4 Chapter 4: Dinner with the Mayor

As Aliyah spent a few minutes searching through the back of her car for the one dress she might have, she couldn’t help but think about the weird interactions she’d had with the people she’d met so far. The stoic, strange man at the filling station. The haughty mayor. She felt like neither of them listened to a thing she said, and when people didn’t take her seriously, she got mad.

Aliyah ran through each room in the house to prep for the dinner, and she scratched some estimated expenses on a stray piece of paper from her car. She left just enough time to get changed and freshen up a bit before it was time to leave for dinner.

When Aliyah arrived at Stefano’s to meet the mayor, he was waiting outside with a slim briefcase, standing tall and lean as a statue. Sure, maybe he had some physical charm, but, so far, Aliyah wasn't impressed with his personality.

She walked over to him with her bossy confidence at full charge.

Mayor Cursor looked as surprised as the first time he’d seen Aliyah. Her dress was probably to blame this time. She wore a fitted, floral, off-the-shoulder number that accentuated her collarbones and neck. She felt dressed a little too casually and flirty for this type of dinner, but she had no other options besides jeans and athletic pants, and the mayor didn’t need to know that.

Aliyah expected something arrogant to come out of his mouth after he so obviously looked her up and down, but the mayor only said, “Good evening, Miss Adams.”

He pulled open the door for her, and as she walked through, he gently placed his hand on her back to guide her to their reserved table. Her stomach sank a little at his touch.

They headed to the back of the restaurant where twinkling lights lined the wall beside them. The table was adorned with a vase of roses, and a waiter stood at attention right next to the table, waiting for orders.

“I’ve taken the liberty of ordering us a dom perignon,” the mayor said as he pulled Aliyah’s seat out for her.

She wasn’t sure at all what this was so she just nodded. When the waiter came by with a large bottle of wine, Aliyah put two and two together. She refused the wine, claiming she wished to keep her wits about her to discuss the contract. Really, though, she didn’t care at all for the taste of wine. She watched the waiter carefully fill the mayor's wine glass. Too bad this wasn't the type of place to serve her a double vodka and cranberry.

“I didn’t know towns as small as this had such fancy restaurants,” Aliyah said casually.

The mayor laughed. “Yes, well,” he said, “we’re doing our best to grow, and to do that we need to attract people with all different types of interests.”

“I see.”

Aliyah searched the menu for anything under twenty dollars, but only found caesar salad. She didn’t have enough of her own money to be so frivolous about food, and her body craved the green anyway after living solely on fast food for the past two days.

However, when she ordered the salad, the mayor butted in: “I hope you know I’ll be getting the bill tonight. It’s all on me. I’m the mayor after all. I’ve got to keep my city’s guests happy. Got to impress them.”

Honestly, Aliyah wasn’t the kind of girl to turn down free food, but she went ahead and stuck with the salad even after the mayor tried and tried to get her to try the smoked salmon or the lobster or the fillet mignon.

Once the waiter had left with their order, Aliyah wanted to get back on track. “So, Mister Mayor,” she started.

Again, she was interrupted. “Now, now, this isn’t an interview. Please, call me Gatlin,” the mayor said. His smile seemed genuine, rather than cocky like before. But he'd already interrupted Aliyah multiple times, so his pearly white teeth couldn't keep her from feeling peeved.

She took a small sigh in and out to calm her vexation before starting again. “Okay, Gatlin, I’d like to get right to the business.” The mayor began to open his mouth but Aliyah went on to avoid being interrupted again. “You can imagine my surprise when I arrived at Charleston Manor and it looked different from the pictures. Considering the exterior alone, I’ll need to request a larger budget, and I’ll need to reevaluate the time it’ll take to complete the project.” She paused.

The mayor seemed to be listening to her intently now, and he gave her a slight nod to continue.

“Before I left, I did a quick run through the house. The original flooring seems to be in great shape, but I’m concerned about the water damage in a couple of the bathrooms. However, I won’t know the severity of that until I can get a plumber in there.” Aliyah listed her newfound setbacks and presented her expectations for a new contract.

To her surprise, the mayor treated Aliyah respectfully throughout her spiel, and he even asked a couple of relevant questions. This is the type of dinner she was expecting.

The food was brought out to them soon after they’d finished the most important parts of the conversation. The waiter refilled their drinks and let them get back to the conversation. Truthfully, Aliyah thought the contract talk was relatively painless considering how she expected it to go after her first encounter with the mayor.

Halfway through her salad, Aliyah realized a salad alone would not be enough to fill her up. With each bite, she thought about the steak and baked potato on the mayor’s plate. She sat in silence for a couple minutes, but the mayor soon realized Aliyah had begun picking at her food rather than eating it.

“Is the salad not to your liking?” he asked with great concern.

“Oh, it’s perfectly fine. I think my stomach just changed its mind about how hungry it was.” She looked up at the mayor. It may have been the lighting, but his cheeks seemed to be tinged with red. His blue eyes were alive with curiosity.

“Well let’s order something else for you right away! Waiter!” He waved his arm, hand still clutching his fork.

While she was somewhat relieved that the mayor was willing to order some more food, Aliyah was taken aback that he would just shout at the waiter to come over to the table. She was a little embarrassed when the young waiter arrived mildly out of breath. He must have been helping another table in the other room.

She looked up at him apologetically. “I’m sorry,” she started, “It’s really not urgent. I was just hoping to order a steak and baked potato?”

The young man nodded and got the details of her order. He left with a small smile and red-tipped ears.

“My, my,” the mayor laughed with a chunk of steak dangling from his fork.

Aliyah knew this tone well. It was the same tone her father used to tease Freida about Jameson before they were married.

Again, Aliyah was perturbed. At the mayor’s levity. At the reminder of her father.

“What?” she asked flatly.

The mayor rose his eyebrows in mock surprise. “It just seems like the little waiter boy is kind of smitten with you. Why the hostility?”

“I thought we were having a nice, formal dinner. All I did was ask the waiter for another order, and he took it. Why are you turning this into a joke?”

“Wow, you really are quite serious, huh?”

“I just save the jokes for the right time,” Aliyah shot back. “I expected a simple business discussion during the meal, not flirty banter about my interactions with the waiting staff. We don't have to pretend to be friends.”

The mayor looked a little dejected after her remark. "You don't want to be friends?"

"I'm just saying that's not my prerogative. We don't have to become friends. We just need a simple business relationship."

“Very well,” the mayor responded.

Aliyah’s steak and potato were brought out promptly, but she’d lost a bit of her appetite. She requested a to-go box, and she and the mayor made their way out of the restaurant. They were quiet and civil. The mayor opened the door for her and she nodded and smiled at the appropriate times. For some reason, she almost felt like apologizing. Almost.

The mayor insisted on walking Aliyah to her car. She appeased him.

As he reached by her to grab her car’s door handle, Aliyah caught a whiff of wine on his breath. Perhaps he was a bit drunk. He did have at least two glasses of wine.

Suddenly the mayor paused. His arm was stretched out, with his body close to Aliyah’s. She quickly became aware of their proximity and stiffened.

The mayor turned toward her. His cheeks were brightening and there was something mischievous growing in his eyes.