It didn't really strike me until that day, up until that point she was just my niece. I watched her grow up for God's sake, why now?
To explain a little bit, I am 31 years old and live in a reasonably sized town with a great college in it. I don't date much because my job really does keep me busy. I am an executive chef in a very well known restaurant in town, and being so I work a lot of long hours. Sure there would be the occasional waitress or hostess that thought sleeping with me would help them make it to the top, I just let them think that.
I think that I am rather attractive if I do say so myself. I work out three to four times a week to help stay in shape. I am not one of those meat heads though that love to do nothing more than stare at their abs in the mirror. I'm not ripped but I do have a nice flat stomach and am toned in all the places that need to be toned. I am the typical tall, dark, and handsome I guess you could say, it's part of the Italian blood that runs through me.
Enough about me... for now... and back to the story. I got the phone call from my older sister 3 days ago. My niece Chelsea is going to be in my neck of the woods Friday for the weekend checking out the University and needed a place to stay so that they didn't have to pay for room and board. I haven't seen my niece in almost a year so I was happy to open my doors for her. I got all the details from my sister and started to get the room set up in my condo. I arranged with my sous chefs to take care of things for me over the weekend and cleared my schedule to make myself available if she needed me to drive her around. I don't know how kids are these days. I may not even see her for the whole weekend but still wanted the option to be there.
Well Friday arrived and I showed up at the airport a little early just in case the airlines happened to be running a little early for a change of pace, no such luck. Her flight however was only 20 minutes late though and I managed to find an Asian couple down in baggage claim that had seen my face on a billboard in the airport advertising the restaurant. I kindly told them to come into the restaurant and ask for me and I would ensure that they were taken care of. They seemed overjoyed; to be honest I'm not even sure they understood what I was saying, but we smiled and took pictures all the same.
Shortly after meeting my new friends I received a text message from Chelsea: Uncle L; Jst got off the plane can't wait to c u, Luv C. I almost chased down my new Asian friends to have them translate but figured I got the jist of the text.
It wasn't much longer after that, that I was standing at the bottom of the escalators, and I saw her. To say that my niece was stunning would be an understatement. She is probably the envy of every girl in school, and chased after by all the guys. She is tall probably 5'8" or so and had on cowboy boots, which I guess being from Texas was something I should have expected. Her long tan legs were accented by her short white shorts that sat right above her waist. They were the type of shorts the girls were wearing now with the pockets peeking out from underneath. Continuing up she had her flat and tanned stomach exposed and her shirt tied off right above her belly button ring. Her face was even more stunning, beautiful smile, stunning blue eyes that looked like the ocean, and long flowing blonde hair. If she were anyone else I would have been all over her. Her eyes lit up even more when she saw me.
"Hey!!" She said running to meet me, her arms wrapped around me in a hug and I could smell her perfume. "Oh my God, thank you so much for letting me stay with you." She kept the embrace going for a little longer and then pulled away looking at me still smiling.
"No problem, anything for you guys." I said returning her smile. "How was your flight?"
"So long, but I'm glad I'm here now. What do you have planned for me this weekend?" She said with excitement.
"Well you have a college to tour later on, but other than that I really had no plans. Thought you wouldn't really want to spend your free time with your old uncle." I said we started walking to the baggage claim area.
She gasped at the notion. "Of course I want to spend time with my favorite uncle."
"That's cute, considering I'm you only uncle." She just smiled at me and wrapped her arm in mine as we walked.
We grabbed her bags, and started making our way to the car, not really saying much.
"So who is the new girl in your life?" she said breaking the silence.
"Nobody really, has been too busy at work to really see anyone." I responded pulling her bag behind me as she continued to have her arm wrapped in mine and laying her head on my shoulder. If anyone were to look at us they would probably be wondering what this young bombshell was doing with such an older guy. Heaven forbid they know she was my niece.
"Well that sucks. Are you going to take me to dinner at your new restaurant? I saw your picture on the billboard coming down to baggage claim. Very impressive."
I hated that damn sign, and can't believe my partners made me pose for it in my chef coat, with my arms crossed knives in hand. No accounting for taste.
"If you would like." I said, almost cringing at the thought of going to work on a day off. It's a funny thing about the restaurant business. For some reason when you work in one, that is the only place that friends and family ever want to go. I can list right off the top of my head approximately 20 other places I would rather go than there, but I can't tell her no. "Well here we are." I said as we made our way to my car.
Chelsea stopped dead in her tracks.
"This is what you drive!!" She said looking over the car I bought for myself when I earned my first Michelin Star. "Did you have a midlife crisis early?". She said still fixating on the car in front of her.
"Ha, no now come on get in." We both climbed into the Ferrari 430 and adjusted to account for the bag that there wasn't really any room for anywhere else, and took off to the condo.
