Daniel

I was very displeased that I had to wait until the end of the week to meet and talk with Stacia again. It bothered me. Then again, Stacia had no idea what I looked like and I obviously only knew her by voice. Despite my displeasure, Vincent had made arrangement at my favorite restaurant, C’est Delicieux. The five star French Restaurant was frequented by Vincent and myself at least weekly. I was excited to be wining and dining Stacia here. To my surprise Vincent had arranged for two tables to be set up. I would’ve have been fine catering to the spunky Antonio was well, but I had my suspicions that Vincent had his own wining and dining he wanted to do. His lame excuse of “I figured you would want time alone with Stacia”, “It will be better if I can keep the chatterbox occupied”, failed to sway my suspicion, but I let it be. Vincent was a private man, and did not get much time to himself, as he was always at my side.

We arrived earlier than Stacia and Antonio. I had dressed myself in my favorite black Armani suit, favorite tie, and even put on my grandfathers old pocket watch. I felt confident and primed to meet this girl again. I hoped our conversation was as invigorating as it had been at the club. After Vincent led me to my chair, he informed me that his table was on the other side of the room. The waitstaff knew my preference and how to set up my table exactly how I needed it. Directly in front of me was my dinner plate. To the right of the plate would be my steak knife, follow by a fish knife, To the left would be a dinner fork followed by a fish fork. Above the forks would be the bread plate and above the dinner plate would be a dessert spoon. Left of the bread plate was my water glass, no ice. A straight forward reach across my plate would be my red wine and the white would be to the right. The glasses would already be filled with wine paired to the food. It was a simple setting for such a fancy restaurant, but the owners had told me they liked simplicity. I was delighted to be invested in such a beautiful place. Vincent had described the decor and colors to me once, but I could never imagine it in my mind’s eye. This was going to be one of the topics of our discussion tonight. Stacia had described such beautiful senses to me back at The Menu. The maitre d' intreupted my thoughts by announcing,

"Mr. Black, Your guest has arrived."

"Thank you Jasper." I nodded and kept my gaze ahead of me as if I was looking at the woman who was sitting in front of me. I smiled and picked up the Merlot that was in front of me. Taking a sip I greeted the woman,

"Stacia, thank you for having dinner with me this evening."

"Dah." She answered in a casual Russian response. "I am not quite sure vhy you have asked me herrra?" Her accent was thicker than it had been when we had conversed at the club, but her alto tones sent a jolt of pleasure to my core.

"We didn't get to finish our last conversation. Well I was a little stunned and before I knew what was going on you were gone."

"I dun remember ever talkin to yu."

"I'm sorry I never introduced myself, I am Daniel Black. Owner and the mystery sample at The Menu. You have been the only one to discover my secret."

"You… the mystery sample. I thot I had offended you, I never thot you vould track me down?!"

"You surprised me at every turn dear Stacia, I had to find out more about you!"

"How did you find me?"

"Ah yes. I own The Menu, I have access to all the records, and... your friend Antonio is quite a chatterbox."

"Dammit Toni!"

"He is a good man."

"He is flirt and over sharer."

"Yes he is."

She sighed and I could hear her pick up a glass and take a gulp, of wine judging by the clink the glass made when she set it down. We fell into a little bit of an uncomfortable silence. I decided it was time to break the ice and start the conversation I had been wanting to have with her all along,

"Tell me Stacia. What do you look like?"