WARMER DAYS... on to Florida (Part 156v)

WARMER DAYS… on to Florida (Part 156v)

But, it wasn’t just the look. I can’t remember her exact words (and there were quite a few!). However, I didn’t say anything… which for me was unusual. Basically, she was saying “No way!”. When I didn’t argue I think it surprised her. I just sit there looking at her. After a minute she asked if I was going to say anything. I think I took a deep breath before I spoke. I do know I asked her to let me have my say without interrupting. She rolled her eyes but kept quiet.

I took my time before starting. At lunch, when looking over the menu, Elle saw they had shrimp scampi. My mother had introduced her to it and she loved it. She also told Elle to be careful where she ordered it and suggested that she’d be safe at most seafood restaurants. I started by reminding her that she’d commented that she wished that we were there for dinner. Neither of us was used to eating much at lunch so it wasn’t an option. I went on to add that I really didn’t want to go through another meal with my parents (mother) having to answer all the inane questions about what we did for a living and all about our kids. We’d endured three nights of that and I’d had enough. There was more but those were the primary points I wanted to make.

In Elle’s little tirade she brought up the fact that the back of her dress was wet and that she ”smelled". She said she wouldn’t get out of the car that way. I gently ‘attacked’ her points, again asking that she let me do the talking. As to the wet (actually damp) dress and the stain I reminded her that we’d overcome worse situations when she wore pants or shorts where the wetness was far more obvious. I mentioned what I’d done just the day before when I walked closely behind her down the dune, effectively blocking the wetness from the people we'd passed walking on the dune and then where we'd parked. Adding to that I pointed out that the light color of the dress along with the print on the material would be muting the stain. I could see that she wasn’t agreeing with me… but I wasn’t done yet.

Elle started to speak and I remember putting my finger up to my mouth and shaking my head from side to side.  That elicited a negative look. I told her I had a question for her and that it was an important one. It was to ask if she remembered what she smelled and what she said when we’d first walked into the restaurant at lunch time. Again, she had a perplexed look after hearing it. I remember prodding her by putting two fingers on my nose. That brought out a small smile… and a weak answer… “It smelled fishy”. I smiled at that point but added “cigarette smoke”. She nodded, affirmatively. That was my cue to make my ‘sales pitch’.

Since I’d been talking about the smell I started there and told her that there was no possible way that anyone could smell anything inside the restaurant. She didn’t offer any retort to that so I moved on to the stain on the dress again, stressing that it wasn’t all that big and that by the time we’d get in to the restaurant it might be almost dry. I still couldn’t get a positive reaction. About to give up I made one last stab. I suggested that we drive down to the river and take a look at the place. She didn’t say “No” so we headed in that direction.

It was easier to find this time. Since the place was located in the middle of the business section of the waterfront there wasn’t a lot of parking. The restaurant had a lot right across from the dock that led to it and as I turned in a car was making it’s way out of a spot. I took that as a good omen. We sat in the car for a few seconds before I suggested that we take a short walk out on the dock. I promised I’d be walking right behind her and she finally popped open the door. When I walked around to her side of the car I made an honest appraisal of the back of her dress and, to my eyes, it wasn’t that noticeable. I told Elle that and swore I was telling the truth. When she made a couple of tentative steps towards the street I was pleased.

We walked about 1/3 of the way towards the restaurant. There were people hanging over the railing up closer to the restaurant but there was no one where we stopped. Elle pointed out the activity on the water up near the building and I could see it was the catfish performing as they had done at lunch for us. Elle surprised me by wanting to get closer and we headed that way. It was even more amazing watching the action of the fish without having to peer out a window as we’d done earlier. We were maybe fifteen feet from the door where we stopped. After a few minutes I made my ‘push’ to go on inside and was totally surprised when she turned for the door.

After an absolutely scrumptious meal (expensive, too… had to use my American Express card) we headed back. Elle admitted she was glad she decided to do it. She was really relaxed and agreed that it was a nice respite from my mother. I’d called and left a message for my parents before we ate so I wasn’t all that concerned about catching up with them upon our arrival . It was around 9pm or so and Elle definitely wanted to get washed up and changed before we went looking for them. As Elle stripped off her dress she started into the bathroom. I saw her sit on the seat with her  panties on. But I’d already made a move to get the Polaroid camera and there was no way for me to take advantage of it. Elle wanted to know where I was. When she saw the camera she started to protest but didn’t. She looked at me and calmly said I could have one but without her face. She let me ‘stage’ her and didn’t rush me for which I was thankful.

 To be continued...