Chapter 20: The Date pt.1

Marigold looked at Beau as he put his arm out towards her. She chuckled, grabbed his arm, and they left the room. He escorted her to the front door while she thought, 'He's so strong… I never noticed that about him before, and he's quite the gentleman. I never noticed how gentle he is.' She stood in front of the front door, and he opened it, saying, "A lady should always be treated like a queen." She smiled at him while she left the home, and he followed behind her, closing the door behind himself. She stood on the porch, and he said, "Wait here, I'll pull the car around." He walked down from the porch, around the house, to his car, while she stood there watching him and thinking, 'He's really a sweetheart… More of a sweetheart than I thought he was.' 

VROOOM 

He pulled his car in front of the house, got out of the driver's seat, and opened the front passenger's side door, saying, "Come, Miss Marigold, our dinner awaits." She walked down from the porch, got inside the car, he closed her door, and got inside the driver's seat, closing the door behind himself. They both buckled their seatbelts, and she asked, "Where are we going?" He answered, "You'll see. It's one of my favorite private restaurant places. I just hope you'll like it."

He began driving, pulling up to the black gate. 

ERRRRRRRR ERRRRRRRR ERRRRRRR ERRRRRR

The gate squeaked as the security guard pressed the button to open it. Marigold watched the gate open, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and Beau began driving away. She looked in the rear view, side mirror, seeing The Bax Residency fade further and further into the distance until she could no longer see it anymore. She looked ahead, seeing nothing but dark road, and a soft smile came to her face. He glanced over at her, seeing her beam with happiness and relief, and said, "You know it's been a while since you've been somewhere other than the house." She said, "Yeah, it feels like it's been forever since I've been outside and away from your home." He said, "You know Marigold, it's your home too." She said, "It doesn't feel that way… I mean, I don't even have a room to myself. I sleep in a guestroom. It feels like I'm a stranger living in a home I don't belong in." He sighed, saying, "I guess I can understand why you would feel that way. I mean, you weren't given any warning and just moved here randomly. If I had known you were moving in, I would've had a room ready for you. Hopefully, you'll soon feel like it's your home, too, and you won't feel like a stranger." She looked out her window, saying, "Yeah, maybe…" 

Silence hit the car, and the minutes rolled by. He continued to glance at her, thinking, 'Say something to her, you're on a date. Make her feel comfortable… Talk to her.' He said, "No witty comments, I see." He thought, 'Why did I ask that,' and she glanced at him, saying, "What do you mean?" He thought, 'Come on Beau, now's your chance. Play it cool,' and he said, "When we first met, you spent the entire ride making fun of me. You had so many witty comments and so much to say about me before you knew me, I'm just wondering where's all that roasting now?" She rolled her eyes, saying, "I don't know. I'm just not inspired. You haven't inspired me to roast you, so I have nothing to go off of." He said, "Oh, so I bore you?" She said, "Not so much bored, it's just I don't have any fuel to roast you with. I mean, you're boring, but how many good roasts can I come up with about you being boring. Very few, and the roasts would get repetitive, and then I would be as boring as you." He scoffed, saying, "I'm an exciting person." She said, "Maybe in your dreams but not to anyone else." He chuckled, saying, "I'll have you know that I do a lot of traveling and sightseeing. I'm the most exciting person I know." She looked at him, saying, "You must not know a lot of people then." He thought, 'Wow, she has a way of humbling people.' He glanced at her and said, "I'm more fun than you." She said, "Ah yes mister sits behind a desk all day has a way more exciting life than me, mister valet take my car and find me a parking spot because I'm too lazy to do it myself is more exciting than me, mister are my shoes polished cause I gotta make sure they glisten in the light so people who don't even notice them think I look cool is more exciting than me, mister let me go to California for something I could just handle over the phone is more exciting than me, mister steam press my suits is more exciting than me. Look Beau, you're just as boring as they come. Just the most boring man I've ever met." He laughed, saying, "At least I got the money to go places. Miss, I'm jealous cause I can't do anything but sit at the house all day." She gasped, saying, "How dare you," and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I offend you?" She bursted out into laughter, saying, "Why are you so mean?" He laughed, saying, "I'm mean. You just completely destroyed my life. What do you mean I'm mean?" She thought to herself, 'Beau is really funny. Why didn't I know he was so funny? How could I not notice?" 

Half an hour passed, and Beau pulled up to a small, 800 Sq ft restaurant. The restaurant (on the outside) had a gold colored sign with the words "Justly Eating," hanging above their glass doors that had a silver frame. The entire building was light brown brick and was in the shape of a square. Beau parked his car in their parking lot, and Marigold said, "Oh, so the prince of publicity is going to park his car himself for the first time ever." He laughed, saying, "Okay, first off, I can do things for myself, and second off, they don't have a valet." She put her hands on her face, gasped, and said, "No valet, oh no, you poor dear." Beau smiled as he left the car, closed the door behind him, walked over to Marigold's side, and opened her door. He put his hand out towards her and said, "Come, let's go eat." She grabbed his hand, and he helped her out of the car, closing the door behind her. 

They entered the restaurant, Beau, opening the door for her. Once inside they saw light tan wood flooring, lime white walls with a tan brick accent wall (the same tan brick that was on the outside of the building), 10 circular brown wood tables that had 2 light brown cushioned seats sitting at each table, and lights built into the ceiling. She looked at Beau, asking, "Where are all the people?" Beau answered, "It's packed throughout the day, but at night, it's their slowest time." A woman in her late 40's came out of the kitchen, saying, "I know that voice anywhere, Beau Bax!" The woman had pinkish skin, crows feet around her reddish brown eyes, her light brown hair was tied up into a high messy bun, and she wore black non slip shoes, a white apron that covered her black pants, and a white shirt that had the words Justly Eating on the corner of her shirt. She walked up to Beau and Marigold hugging Beau, saying, "How are you, Beau?" Beau said, "I'm good. I'm sorry for coming this close to closing time. I hope you don't mind if we eat in." The woman said, "Not at all come have a seat and who might this lovely woman be?" Beau said, "This beautiful woman's name is Marigold, Marigold, this is Justly. She's the owner." Justly said, "Well, hello. You two go find yourself a table. Should I whip up the usual Beau?" Beau smiled, saying, "The usual will be just fine, and I'll be sure to leave you a hefty tip for doing this for us." Justly smiled, saying, "Thank you so much, Beau," and Justly went into the kitchen to make food for Beau and Marigold. Beau escorted Marigold to a nearby table, pulling out a chair so she could sit and sitting on a chair across from her. He stared at her as she looked down, and he thought, 'Ah, she's so beautiful. I can't keep my eyes off of her. She's so perfect, so stunning, such an amazing woman. It's like I'm starstruck every time I see her.' She glanced up at him and said, "Beau," and Beau answered, saying, "Yes?" She said, "You're staring at me." His face turned red as he looked away, saying, "I'm sorry, it's just you're sitting across from me. There's nowhere else for me to look. Ha." She said, "Well then, why didn't you just sit next to me. I mean, I can feel your deep gray eyes staring at me." He looked at her with a smile on his face and said, "So you know what color my eyes are? Hmmm, I must not be the only one staring." She scoffed, saying, "I only know because you keep using them to stare at me. Every time I look at you, there you go, staring at me like you're trying to figure out all my secrets." He said, "So you have secrets?" She said, "Yes, I do. Don't you? Doesn't everyone? I mean, everyone has something they don't want everyone to know about them, but it's like every time I see you look at me, I feel like you're reading me like a book. Like you know everything about me just with one glance. You know everything, yet I can't figure you out." He said, "Oh, I hardly know everything about you… I don't think I know much about you anyways, but I would like to get to know you." She said, "Why would you want to know about me?" He said, "Because we're married and I feel like we should get to know each other." She looked down and said, "I know I teased you about being boring but… There's really not much to me. I mean, I've got to be the most boring person on the planet with no life. You do amazing things and travel to all these places, and I have stayed in one spot my entire life. I don't think there's much to me anyways." He looked at her, saying, "Nonsense. You have so much to you, and you don't even realize. I mean, just from the short time I've known you, you have managed to do things no woman has ever been able to do to me. I mean, I've never had a conversation with anyone the way I've had with you. I've never had someone look past my money and try to have a conversation with me. You treat me like a person, and you're hilarious. You're a very interesting person, Marigold. Now I may go to a lot of places but it's all boring. It's all work, but you, just being around you, is an adventure." Marigold chuckled, saying, "Gee a boring person telling me that I'm not boring… That makes me feel wonderful about myself." He laughed saying, "Look at you contradicting yourself but in all seriousness I mean it you are the most exciting person I know, you are so interesting and lively but if you think you're so boring then we'll have to just make our own adventure together." She looked at him and said, "Our own adventure? What do you mean?" Beau smiled and said, "You'll see, we'll have our first adventure after dinner."