Inge’s POV

After calling Christina, I put down the phone and put my hand on my forehead. I had actually gone and done it now. Asking to talk with her over dinner. Sly move Inge! This was the first time I had ever done something as outrageous as this. Christina caught my attention the second we met. I remember being surprised by how a beautiful career woman was doing her utmost best for a severely troubled girl. Most guardians would have long since given up, in a troublesome case like this, but not her. She had changed her life to accommodate Fleure. Her caring nature had sparked something in me and before I knew it, I found myself looking forward to my next talk with her. I was pretty sure she was a lesbian too. At least I’ve noticed several signs. And just now… I had taken it that step further. I asked her to have dinner together. I could come up with a lot of excuses for myself why I did it, but I was honest with myself, I just wanted to ask her out on a date. I had been wanting to do that for a while but never managed to muster up the courage.

Christina was a smart woman and she immediately called me out on my unprofessional proposal, but in the end, she had accepted. However, I was not able to tell her I wanted it to be a date, so I’d better keep up the professional act. Well, at least for a while. Maybe I would be able to turn the mood at some point.

After work, I had gone home and had taken a quick shower, and dressed back into one of my better office suits. It was the one that I used when I needed to give lectures and impress people. That way I looked professional and dressed up for a date at the same time. This suit always gave me that little confidence boost that I really needed right now. I had applied a few extra touches of make-up. I looked in the mirror at my dressed-up self and cringed. What the hell had I done? Well, there was no taking it back now.

“Talk about Fleure.” I preached to myself. “Don’t go on the offense from the start, or she will shut down and the outcome will be bad for Fleure too. You mostly meet for Fleure. The talk about her should come first.”

When I had hammered that mantra thoroughly in my mind, I took my purse and my car keys and drove to Christina’s house. When I arrived, I sent a message to Christina’s phone.  I got out of my car, so Christina would be able to see where I was parked.

When Christina nervously walked out of the door my jaw literally dropped. She looked gorgeous. She had clearly put a lot of effort into her appearance. I felt really flattered that she wanted to look nice for me. Well, that was what I hoped her reasoning was in any case. She was wearing a classic blue-green cocktail dress with white stockings and had cute heels with frills at the ankle.

She must have noticed my staring and said “Oh no, this is too much, isn’t it? I should have changed after what Fleure said… Just wait for a couple of minutes, I’ll be back in a minute.” And she turned back around.

“Stop!” I was surprised by how loud I had shouted myself. She froze and turned back around shyly to see what I wanted to say. I took a deep breath “No, need on my account. I think you look fantastic. You look like a fantastic date.”

What the hell was I saying. Where did that mantra I practiced so hard earlier go? The first thing I did was call tonight a date…

“So, I wasn’t imagining things. This is a date, right?”

“If you want it to be,” I answered. Leaving her the choice.  I didn’t want to force this on her. I was prepared for the rejection. After all, I wasn’t even 100% sure she was into women.  I had been way too direct. I had not intended for things to go like this. I had meant to do the work-related things first and had hoped to let it evolve into a date, but instead, I went all in. All the chips were on the table, and everything would depend on how she would react. Would she call, or would she fold?

“Then you’ll better show me a good time because I haven’t gone out in years.” She suddenly said a bit cheeky. She went for the third option. She raised. It seemed that seeing me nervous and shaky too had helped her overcome her initial shyness.

Because I had been successful at the first obstacle, I felt relief come over me. “Where are my manners?” I hurried to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her. She smiled at me as she sat down in the passenger seat.

When I sat next to her, Christina said: “Sorry, I am a bit excited. Where are you taking me?”

The sparkle in her eyes showed that she had high expectations for tonight. Luckily, I had made reservations in a quiet little restaurant.  So, I was able to say, “There is a restaurant in Hoxem that I am fond of,” confidently. I could see by the look in her eyes that she did not know there even was a restaurant in that hamlet. Although it wasn’t really a fancy restaurant, it was pretty famous in the area, so I was a bit surprised she did not know of it.

“I’ll trust you on your choice.” She answered.

I started the car, and while driving. Christina was making some casual talk about how she never came to this side of town. Hoxem was part of Hoegaarden, the next town over, and we had to drive through an agricultural area to get there. On the road, we were treated to some of the more beautiful sights in this area. They called Hoegaarden the Toscane of Flanders for a reason. I could hear in Christina’s voice that she was still a little nervous and doing her best to avoid long gaps in the conversation so I did my best to talk as much as I could. To be honest, I was nervous as hell too. Christina wasn’t the only one out of practice. It had been quite a while since I dated too. I had not really gone on dates after my marriage utterly failed. But here I was, acting like a Casanova who knew what she was doing.