Chapter Two

Cliff sat at the table he had reserved in the restaurant, waiting, again. He texted Pam while he skimmed the appetizer menu for the third time. 'She's coming, right? Did I scare her off?'

His phone beeped with Pam's response, 'Yes Cliff, she's coming. Good luck on your date. And Cliff, don't run her over this time.'

He grumbled while he typed out his reply. 'That's real funny Pam. You're a real comedian.'

"Hi. Sorry I'm late. There was more traffic than I was expecting."

Cliff looked up from his phone. Kayla looked ravishing in her little black dress. "I just got here myself." he lied.

"I'll probably be late to my own funeral."

"Really, it's okay. Maybe we can start over, start fresh? I'm Cliff." He held his hand out across the table. "Thanks for giving me a second chance, I probably didn't deserve it. But I'm glad you did."

"I'm Kayla." She shook his hand gently. "Pam didn't tell me you were so cute."

"Don't let the looks fool you. I'm really quite boring."

"Oh, how so?"

"I'm an accountant. There, my dirty little secret is out of the way. Just a boring ole accountant, I stare at numbers all day. But hey, it pays the bills, and I'm good at it."

"That doesn't sound so bad Cliff. Sometimes exciting jobs aren't all they're cracked up to be. Trust me, I know."

The waiter interrupted them to take their orders.

Cliff handed his menu to the waiter while Kayla ordered. He caught himself staring at Kayla's dirty blonde hair. The long lockes of wavy hair spilled over her shoulders in the most pleasant way. He realized she caught him looking. They shared a smile.

"The food's good here, right? I've never eaten here before."

"It is, especially the pasta. So what do you do Kayla? You mentioned something about excitement?"

"Oh, it's not. Really, it's not. I work for the state. It's not even worth mentioning. I won't bore you with the details. I'm sure you've heard what working for the government is like. There's a lot of paperwork and monotony."

"But the benefits are good?"

"That's true I suppose. I do have an amazing health plan."

"I hope you don't mind me asking this, but were there any scars from the accident? I would hate knowing I did that to you."

"No it's fine. It was just a silly bump on the head. There's a small scar, and it's healing nicely. I covered it up with some makeup. Look, you can't even see it." She motioned to her forehead.

"That's great, really great. When I found you, there was so much blood. It really scared me."

"Okay, let's talk about something else, like how good this food looks!" Kayla stared at the plate as the waiter placed it in front of her. "It looks so fancy. I don't want to mess it up!" she laughed.

"Trust me, you want to try that." Cliff didn't hesitate to dig in.

Kayla pulled her phone out of her purse and took a picture of her plate. "Don't look at me like that. I don't get to eat fancy food like this all the time. I just want a memento. It's not weird!"

"It's a LITTLE weird." Cliff chuckled.

"Whatever," she said, taking her first bite. "Mmm." She waited until she was finished chewing and swallowing to speak again. "You were right. It's tasty."

"So how did you meet Pam?" Cliff asked.

"She's my cousin. You know what that means..."

"Oh boy," he sighed.

"That's right," Kayla grinned, "if we hit it off, you'll get to see even more of Pam!"

"Don't get me wrong, I like Pam and all--"

"But," Kayla interrupted.

"But, she's so nosey. I swear that woman knows everything about everyone." He could tell by Kayla's laughter that he was preaching to the choir.

"So Pam didn't tell you ANYTHING about me?"

"No, just that she had a cute friend she wanted me to meet."

"Yeah, that sounds like Pam. And you've never seen me before?"

"Uhh, I don't think so. Pam didn't show me any pictures or anything. Are you famous or something?"

"No, I just have one of those faces. Sometimes people think they recognize me."

"Are you secretly a porn star?" he whispered quietly across the table.

Kayla laughed, slapping his hand. "Oh my God, no! I didn't mean anything like THAT."

She didn't pull her hand away from his right away, so Cliff held it gently. "You have nice hands." Her hands were small, with narrow fingers. He slipped his thumb up to her small wrist, tenderly massaging her warm skin.

"I need that back. I'm not done eating." She smiled, looking down at her hand.

"I don't know, I might hold onto it for a while. I like holding it."

Kayla pulled her hand free, replacing it with a large breadstick. "You can hold onto that instead."

"Do you believe in love at first sight, you know, Cupid and all that? Sorry, that's corny. It's corny, right?"

"I guess when he forgets his bow, he has to improvise. I think I would have preferred an arrow instead of a car."

Cliff couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry! I promise I'm not laughing at you."

"It is a little funny when you think about it." Kayla set her fork down and picked up her napkin, wiping at her lips. "I can't eat another bite. I'm stuffed!"

"Really? There's a lot left on your plate. If you don't like it, we can order something else."

"No, no, I loved it. Honestly, I'm full. I'll get the waiter to bring me a to-go box."

"Oh. Okay then." Cliff stopped the waiter as he was walking by, handing him his credit card and asking for a to-go box.

"I definitely want to eat here again. I bet they have a lot of good food."

"They really do." Cliff took his receipt from the waiter. "Can I walk you to your car?"

"Sure."

Cliff stood up with Kayla. He instantly noticed how much shorter she was. Even with high heels on, he was several inches taller than her. He grabbed her to-go box from the table.

"If accounting doesn't pan out, you could always try out for the NBA." She smiled up at him, taking his free hand.

Cliff walked her out to the parking lot, pleased to have such wonderful company. She was friendly and funny. And the way she smelled, God she smelled nice. He wondered if she might be the one. No, it was too early to start thinking that way. If he wasn't careful, he might jinx it.

"That's my fucking car!" Kayla screamed.

Cliff was ripped from his pleasant thoughts, as Kayla's hand was tugged free from his. He watched her chasing after the tow truck in her dress and heels, screeching like a banshee.

"You can't take my car! Get back here you asshole!"

She finally stopped chasing the truck carrying her car. It was long gone anyway. "That really sucks." he offered.

"Why? Why the hell are they towing my car? This is unbelievable."

"I can give you a ride home. It's no trouble at all."

She sighed heavily. "I'd appreciate that."

They climbed into his car quietly, driving out of the parking lot.

"There better not be a single scratch on my car when I get it back. I'll sue the crap out of those idiots if there is."

"If there's a fine or something you have to pay to get the car back, I'll take care of that. I guess it's kind of my fault. It was my idea to eat here after all."

"No one's paying those morons a single cent. I know people. I have connections. I'm not paying anything. They're going to give me my car back, FOR FREE, and then they're going to apologize."

Cliff watched while Kayla programmed her address into the GPS display on the dash. "That's not very far from here. I'll have you home in no time."

"I had a great time. Yeah, the tow truck sucked. But you know, other than that, it was good."

"On a scale of one to five, one meaning you never want to see me again and five meaning you want to go on another date some time soon; how would you rate me?"

"Seriously?"

"Don't look at me like that. I love numbers. It's part of being an accountant I suppose. It's not weird. At least I don't take pictures of my food..."

"Five," she laughed, "definitely a five."

"I would've settled for a four."

"Okay, four then."

"Nope, you can't do that. You already said five! No taking it back." Cliff weaved through some residential streets, following the GPS to Kayla's street.

"It's the last house on the left."

"Got it." He parked his car in her driveway.

"You wanna come in for a drink?" she asked.

"Sure, I'd love to. Is that okay? I mean, I'm not trying to pressure you into anything."

"Relax Cliff, I'm a classy gal. I don't put out until the second date."

He blinked at her a few times. "Uh..."

"I'm kidding. Okay? Oh wow, lighten up a little. I think you really do need a drink." She laughed quietly as she opened the car door.

"Oh, ha. That was a good one."

Kayla led Cliff into her house. She stepped through the front door, kicking off her heels.

"You have a nice house."

"Thanks. You want some wine? Or beer, I have beer too."

Cliff sat down on her sofa while she grabbed something for them to drink from her kitchen. It really was a nice home, with fancy furniture made from polished mahogany. There were some paintings on the walls that looked semi-expensive. He got the impression she had money, maybe lots.

Kayla returned with a beer and a glass of wine. "I don't have any of that light stuff, just real beer. I hope that's okay."

"That's perfect." He gladly took the bottle of beer from her, taking a few quick sips.

She sat down beside him, folding one of her legs into her lap. She rubbed her foot with her free hand. "I should've known better than to chase after that stupid truck in those heels." she said, sipping her wine from a fancy crystal glass.

Cliff patted his leg, motioning for her to put her feet in his lap.

"You don't mind?" She barely waited for an answer before raising her legs into his lap and leaning back.

Her black stockings felt nice rubbing against his fingers. The material was soft, and so were her feet. He pressed his fingers into her soles, with enough force to try and relieve some of the tension in her tired feet.

"That feels incredible. You have magic fingers." she said with a pleasant sigh.

"You have pretty feet."

"Oh yeah?" she smiled. "No one's ever told me that before."

Cliff raised her foot, planting a soft smooch on her heel.

Kayla giggled. "What was that? A kiss?"

He felt a little nervous, like maybe he was being too forward, but the smile never faded from her lips. "I guess no one's ever done that before either? How about this?" He pressed his lips into the underside of her toes, forcing them deep into the nylon mesh of her stocking.

"You look like you're having a good time." She smiled, touching his lips gently with her other foot. "Wanna kiss this one too?"