Capítulo 71: Chocolate Season (February) Part 3
"Ta-Da!" Lisa grinned broadly, showing Fabian the piece of paper in her hand.
"Well done!" Fabian pulled her into his arms.
"You're a very good teacher," she told him. "I wouldn't have and couldn't have gotten my driver's license without you. Trouble is, I don't have anything to drive."
"Well, why don't we do something about that? I believe we have a friend named Rodney who has a garage and might know of a car that will serve your business and be affordable at the same time. Your loan from the bank came through, so let's get Lisa's Desserts on the road!"
"Ugh," Lisa groaned, wincing. He laughed.
"You know what I mean." He tugged her braid affectionately, then kissed her when she tilted her head back. "We can go see Rodney after dinner on Valentine's Day."
"Oh, we're having dinner?"
"Of course. I have reservations at the Tavern."
"How did you do that?" Lisa was amazed. The Tavern was notoriously difficult to reserve for Valentine's Day, and Lisa wasn't sure what they were going to do. Adrianna had told her that her restaurant was also full for that night.
"I am the son of The Great Lorenzo," Fabian said pompously, then admitted, "I also know the chef. He's a friend of mine."
On Valentine's Day, Lisa was on cloud nine all day. She worked breakfast at the diner and Fabian stopped by with a dozen roses and a huge kiss for her. This, of course, led to lots of whooping and cheering in the diner, and Lisa worked the remainder of her shift with a slight blush and a smile on her face.
Anne sat her down before she left for the day.
"Lisa, I just wanted you to know how proud of you George and I are," she said. "You have always been like the daughter we never had. We always knew you'd take your baking and go far, and you're about to do that."
"I was afraid you'd be mad at me," Lisa said. Anne patted her hand.
"No. We're not mad at you. You're not leaving us in the lurch. You've proven over and over again that we can trust you, Lisa. You've always been as good a friend as an employee. So we know that if we ever really needed your help, you would be there. And we love you enough to set you free." She handed Lisa some napkins, noticing that Lisa's eyes had filled with tears.
"I'll miss you guys so much," she said.
"Now you're just being silly," Anne said. "You're staying in town and we're still going to buy your pies. You'll see us enough. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that George and I are proud of you and we're really excited about you taking your desserts out on your own. You deserve all of the success that you're going to have.
Lisa went home, took a shower, and changed her clothes. She'd gone shopping with Amy the week before, when she'd asked Amy to help her with naming and promoting her fledgling dessert business. Amy had shown her a gorgeous dress in the women's wear department at Kendall's.
"I had you in mind when I bought this for the store," Amy said. "I think it would show off your assets perfectly." Lisa tried it on; it fit as though it had been made for her. The color was a dark red that made her dark blonde hair look brighter.
She put it on now and inspected herself in the dresser mirror. She experimented, but the sapphire earrings and pendant just didn't go with the dress. Regretfully, she put them back into her jewelry box. She didn't have any other necklaces that worked, so she went with just gold hoop earrings. Fabian's gift and card were on the dresser; she picked them up and put them on the bed, where she packed a clutch purse. Amy had, of course, talked her into new shoes to go with the dress. Lisa slipped them on. She was unaccustomed to heels and had practiced each night since she'd bought them. She supposed she would need some new clothes soon. Something professional. No more waitress uniforms. She'd have to ask Amy about that, too. As much as she'd teased Annie about the choice of her diamond, it had mostly been just teasing. She knew that Amy's taste was fabulous, but didn't tend toward the expensive very often. Most of the clothes or shoes Amy found for Lisa were very reasonably priced and still looked terrific. Lisa backed up and looked at herself in the bureau mirror, now that she had on her shoes, and she hardly recognized herself.
She'd always tended to think of herself as mousy. Fabian insisted that she was beautiful and continually listed the things he found absolutely irresistible, but she still saw herself as an awkward tomboy who listened to her friends talk about boys but hardly ever had a date of her own. Now, for the first time, she saw what Fabian saw when he looked at her. Not a dowdy waitress or awkward farm-girl. She saw a beautiful young woman who actually looked poised. She smiled at her reflection, picked up the gift and her clutch purse, and left the room, starting down the steps just as the doorbell rang. She put down the purse and present on a table in the entryway and opened the door. Fabian greeted her with a kiss.
"Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart," he smiled, then handed her a small package. She opened it and gasped. It was a beautiful string of freshwater pearls. "Looks like you needed that," he said, looking at her bare throat. "May I?" He took the pearls from the box and she turned to allow him to fasten the necklace around her neck.
"Thank you," she said, turning and hugging him when he finished.
"You're welcome," he replied, and gave her another kiss.
"I have something for you, too." She picked up the present from the table and handed it to him. He opened it and left out a sound of pleased surprise. Lisa had found some violin solos that he'd been looking for for a long time. May Wong had used her library and bookstore resources to locate the music for her. Fabian put the package on the table again and scooped her up into another hug and kiss.
"Thank you, sweetheart. Let's do cards over dinner. We don't want to be late." He escorted her out to his truck and helped her get in.
Going out for a romantic dinner on Valentine's Day can be awkward in a small town. There are so many people you know out doing the same thing, in the same place.
"Hey." Fabian gave the large man ahead of them a poke. His brother Franco turned around and laughed.
"Hey back. Hi Lisa!"
"Hi Franco. Hi Shelly," Lisa smiled. "Looks like you guys are still twins, deep down. Reserving the same time at the same place?" Franco and Fabian exchanged looks and then laughed.
"Good point," Fabian said. They had been discovering, as they worked together to get Franco into shape and more healthy, a natural connection between them got stronger. Fabian loved his friends here, but he'd really missed his brother and was very glad to have him back.
The maitre d' showed Franco and Shelly to their table, then came back for Fabian and Lisa. They were seated close enough to see Franco and Shelly, but not too close.
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