Raechel straightened the skirt of her dress one more time before she knocked on the door of the beautiful craftsman house in the middle of the swanky middle class neighborhood. She giggled at the hand lettered sign that read Chez Vous in curlicue script and hung in the window of the door. The beautiful oak door opened just as she raised her hand to knock and startled her.
"You're here!" Myles greeted her as he gently took her hand and lead her into the small parquet floored foyer.
"This is a beautiful house," she sighed. This was truly her dream home. Someday, she would get one just like it.
"Thanks, it's all I could afford on my writer's salary," he joked as he took her coat and put it on the coat rack that was handily near the door. There was no way a writer's salary could pay for this...not a writer who was starting out anyway, "C'mon," he waved his hand to her and motioned her to follow him further inside. The living room was beautifully furnished with shaker furniture that all matched and a huge plasma screen television. Her eyes wandered around the room and took in all she saw. There was no way this man was straight, his house was too well decorated and his clothes were far too put together.
"No, I'm not gay," he answered her as if reading her mind.
"What?" She asked stunned, how did he know?
"That look, that's the one that all the ladies get when they come here. I happen to be a bachelor whose mom was bored and decided to decorate for me. She did a great job, didn't she?"
"Yeah, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed. Really, she thought to herself, you're supposed to be a writer and that is the only word you can use to describe everything?
"Are you thirsty? I'm afraid dinner will be just a little late, I had to run all over to find vealβoh god, you're not a vegetarian are you?" he put a hand to his mouth.
"No, but I have to say, veal is really the ultimate guilty pleasure...I can't help but feel a little bad for the cows, but they taste so good."
"Thank goodness, a woman who eats and eats well!" he lead her into the kitchen and while he got her a glass of water she listened to the music that was piped into the kitchen. She laughed to herself when she heard "Down Under" by Men at Work. He had put on a 1980's compilation CD instead of the smooth jazz that he had meant to. He started to leave to change the CD but she urged him to stay. "No really, I like this so much better than smooth jazz," she grinned. "That jazz stuff is for old people."
"Now that is definitely not true!" he said as he buttered a slice of bread. "There is fantastic jazz to be found, you know, especially in New Orleans."
"Hum, I've never been there before," she said thoughtfully. She took another sip of water and when she put the glass on the table between her two hands she found him staring at her.
"My god you're beautiful," he whispered. "We'll go there somedayβto New Orleans I mean."
Raechel's ears burned hotly and she pretended that she had not heard what he had said. "So jazz isn't just for the old, huh?" she asked lamely.
"No, it's for the old at heart too." She laughed.
"You have a really strange sense of humor, you know that?"
"But it's my humor that will make you fall in love with me."