**************************************************************************************

“Hello Tina.” I said into the phone….

“Oh hey Bette…” she answered……

“Um, look, I know that you have been confined to that house for a month or so now, so I was thinking that maybe I could come by and pick you up for some dinner or something?”

“Are you asking me for a date Miss Porter?” she asked me…..and I sooooooo wanted to say yes…..but this was business……I had to help her…….

“Well Tina, I am actually just asking for dinner tonight….not a date….just as friends……” I answer trying not to cross any work-related boundaries……

I hear a sigh on the other end of the phone….. “UM…..” I start. “I guess you could refer to it that way if you would like…..I am paying!!!” I laugh into the phone….

“It’s a date then….what time should I be ready?”

“Um.. I will leave the office in an hour, and I want to go home and change, and then I have to drive there, so lets say about 7?” I ask.

“Great. I will be ready at 6:30.”

****************************************************************************************

I left the office and rushed home to change……….I was driving up at the Kennard residence at 7 sharp……I opened the car door, and started to get out as Tina ran out of the house and got in the passengers seat….

“Um, hey….whats the rush?” I ask

“Just drive. They didn’t want me to leave so soon.”

“Ahhh….don’t they know that you will be with me?” I ask as we drive off.

“yea, but they still think it’s too soon.”

I drive us to a small café just on the outskirts of town, we park and go inside. I had already called ahead and asked for the table in the back, the table that her and Eric had always used……. We were taken to our table, and I walked up to pull her chair out for her. She turned and smiled at me when she sat down. I walked around to the other side of the table and took my seat. She just stared at me. “What?” I asked as I began to blush.

“Nothing.” she answered as she looked over the menu.

“Do you know what you want?” I ask.

“Do you know what you want?” she repeated the question to me…