Olivia Always

Chapter Ten - Schnitzel and Stuff

He told me he had been to this restaurant many times. He always asked for the table near the washroom even though most people didn't like that.

"It's very convenient and quiet," he said. "And I like how the table is always set the same with this nice white vase and a rose. I know what to expect, no surprises."

I caught him looking at me as I looked all around the room. He was probably wondering if I was judging it. I wasn't so much "judging it" as considering its place in the vast array of restaurants he could have chosen. I don't need fancy but this place had a sort of mom-and-pop feel. The kind of place you visit for the "early bird special."

He broke into my thoughts with, "I'm going to order the schnitzel that's what I always get, with scalloped potatoes. You can have any vegetable you want with it but I know what I like." He stopped looking out the window and looked at me as he spoke.

"Would you like something to drink?" he asked.

"Thank you yes, a glass of white wine would be lovely." I really wanted to ask for a bottle but I know my place.

"Oh, I usually order half a carafe of red, would that be, OK?"

"I'll just have water then thanks."

Now it's not that I need wine so much as I like wine with its calming effect. But red wine and its resultant headache just wasn't worth it.

"George," he called and waved his hand.

"I know his name because I come here all the time," he told me with pride in his voice.

George came over and smiled at him.

"What can I get for you Luke, the usual?"

"Yes, thanks and a glass of water for the lady please," he smiled back at George.

"Have you had a chance to look at the menu?" Luke asked me.

"Mm, no not yet, can you recommend something other than the schnitzel maybe a vegetarian option," I asked. I hadn't seen any but sometimes you can order off menu. I guess I should have told him I was a vegetarian but it just never came up. I thought back to all the information we'd exchanged. I couldn't remember if that was mentioned anywhere.

We had shared a lot of information. I told him I was divorced and I found out he had never been married. He lived with his dad and I could tell from our many phone conversations that he and his dad were pretty tight.

Unlike a lot of guys Luke told me quite a bit about his childhood. Some of it was quite difficult to hear and that might have been what attracted me to him. I'm a sucker for a melancholy story.

He said me his dad was still angry at his mom but he said, "I didn't think she was a terrible mother. I always tried to make her laugh because she was so sad. I remember overhearing my dad saying to her the night she left, "Are you at least going to say good-bye to him?"

And my mother said, "I've been saying good-bye to him since he was born." I still can't believe she said that. No mother says something like that." See, melancholy.

Anyway, I wondered if he thought I was being demanding asking for vegetarian? He did seem deep in thought. Thinking about people he couldn't trust?

He looked surprised when I spoke to him across the table saying, "I don't want to be difficult. I can just have a plate of steamed vegetables."