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"Well, that's why I'm calling, Diane. I would like to meet again. Let's start with a clean slate and meet someplace where we can take our time and talk. I trust Sylvia's judgement and based on what she told me about you I think we'd enjoy getting to know each other better. It looks like we're both fiery people so we just need to factor that in ha ha."
As she listened, Diane had an image of Simon in his tight jogging gear flash into her mind, her heart beat faster and she tried to sound normal. "Oh, that's a surprise. I thought you'd never want to see me again. Ok great. I'd love to see you again."
"Tell you what, Diane. I'll pick you up for dinner at 7 tomorrow evening, how about that?"
"Perfect. I look forward to it, Simon. Thank you so much for calling."
* * *
At 7 p.m. precisely, Simon sat impatiently in his black Aston Martin outside Diane's house. He checked in the rear view mirror for traffic wardens and checked the time again. He shook his head. Maybe he should just drive off. He was fuming.
Diane opened the front door of her house and clicked down the steps in her black evening dress and high heels, only 10 minutes late, and hopped into the car.
"Nice car, Simon, you have good taste," she smiled.
Simon smiled and felt all his anger and tension slip away, "Thank you, it's a present from me to me for selling that company, it's great fun to drive. You look fabulous by the way, oh I see you have your hair up like you had at the wedding, it suits you. You look like royalty."
"Thank you. It looks like this could be a night of compliments," Diane laughed. "So, you still haven't told me where we're going. How about a clue?" She looked over at Simon and was surprised when her heart missed a beat. He did look good, very good in a suit.
"I can't do that. That would be cheating, Diane. Let's just say I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
Simon drove across the city and out to Richmond. He sped up the hill and pulled into the driveway of a magnificent country house with views down to the Thames estuary.
"Is this it? Diane asked as she looked around, "Where's the restaurant?"
"Tonight the restaurant is coming to us," Simon smiled. "This is my weekend house. Sylvia told me Divoak is your favorite restaurant so I hired the head chef to prepare a meal for us. He should be ready to serve us, come on, let's go in."
Diane looked over to the entrance of the beautifully restored three story Georgian building. "Really? I love their food, it's incredibly hard to get a reservation, how did you get the chef to come here?"
"That would be telling. Come on, let's eat." Simon took her hand and led the way into the house and out to the terrace where a candle lit dining table had been arranged for them, with a view over the countryside and the river below, snaking away into the distance.
Diane couldn't believe her eyes, it was like she'd stepped into a movie set and she was the star. She looked at Simon as they sat down and saw a sparkle in his eyes. He looked magnificent in his dark navy suit, very handsome indeed. She looked into his blue eyes and smiled, "You look very smart this evening, Simon."
Simon smiled and moved his foot out from under the table to reveal a new pair of dress shoes, "New shoes too," he laughed. "You were right, shoes do make the man, ha ha."
They clinked champagne glasses and started to eat, the modernist cuisine was mouth watering. They chatted happily and Diane started to feel an unfamiliar feeling, she really, really liked Simon. She relaxed and reached out her hand to t
ouch his. "Simon, this food is wonderful, thank you so much for being so thoughtful, you went to a lot of trouble."
Simon held her hand. "You're very welcome. I'm pleased you're enjoying it. I liked you the moment I met you. Your sister warned me that you can be a handful, but she was right, we do have a lot in common. I'm no angel myself, I have a temper so I've learned to accept other peoples' failings, I have enough of mine own."
Diane felt the reassuring warmth of his hand and smiled, "Oh no, it sounds like Sylvia has made me out to be a right maniac. Wait until I talk to her. Well, I'm happy we're still talking. The dogs would never forgive us if we didn't meet for walks again."
"That's right, Diane. We'll be in big trouble if we let them down."
After the waiting staff had cleared the table, Simon smiled and winked, "Diane, there's one other thing, I want to show you something, wait here one minute." Simon disappeared into the house and returned with a small brown leather folder. "Open this."
Diane hesitated, "What is it?"
"Open it, Diane, and you'll find out. Go on."
Diane's hands fumbled with the blue ribbon before opening the folder to reveal two tickets. Tickets for the Russian Ballet. Diane took a deep breath and wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh my God, how did you know? I love the ballet and I was dying to see this performance but it was sold out."
Simon's eyes twinkled. "A little fairy whispered in my ear that you'd like to go." He put his arm around Diane's waist and kissed her gently on the cheek. Diane relaxed into his arm and he felt so strong. She knew she was falling for Simon and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"I've wanted to do that since the moment I met you, Diane. You're beautiful. I couldn't believe my luck when I met you. Sylvia had talked about you but she never mentioned you were stunning."
Diane blushed and felt breathless, "That's my sister alright, she always leaves out the good stuff, I'm sure she warned you about my other qualities though."
