His silly grin shouted to everyone in the restaurant that he liked my answer very much. Passing the test, he leaned over and kissed me—a bit too passionately—in front of his sister. Jane had other ideas.
“Are you talking about my brother? Do you know what Kelley’s biggest complaint about him was? She always bemoaned the fact that he didn’t pay enough attention to her.”
“Now why must you bring Kelley into this story? That’s the past. Let’s leave it there,” Jake warned his sister.
“My mom says that Jake needs a woman with a strong sense of self-esteem, because he never pays much attention to anyone but himself. Have you two gotten into an argument yet? Has he been mad at you?”
I shook my head yes. “I don’t know if I’d call them arguments, but we got into a couple of disagreements.”
“Wait till you get into an all-out argument with him. I don’t know if you’re going to think he’s so attentive and caring, then. You should see the tantrum he throws.”
“I love these new revelations about you. You didn’t tell me any of this during lunch.” My eyes looked at him in delight. “I can’t wait to see you throw a tantrum. Maybe I’ll purposely make you angry just to see your reaction.”
Jane loved my goading. Jake didn’t fall into our trap.
“Don’t believe a word she says. I don’t know what’s gotten into my sister.” He turned to his sister and tried to give her a stern look. She wasn’t scared.
“So, Jake, what do you like about Emily? Try to keep it to a few sentences, OK? We have an opera to watch.”
Just then, servers came with our third course. A sautéed striped bass sat in front of them, while I got a medley of mushrooms.
“If I had to sum up what I love most about Emily, it would be her honesty. Even though she knows it’s not to her benefit, she’ll still tell you what’s in her heart. I know way too much about her last relationship.” He lightly shook his head.
“Was my honesty at lunch not to my benefit? Am I in trouble?” My forehead creased with a worried look.
Jake’s lips reached over to mine again and eased my concern. “I appreciate your honesty, whether or not I appreciate your answers.”
Jane broke our tender moment and continued her question-and-answer session, and Jake happily obliged by giving her a detailed account of our first encounter.
“We met late at night at a supermarket and I had to take her to the hospital after she fell, reaching for a box of cereal. So, I take her to General Hospital, and we’re sitting in the examination room, and do you know what she asks me? She had the gall to ask if I was really a doctor at GH and not just some staff member.”
In response to Jane’s “why” look, I said, “Well, for someone who worked at the hospital, he got no special treatment. I waited there just as long as everyone else to get out of ER. In fact, there were patients who came after me but left earlier. I thought he was lying to me about being a doctor. It took us three hours.”
Jane broke into a chortle. “Yeah, he has no power there. You should have called Uncle Henry instead. You would have been in and out with a call from him. By the way, why are you guys going back down tonight? Jake, didn’t you ask Emily if she wanted to stay the weekend?” I could tell Jake was happy to hear his sister ask this question. Put on the spot, I didn’t know how to answer. “Emily, you should stay with us in the apartment and go down tomorrow night. We could spend another day together. Are you uncomfortable with me being in the apartment? Do you want to be alone with Jake?”
This conversation turned even more awkward.
“Oh, no, Jane…I don’t feel uncomfortable with you. Jake didn’t fully explain what was happening today.”
“Then you’ll stay the night? We can get to know each other better.”
What could I say? “I’d love that, Jane, but I’m not prepared to spend the night here. I don’t have any clothes or toiletries.”
“You can borrow all of mine. We can also quickly stop by any of the stores in Union Square if you need to pick up something.”
“OK.” I was really nervous about spending the night with Jake, even with Jane in tow. I hadn’t explained to him about my wishes to stay chaste till marriage. Most likely, he would expect or at least desire to spend the night with me. When and how I would have this conversation stayed with me the rest of dinner as Jane and Jake picked up their unfinished thought.
“So, Jake, anything else you want to tell me about Emily?”
“Let me excuse myself to the ladies’ room and you two can talk about me all you like. It’s a bit embarrassing hearing about myself.”