Sanctity (25 page)

We all headed into to the restaurant and let
the hostess know we were there for our reservation.  She eyed
the party and guessing correctly that we were all fresh from the
formal started scanning her seating chart.  It looked to be a
dry erase map of the dining room.  She took a little chamois
cloth and removed some notations from one section of the dining
room and scribbled them down in another.  I suspected that she
was moving us to a different, less desirable part of the restaurant
either near the restrooms or in a high traffic area near the
kitchen.  Or maybe she had some preconception that we wouldn’t
tip well enough and was giving us to one of her least favorite
servers.

Michael stepped up and politely asked where
the restrooms were.  The hostess looked up and smiled, “Oh,
they are all the way to the back of the restaurant and to the
right.”

“Thank you,” he nodded and stepped away from
our group. 

The hostess shook her head in a slightly
disoriented manner, “Oh, yes, MacDowell party,” Mrs. Mac made the
reservation for us, “right this way everyone,” her attitude was
infinity improved. 

She led us to a group of tables arranged
somewhere near the middle of the dining room.  They were set a
little apart from the rest of the dining area, with plenty of room
for anyone who might need to navigate around them, “Will this do?”
She looked to each of us for approval.  No one objected and
she started pulling the chairs out one by one and placing menus in
each of our hands as we took our seats “I’ll let your server know
you’re here, is there anything I can get for anyone while you’re
waiting?”

I was about to ask for some water, “Mineral
water and some limes,” Michael was standing behind me.  He
placed his hands on my shoulders and kissed my cheek as he took the
chair beside me.  “Did you miss me?” 

I could feel everyone’s eyes on us.  I
was vaguely aware that as far as my friends were concerned Michael
and I were practically strangers.  I had never spoken of him
before that night and having never known me to take a romantic
interest in anyone before was causing some curious looks to be
thrown my way.  Dani looked downright suspicious at the level
of affection Michael was showing me and seemed to be about to say
something about it.

“So, Michael, where do you go to school?”
Charlie was aware of the tension Danielle was obviously feeling and
tried to get a conversation going.

The question caught Michael off-guard but
the hostess returned with the bottles of water Michael requested
and glasses all around.  She poured for each of us and placed
the limes at strategic locations so we could each reach them from
where we were all seated at our tables.  The interruption gave
Michael half a moment to recover. 

“I’m studying economics up North. 
Math, boring stuff, to be sure but how about you guys.  Have
any of you thought about life post high school.” 

I was the first to speak anxious to keep the
conversation going and to steer it away from Michael, “I’m thinking
about the Culinary Arts Academy.”

“Culinary Arts?” Clearly none of my friends
were familiar with my interest in cooking as I heard it repeated by
one or two of the others at our table.

Michael was looking very pleased with this
new knowledge of me.  I was sure that as Margaret’s son he was
quite familiar with her prowess in the kitchen and correctly
imagined her influence in my decision. 

I fielded a few questions from the group
before our waitress came by to introduce herself and she rattled
off the evenings specials.  Michael turned to me, “As the most
expert among us, what do you recommend?”

“Oooh, uh,” I opened the menu and quickly
scanned the entrees.  I asked what everyone was partial to and
made a few suggestions.  “I’m partial to you,” I nearly jumped
at the sound, it was Michael’s voice but I was sure he didn’t speak
out loud.  He wasn’t looking at me but I could see the smile
playing on his lips and I knew that I was meant to hear
it. 

“Is everything OK?”  Danielle was
looking at me oddly and I realized that I had momentarily slipped
into a giddy stupor.

“Oh, yeah, just thinking to myself, how nice
it is to be here with everyone,” I tried to direct a private
thought to Michael, “though I’d rather be almost anywhere else if I
were alone with you.”

I saw him raise his brows over his menu and
knew that I succeeded.  It was an invigorating
rediscovery.  The waitress excused herself, saying she would
give us a few minutes to look over the menus and asked if there was
anything she could bring us in the interim.  Michael and
Charlie each ordered an appetizer for the group to share.

There were a number of minutes of quiet
discussion between the various couples as everyone worked out what
they would like to eat.  I wondered how Michael was going to
handle dinner, would he order and not eat, or excuse himself
somehow.  I hoped whatever he chose it wasn't too
obvious.  Danielle had not been disguising her curiosity
towards the two of us and the connection we seemed to be
sharing.  Our familiarity with one another appeared to go well
beyond being caught up in the moment.  We were behaving less
than appropriately with the amount of affection we were displaying
and for what we had told them of our acquaintance from a number of
years back.  I could see the distrust in Dani’s eyes and did
my best to ignore it. 

I put my menu aside and leaned towards
Michael.  We had our heads bent together as he pointed out a
few things on his menu, “You two seem awfully friendly,” there was
a bit of a sting to Danielle’s statement that I was not sure she
intended. 

Surprisingly it was Brooke that came to our
defense, “Oh, come on, it’s formal night, they’re just having some
fun, right Jake,” she gently elbowed him to back her up.

“Yeah, formal night, fun, nothing wrong with
that,” he bent over and kissed Brooke’s cheek.  I hadn’t
noticed until she spoke up but Brooke seemed to be relaxed,
confident and happy.  I studied her for a moment and actually
believed that I saw warmth in her eyes; when she looked at Jake, or
the others or even me.  She actually looked friendly and at
ease.

“Huh,” I thought to myself.

“You’re welcome,” it was Michael’s voice in
my head again.

I smiled and put my hand on his knee giving
it a little squeeze.  The waitress came back and took
everyone’s order.  As she scribbled down the last of her notes
the appetizers arrived and she helped place them along with side
dishes for everyone.  It was late and I was not particularly
hungry, so I passed on having anything for the moment.

Michael didn’t take anything either but he
did sip at his water and managed to maintain a comfortable level of
conversation with the others.  I decided it was a good time to
freshen up and excused myself.  Michael stood and helped me
from my chair. 

“I’ll come too,” Dani popped out of her seat
and tossed her napkin on the table.

When we got to the restroom she didn’t hold
back, “So, obedience school, huh, haven’t seen one another for
years.  You’re awfully cozy together.”

“I know but it just feels nice.  He is
super-sweet and,”

“And I think he is leading you on.”

“What?  Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Lily, I think he knew you would be
vulnerable because of the whole Brooke/Jake/you situation and is
just taking advantage of the damsel in distress thing you’ve got
going on right now.  How long is he here for, when is he going
back to school, how do you know he doesn’t have a girlfriend up
North?”  

“Danielle, really, I appreciate what you are
trying to do, I know you think I am going to get hurt but it’s not
like that.”

“Did you sleep with him tonight?”

My jaw dropped, “How could you ask me
that?  That’s none of your business!”

“God, you did!!  You’ll never see him
again, you know that don’t you?  After tonight, he’ll take his
good looks and his charm and he’ll be gone.  I think you are
making, no, you have made, a huge mistake.”

My eyes were swelling with tears, “You’re
wrong,” I turned away.

“Am I?” She asked as she turned on her heel
and made her way out of the restroom and back to the tables.

Our food was arriving by the time I regained
my composure and headed back to the table.  I had no appetite
though and just pushed my dinner around on my plate.  I tried
to join in on the conversation whenever it seemed necessary. 
Michael was masking his concern well but I could feel a little
nudge in my head like he was trying to uncover whatever was
drowning the buoyant happiness I felt just a few minutes
earlier.  I was hesitant to share because I would never doubt
him or his feelings.  I could not, however, pretend that it
didn’t bother me that there was no realistic way to defend Michael
to Danielle.  She had no intention of hiding her
animosity.  She sent little barbs of suspicion at him across
the table and every little stab at Michael felt like a stab at
me.

“So, Michael, what are the
people like up North, anything special?”  I knew Dani
meant 
anyone
 special and tossed a 
please behave
 look at
her.

“No, not really.  People are pretty
much the same wherever you go.  Lily’s from the North, though,
and she’s pretty special,” he put his hand over mine.

It was an obvious response and Danielle was
clearly not satisfied, “When do you plan on going back?”  She
asked.

“I’m not sure yet.  I’m not in any
hurry, though.”

She let the conversation drop for the moment
and continued to eat her dinner and chat with the others.  The
topic of colleges came back up and I heard Brooke mentioning her
interest in either applying to an arts or theatrical school. 
Jake seemed a little surprised and disappointed by this. 

“I thought you were going to State with
me?”

“Well, I haven’t made any
decisions yet.  I’ve always thought I would go to a 4 year
school and get a degree and fall into some career
doing 
something
.  But after Lily said culinary school, I mean who
does 
that
?”

I was momentarily offended but as she
continued I realized that what she was trying to say was that it
never occurred to her to go to school for something she would
actually enjoy doing.  Expressing my desire to study for a
less traditional career and to do something I at least had some
enthusiasm for seemed to have been a catalyst to get her thinking
of a more agreeable path to pursue.

“Well, it’s your decision,” I turned from
Brooke and looked to Dani, “and no one should decide what is right
or wrong for you, only you know the truth of your emotions and
where to steer your passions.”

“Just don’t steer them into a tree. 
Ouch!!”  Danielle laughed even though she was the only one who
found the humor in her words.

By the time everyone had finished with their
dinners it was decidedly late.  No one was interested in
dessert and we asked for the check.  Michael motioned when the
server returned and insisted on paying for everyone. 

“I had a really great time tonight getting
to know all of Lily’s friends.  Let me thank you for being
kind enough to let me intrude on your evening.” 

“That’s very generous, Michael but really,
you shouldn’t,” I put my hand on his arm as he handed the check
back to the server.

“Hey, thanks, Michael,” Charlie and Zach had
no problem accepting a free meal.  Jake was a little hesitant
but Brooke persuaded him that it was OK, “I saw his car when they
pulled up, he can afford it, trust me,” she whispered.

Missy and Christine decided to use the
restroom before we all left and excused themselves.  Everyone
else retreated to the lobby, though I elected to stay with
Michael.  Once we were alone I felt a bit of a respite from
some of the anxiety I had been feeling. 

“Everything alright,” he asked.

“Yes, of course,” I smiled at him. 
“Danielle is worried, that’s all.”

“She’s a good friend.”

“Yes, she is.  She certainly means well
but I just have no way of explaining you to her.  Either I
have been keeping you a secret from her all these years, or you
show up out of the blue with malicious intentions and in my
sorrowful state I fall for your good looks and charm only to end up
with nothing but regret.”

“I see.” 

I wondered if I should have told him,
because he suddenly looked deep in thought, as though he was
contemplating all the difficulties that we would be faced with if
we tried to continue our relationship.  He looked circumspect
all of a sudden, as if he just then realized what a huge endeavor
it would be.  I knew I couldn’t keep him secret from
Margaret.  He was able to cast a glamour on my friends but
Margaret would certainly know Michael no matter what guise he
chose.  He signed the check and abruptly stood up, suddenly
anxious to leave.

“Michael?”  Now I was the one with all
the worry.

He reached out his hand and helped me
up.  As he guided me to the lobby I saw that everyone was
still there, waiting for the limo. 

“You should go with your friends,” Michael
whispered in my ear and kissed me on the cheek.  Before I
could protest, he was gone.

Everyone was piling into the limo as I stood
there in a sea of disorientation wondering what just
happened.  Dani snapped me out of it as she called me to hurry
and get in.  I was in shock during the whole ride. 
Conversations were taking place all around me, Danielle was holding
my hand in an effort to soothe me and as we dropped our friends off
one by one I drew deeper and deeper into myself.  Eventually
it was just me and Danielle and a silent five minute drive from
Charlie’s to my house.