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“Oh, absolutely,” Katy said emphatically. “I was actually waiting on you to call. I remember you saying you wanted to pick me up.”
“Yeah,” Brennon said. He could sense by the tone in Katy’s voice something negative was about to come through the phone. “And?”
“Well, I was thinking maybe I could drive somewhere and you pick me up from there,” Katy suggested. “My mom and dad are here and I just don’t feel like hearing anything out of their mouths right now. They’ll already see me leaving dressed the way I’m dressed, so I’ll probably get questions based on that alone.” She groaned. “You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Brennon paused for a moment as he realized the dynamics of the situation. Here Katy was in her mid to late twenties – Brennon in his late thirties – and her parent’s potentially disapproving glares were deterring him being able to pick her up from her own house. “So, what are you thinking?”
“Do you know that strip mall down on Brownsville Road?” Katy asked. “I was thinking I could drive down there, park, and you pick me up from there. I know it’s out of your way… So, if you don’t like that idea then I can just drive all the way downtown.”
“No, no,” Brennon said. “Seriously, that’s not a problem. Whatever works for you, Katy. Plus, you drive all the way down into the city everyday. I can just pick you up from there. How soon do you think you’ll be there?” He grabbed his keys off of an end table. “I can be on my way right now.”
***
Brennon couldn’t keep from smiling when he turned off of Brownsville Road and into the strip mall parking lot. As soon as the strip mall came into view, he saw Katy’s car parked among a cluster of cars outside of a Kohl's. Even though he certainly hadn’t thought he would be picking up a date in this way at his age, there was something thrilling about it. He had been looking Katy’s father Richard in the eye just last week while they talked about issues brewing with an urban planning committee. “This is wild,” Brennon mumbled to himself.
Brennon pulled up next to Katy’s car then hopped out. He quickly rushed over to the driver door when he saw it swing open. “Let me get that for you, Katy.”
Brennon held the door open while Katy carefully stepped out onto the pavement. He couldn’t keep his mouth closed from the awe. Dressed in an elegant, cream evening dress, Katy looked every bit of stunning. Katy could literally give Marilyn Monroe a run for her money.
Brennon pushed the door closed then looked Katy up and down. “Wow,” he said.
“Wow?” Katy asked, looking down at her dress. “And
do you like it?”
“Absolutely, Katy,” Brennon said. “I don’t know… I might have to run back home so I can put on something better.”
Katy laughed. “No, Brennon, you look great.”
Brennon looked Katy up and down once again. “You really are stunning.” A strong, brisk wind blew across the parking lot. “Come on so we can get going. I don’t want you to get cold.”
Katy threw her scarf up over her shoulders then allowed Brennon to grab her by the hand and walk her around to his passenger side door. Like a true gentleman, he held the door open then held her hand while she sat down. He then quickly walked around and got into the driver seat.
“So, I have two ideas,” Brennon said, “about where we could go to eat. Which one do you like more? Italian food or Greek food. They’re both downtown and both places are super nice, but I wanted to know what you might have more of a taste for.”
Brennon pulled out onto the road then headed toward downtown – a cluster of glittering high rises in the distance, protruding over the tops of trees. My God she looks beautiful, he thought. He then, for whatever reason, remembered Katy as a teenage girl – she and Melanie hanging out at least a few times a week. Her evolution was so amazing that sometimes he didn’t feel as if he were looking at the same person.
“Greek,” Katy said, smiling excitedly. “I haven’t had any Greek food in a while.”
Brennon looked over at Katy and smiled. “Greek food it is.”
The ride into downtown took roughly twenty minutes. Brennon purposely forwent getting on the interstate, even though it would’ve been faster. He had been waiting all week for this date, so he was in no rush to make it any shorter. Plus, naturally, he and Katy talked on and on for every bit of the ride. She talked about her Friday – yesterday – and how she’d been speeding out of the parking lot with screeching tires shortly after the school buses rumbled away. Brennon laughed, sharing his accounts of students who were begging and pleading for better grades because they really needed to pass a certain class. This was a story they both knew too well, from both sides of the desk – as a teacher as well as a student.
Brennon parked his car on a narrow neighborhood street then helped Katy out of the car. “I love these old Victorian houses. I’m so glad they’re being renovated and fixed up and all that. They really are beautiful.”
“Yeah,” Brennon said, helping Katy up onto the curb. She wrapped her arm around his right arm then they headed up the block. “I think the same thing. Something used to tell me I should’ve bought one when the prices were next to free, but it just wasn’t the right time in my life.”
Katy looked into Brennon’s eyes, batting her eye lashes. “Yeah, I know what you mean. But sometimes you have to remember that things happen for a reason, when they happen.”
Brennon looked at Richard’s stunning daughter. “Yeah, this is true.”
Brennon guided Katy up the block until they came to Bardstown Road, a street lined for nearly a mile with restaurants, boutique shops, and art galleries. The upper levels of the storefront buildings were often either condos, apartments, or offices. They walked for nearly a block then came to Santorini’s, an elegant Greek restaurant she’d heard coworkers talk about. Brennon opened the door and guided her inside.
“So, have you been here before?” Brennon asked. A hostess had just seated them then took their drink orders, saying the waitress would be over with them. They decided to start with some wine – Malbec.
Katy smiled then shook her head. “No, I haven’t. It looks nice. Thank you for bringing me here. Yeah, I had a chance to come here. The faculty at my school had some kind of meeting or something here. I don’t remember why, but for some reason I couldn’t go.”
Brennon felt a sense of pride in being able to introduce a new place to Katy. “Oh, it’s no problem. Yeah, this is a nice place and I thought it would be a perfect place to bring you on a date.”
