted to be alone with Cole. “I’m sorry,” Edmund says, reading the disappointment on my face. “I’m sure you guys wanted some privacy.” He pauses waiting for us to say something. “I’ll tell you what. I have two tickets to the eight o’clock showing at the Opera House. I’ll exchange those for a dinner with you. You’re not going to let me eat alone are you?” He gives me a pleading look and I can’t help but smile at his antics.

Cole shakes his head and turns to give me ‘what do you think’ look. I nod my consent. “Ok. You’ve given me no choice,” Cole tells Edmund, raising his arms in a gesture of defeat.

“Excellent,” Edmund responds and gestures for us to proceed.

After Cole gives the hostess his name and changes our reservation from two people to three, we are ushered to our table. Our table sits along the window that views the boardwalk and the local jazz band that is playing on the deck. Cole holds my chair out for me and then sits next to me, while Edmund sits across from us. Edmund continues to stare at me before asking me the usual questions of how me and Cole met, how old I am, where I grew up and school.

Eventually the waitress comes by to take our orders and gives me a break from his interrogation. I use the time to study Edmund as he orders his drink. I wonder if he is a relative, maybe an uncle or something. When our orders are done I take the opportunity to ask how they know each other.

“Cole and I go
way
back,” Edmund informs me.

“Edmund basically took me under his wing when I lost my parents,” Cole says. He gives Edmund a pointed look that I don’t really understand. Are they keeping something from me? I get the impression Cole is trying to get a story straight before Edmund messes it up.

“Yes, Cole was what you would call a troubled child. Gave me a hard time most of his life,” Edmund informs me.

Cole casually hands me the glass of wine he was able to order because the waitress never questioned to see his fake ID. I look at him beseechingly, afraid to get caught underage drinking.

“If you take it like you own it, no one will question you,” he tells me as I take the glass and sip a little. It’s bitter and sweet but moves down my throat smoothly. I like it. He sees the pleasure on my face and tells me, “It’s a cabernet sauvignon. One of my favorites.”

“It’s good,” I agree with his tastes. I try to hand it back to him but he presses it back into my hand and then swipes my diet coke.

“Don’t become a bad influence on the girl,” Edmund tells him.

“It’s wine, Edmund. People used to drink it on a daily basis. I’m not trying to corrupt her,” Cole retorts. Despite what he says, I feel like I am being corrupted. I’m not going to refuse it though, I still have the jitters and it will calm my nerves. Especially the new nerves brought on by meeting Edmund.

“True,” Edmund says and forces a small grin on his face.

Our meals come after that and we start to eat. I finish the glass of wine and Cole orders another one for me.  While we eat Edmund bombards me with more questions, asking me a lot about Alex. Bringing Alex up, I can’t help but inform Edmund that he looks just like him.

“Really?” Edmund sounds intrigued.

“Seriously, add ten more years to Alex and you guys would be the spitting image of each other,” I tell him. Meanwhile, Cole has stopped eating and pushes his plate from himself, staring at Edmund. “Are you okay?” I put my hand on his knee and he grasps my hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He turns to me and gives me a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “You’re right, there is a resemblance between them.” He eyes my plate. I’ve been pushing the food around for the past five minutes. “Are you finished eating?”

“Yes,” I say.

He nods towards my wine. “Finish the glass. I don’t want you being a nervous wreck while I drive.” He gives me a real smile this time. And as I did the last few times he told me to do something, I obey his command, noting that I am not doing it on my own, again.

The bill comes then, which causes Edmund and Cole to argue over who is going to take care of it. In the end Edmund wins by excusing himself to the bathroom and taking the bill directly to the waitress.

Cole turns to me with apologies written all over his face. “Can we have a do-over please? I’m sorry this night is not turning out the way we intended.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I tell him, pressing my forehead against his. “We got opera tickets out of the deal.” I smile at him, trying to cheer him up. I’m curious to know how he intended tonight to turn out but I’ll save the question for later.

Edmund shows back up at the table. “Thank you for a wonderful dinner. It has been such a pleasure to meet you. You are turning out to be an incredible woman. Your parents are definitely proud of you.”

“Thank you,” I respond. A little shocked that he would insinuate knowing what my parents thought.

“If I could talk to Cole alone for a moment? I won’t keep him away from you for long.” I nod my consent and he holds his hand out for me to shake again. “I look forward to seeing you again soon.” I release his hand and find he just handed me the opera tickets. He walks away quickly to the backdoor that leads to the boardwalk.

“I’ll be right back. Do you mind giving the valet the ticket while you wait?” Cole asks me.

“No, not at all.” I smile at him and he gives me a quick kiss on the lips. Our second sweet kiss. He hands me the ticket and then he hurries to catch up with Edmund.

I’m slow to collect my things as I try to read their body language while they talk outside. It’s the opposite of what it was when we were eating. Edmund now looks tense and angry and Cole looks defensive. I stop watching out of pity for Cole. If Edmund did raise Cole then Cole’s behavior to him was cruel and rude. Though I understand where Cole is coming from by having our date interrupted, he still shouldn’t have been so discourteous to Edmund.

I walk out of the restaurant, giving the hostess a smile when she gives me the ‘hope you have a good night’. I walk over to the valet and give him our ticket and watch him run off to fetch the car. I look toward the doors of the restaurant, anticipating Cole to walk out every time I see the door swing open. I’m waiting a good five minutes before I feel arms wrap around me from behind. I jump and turn around fast, gasping, “Oh my God.” I slap playfully at Cole’s chest. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry.” He sweeps little kisses across my cheeks as I close my eyes, savoring the feel of his lips and rubbing my face along the bristles of his stubble. He pulls back slowly. “The car is here.”

Chapter 6

I have the curiosity of a cat. I can’t hold back on all the questions I have about dinner so I start the assault almost immediately after we drive off.

“What did Edmund want to talk to you about?” I ask.

He doesn’t say anything and I notice he has a death grip on the steering wheel and the speedometer is inching higher.

“I’m sorry for asking. Call me Pandora,” I tell him.

He takes a deep breath, releases the pedal some and loosens his grip on the steering wheel. “You don’t need to apologize. He just has a bad habit of interfering with other people’s lives.” He doesn’t give me anymore explanation than that.

A silence grows until it’s too unbearable for me. I want to lighten the mood, especially his mood. I make my voice light and happy when I ask, “How did you plan for this night to turn out?”

He turns to look into my eyes and I see I made him smile again. “For one thing, I planned on us dining alone,” he says and I laugh.  “Then, we would have been dancing on the boardwalk so I could show off the most beautiful girl. After that, we would have sunk our feet in the sand and watched the moon’s reflection dance over the ocean’s waves.” He smiles at me again.

“That sounds really nice. We’ll have to do that some time,” I tell him. I place my hand over his, which is resting on the clutch, and entwine our fingers. All the nervous jitters from the start of the date are gone and I feel like I can finally relax. I hope it isn’t totally due to the glasses of wine I consumed.

My curiosity is still high on whom Edmund is but that knowledge will probably grow as I get to know Cole better. I just know that I’ve learned not to ask questions about Edmund because it obviously upsets Cole deeply. They must have had a rough past together. Maybe Cole never submitted to having someone other than his parents play the parental role. Cole must have been resentful and that’s why he acts so indifferent to him now.

I get lost in my thoughts and before I know it, ten minutes after leaving the beach, we are pulling up to the Opera House, a drive that on average takes about thirty minutes. Cole again uses the valet that is offered and escorts me into the building. We give the usher our tickets and are escorted to balcony seats, front and center.

I look around at the old theater, reminiscing past plays and ballets I’ve been to here with my family. The theater is in definite need of remodeling but has the old age feel that isn’t really inspired these days. The walls are all in red with tattered curtains and the seats have seen some better days. There are balcony, boxed seats along the sides, but I learned from experience that those are not the better seats. When I was a kid, my mom had gotten us tickets to ‘The Nutcracker’ and surprised me with the box seating, but I couldn’t see past the seats in front of us. Someone totally messed up when they designed the box seating.

“What are you thinking about?” Cole asks me after we take our seats.

“I’m just reminiscing the times I’ve been here before,” I answer him.

“Have you been here often?”

“Yeah,” I admit. “Almost every Christmas for ‘The Nutcracker’ and then a few plays and ballets in-between.”

He takes my hand and starts playing with my fingers. I’m glad I had that manicure done today. “Ever been here with another guy,” he asks me, keeping his eyes on my fingers.

“Nope.” I’m going to leave it at that but it seems he wants some kind of assurance. “I’ve never been out with a guy I thought of as more than a friend,” I admit to him.

He looks up into my face and smiles wide. “Do you expect me to believe that?”

“I’m being truthful. I’ve gone to school functions on a “date”,” I add the quotations for emphasis. “And I’ve kissed a few boys, but I was never really interested enough to take it farther than that, never progressed past a first date or first kiss. The kisses were more like ‘you’re a boy and I’m a girl and I want to practice kissing someone.’ Never intimate.”