Second Chance at Love

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT

ELLA'S POV

Ella wasn't sure what to wear for her date with John. She ended up picking out a plain, black dress that fell just above her knees. Every woman needed a black dress to fall back on by default. It was the go to dress when a woman wasn't sure where a man would be taking her.

Throughout that day, Christopher had been pushing the limit. It had gotten so much that Ella was looking forward to the chance to leave him with her mother for a night out. Yeah, she was actually looking forward to her date that evening. There wasn't much options as far as dating spots in St. Augustine, unless you knew where to look. And John used to have quite the eye for choosing date locations back when they had still been dating.

He had always been prompt about picking Ella up and that had not changed. Christopher had ran to answer the door, leaving Ella in the kitchen as she ran through the list of how to take care of Christopher. Her mom snapped just as Christopher came barreling back into the kitchen, John right behind him.

"Ella, you seem to be forgetting that I raised you and your sister," Elizabeth said. "And I think the pair of you turned out just fine. I don't need you lecturing me on how to take care of Christopher for a night. I can handle it."

"Fine," Ella said, "it's just, well, he can be a bit of a handful."

"Can I stay up late tonight since you get to, Mummy?"

"No," Ella said, turning toward her son. "And don't you give grandma any trouble."

"No fair."

"It's perfectly fair."

"Are you all ready?" John said, inserting himself into the conversation. "Our reservations are in thirty minutes."

"I'm ready," Ella said, then to her son, "Give me a hug. I won't be home until after you've gone to bed."

Christopher begrudgingly hugged her.

Ella then followed John through the house and out the front door toward where he had parked his car in the drive way. John had opened the door for Ella, and once he had climbed in behind the steering wheel on the other side, they were off. Off on their first date since that disastrous proposal. Unless you counted the one night stand that followed her father's funeral, which she didn't.

"He sure is a little fire cracker."

"Yeah, he is," Ella said in agreement. "I don't know where he gets it from. Neither one of us were quite as rambunctious as he is."

"Actually," John said, "you were quite bad when we were younger. If we hadn't been friends, you probably would have gotten into a lot more trouble than we did. You were such a bad influence on me."

"Oh, hush."

Though Ella knew he was right. She had been a little on the bad side. Made sense considering how much of a goody-two-shoes Renee had been when they were growing up. Ella had to have been the one to keep their mother on her toes. She couldn't just make it easy on her mom; she had to throw in a surprise on occasion to keep things interesting.

"Where are you taking me, anyway?"

"The Columbia Restaurant," John said. "I remember it being your favorite."

"Oh, Jack," Ella said, "you don't have to take me there. It's expensive."

"You let me worry about that," John said. "I make enough to splurge on a nice dinner."

"Why don't you let me pay my way?"

"Because that's not the type of man I am. You know that already, Ella."