Regina snapped the driver’s seat visor back in place after she finished applying her lipstick. It was a dark and stormy night and she wasn’t quite ready to brave the rain to walk into the restaurant. This was her third date in six months and of course, it had to be raining tonight of all nights. The very day she decides to brave this thing called dating and her curls are sitting big and pretty, the sky pours out all its’ grief.
Her Daddy always said that rain was a sign of new beginnings or tragic endings. “Rain produces both flowers and mud,” is how he would always end his advice. She wondered which it would be tonight.
She wasn’t exactly enthused about this particular . . . uh, arrangement is the best way to put it. Her sister had apparently met some guy at church and felt like he was perfect future husband material. However, her sister, who was on husband number four, probably wasn’t the best judge. (In all fairness, husband number 1 died while serving our country but still.) She was a romantic at heart and felt that having an older sister like Regina, who had never been married or had kids, was a travesty and reflected badly on the family. Therefore, instead of praising God, she spent her time in church assessing eligible men for her old-maid of a sister.
She said this guy apparently had big, strong hands and “you know what that means!” Her sister still believed nonsense like if he has big feet, he had other big appendages. She was more like a thirteen-year-old still trying to live her fairytale instead of a school teacher struggling to pay her car note.
“Well, here goes nothing.” Regina rushed to the front door of the restaurant trying to dodge the puddles and walk in with dry legs. She tried to find a closer spot but some jerk in a broke down Hyundai swooped in the spot she was waiting on, even though she had her blinker on.
She shook out the excess water from her umbrella and stuck it in one of the plastic bag covers to keep it from dripping all over the floor. She caught a quick glimpse of herself in a mirror in the restaurant’s foyer. Her sister persuaded her to wear a fitted LBD even though she tried to be more low-key on first dates. She felt like she naturally exuded a certain sexiness that she tried to downplay as to not give the wrong first impression. Thankfully, this one, even though form fitting, covered her completely. It was a black turtleneck dress that was perfect with her black leather moto jacket. She almost added a black beret but didn’t want to come off as too militant or costume-y.
She walked up to the hostess stand and said, “Hi, I’m here for Peterson, party of two.”
“Yes, right this way.”
He’s on-time. That’s a good sign, she thought.
The hostess led her to a circular booth toward the back corner of the restaurant. A tall gentleman with broad shoulders and a bright, toothy smile stood. He had a single, pink rose in his hand.
“You must be Regina.” He handed her the rose and reached in for a polite hug. “I’m Ronald. Nice to finally meet you.”
“Hi Ronald,” Regina smiled. “Nice to meet you too.” She gave him a quick once over and gave her sister credit. He was a nice-looking guy and his hands were humongous. He wore a peanut-butter colored sweater with dark-wash jeans that weren’t too tight. He wore dark brown boots and a plaid blazer was folded in the booth next to him. He had a nice scruffy, 5-o’clock shadow thing going on that gave him a ruggedness she wasn’t expecting. He had piercing blue eyes that had a tint of grey to them. The rose was a nice touch.
“Of all the nights it wants to rain, it had to be tonight, right?” He smiled and readjusted his blazer next to him as if he needed something to occupy his hands. She noticed he had small pit stains which means he was either warm or a bit nervous.
“I know, right? I thought Toni, Tone, Tony said it never rains in Southern California.” She smiled back warmly. He looked back at her with a blank stare on his face.
“Who?”
“Oh, uh . . . never mind. I was just quoting a song.”
“Oh, I love music. Is that a recent one?”
She stared at him, unsure if he was being funny or serious.
“Um, no- it’s an old nineties classic. What type of music are you in to?”
“Lately, I have really enjoyed Ronnie Milsap and Cody Johnson.”
“Who?”
“Who? You mean to tell me that you don’t know about today’s top country stars? What have you been listening to?” He proceeded to belt out a tune where every other word sounded like it had “ann” or “err” in it. She looked around the restaurant and saw people frowning and staring.
“Okay, okay,” Regina waved her hands frantically to get his attention. “No need to sing the entire song – in the restaurant. I take your word for it.”
He let out a throaty laugh. “I almost suggested we do karaoke tonight but wasn’t sure if my voice would intimidate you. Not every woman can handle being with a talented man.” He rolled his shoulders back and smirked.
Regina raised her eyebrows and picked up the menu to keep from saying something that would make things any more awkward.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Exhausting. I had to be everything to everybody.” He rolled his eyes and winked.
Regina wasn’t sure what the wink meant but assumed he was trying to be jovial. “My sister mentioned that you work in construction. What exactly do you do in that field?”
“I’m a construction project manager for a leading real estate company in the area. I prefer not to say their name until we know each other a bit better. I mean, you could strictly be after my money.” He winked.
She checked her watch. She had only been here six minutes and she already wished she was back home watching Hulu.
“Uh, doubtful but okay.” She tried to act engrossed in the menu. She could already tell that she was going to need liquid reinforcements to get through this night.
“Hi there. Welcome to La Tierra. My name is Tara and I’ll be your server this evening. Can I start you out with some drinks?”
“Woah, Woah. Can we at least know your specials first?” Ronald winked at Regina who let out a sigh and mouthed, “I’m sorry” to the server.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Sure!” The server rattled off the specials and glanced down at her notes to see what accompanied the carnitas special.
“Great. We’ll think about each of those. Might want to study up on the descriptions though.” He shook his finger at her then turned his attention to Regina. “Did you want to share a drink?”
Regina looked around to see who he was talking to.
“I prefer beer but would be willing to do a margarita.” He rubbed his chin and shrugged.
“Excuse me.” Regina shook her head in disbelief. “Are you suggesting we share a cocktail? As in we both drink out of one drink?”
Ronald laughed and repeatedly slapped his hand on the table. “I’m kidding! Of course not.”
Regina glanced at the server and back at Ronald.
“Just checking on your sense of humor.”
“Um, I’ll give you a sec to work this out and I’ll be back to take your order.” Tara immediately disappeared and Regina envied her for having a reason to leave.
“You said that you work in the arts. Are you one of the many starving artists or actors in LA? Man, they’re everywhere and its pretty annoying. I bet our waitress is probably waiting to be discovered. Aren’t they all?”
“Actually, I think it’s wonderful that so many people are pursuing their dreams and passions. There’s no time like the present.” Regina didn’t bother looking up from her menu. She didn’t want her face to giveaway that she could already picture herself lying on her couch, in her oversized sweats eating kettle corn.
“So, you’re okay with that lifestyle?”
“You say that like it’s some alternative way of living.” Regina felt herself frowning and tried to smooth out her face. “I’m reliant on that ‘lifestyle.’ I’m an entertainment lawyer, in layman’s terms. I admire those who pursue what they want out of life.”
“Oh, its admirable until the rent is due but you get declined audition-after-audition and you can’t get a job to save your life and you have to get two jobs to maintain this persona that you really are important when nobody actually cares about you because you’re either too tall, too old or not muscular enough or your voice isn’t as strong as you thought and you’ve been told you’re flat and can’t pull off life as a country star singer or a basketball player yet too tall to be an extra because your head is often out of the shot or you slept with the director’s daughter but found out she was only 17 and realize you could go to jail so instead decide to go to church because you heard the pastor’s son is directing a movie and you think you could play Goliath and you drove all the way across town to the church only to realize that the movie is supposed to be about some dude named Joseph but you at least met a woman who practically threw her sister at you so you decide to splurge your last few dollars on a date hoping to at least get laid since any woman in her thirties who is single and living in SoCal must be desperate and you’re feeling lucky because you beat some woman out of a parking space at the last minute which means you are feeling lucky and should probably go ahead and go to karaoke because tonight might be your night to get discovered and become the famous country music star you were meant to be. Do you have any producers or directors you could introduce me to? I did give you a rose, look at it as a down payment.” By the time Ronald looked up, no one was there.
Regina wasn’t sure when he ended his rant because the last thing she heard was a reference to a 17-year-old and saw how his left eye started to twitch. She was in no mood to entertain the R Kelly’s of the world.
She sloshed through every puddle on the way back to her car. She was going to give her sister an earful about what it meant when meeting someone with big hands in a church . . . absolutely nothing!
The rain was definitely a sign.
