Page 94 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

“Hey, Dawg. What can I get you?”

“I need to know where JoBeth is. I want to talk to her.”

Noreen stuck her pencil behind her ear and slipped the order pad into her apron pocket. “She doesn’t want to talk to you, Dawg. She’s pursuin’ her dreams.”

“With Middleton?” He shook his head. “I’m not buyin’ it. It’s me she loves.”

“You know, sometimes that just isn’t enough. She deserves a future and a family, and Middleton wants to give her both.”

“She’ll have to tell me that herself.”

“She has told you that, Dawg. More than once. You just haven’t been listening.”

“Well, I’m all ears now.”

The waitress folded her arms across her chest and stared stonily at him. Dawg reached in his pocket and pulled out the small black velvet box. "You aren’t the first person I was planning to show this to, you know.”

Noreen’s face thawed considerably. She lifted the box in her hand and held it up to the light, admiring the sparkle of the diamond. “That must be a whole carat.”

“Well, it’s not cubic zirconia, I can promise you that.”

“It’s right nice, Dawg. But I’m afraid you’re a bit late.”

Dawg snatched the box back and snapped it closed. “What do you mean?”

“JoBeth bought herself a fancy new dress for her dinner with Kevin tonight. If I don’t miss my guess, she’s expecting him to propose.”

Dawg slid out of the booth and stood, towering over the waitress. “Where are they, Noreen?”

“Well, now, I’m not sure I should—”

“Noreen, I’m going to give you exactly one chance to tell me where they are, and then I’m going to pick you up and sling you over my shoulder and carry you out of this place. If you don’t tell me where they are, I’ll make you show me.”

Noreen giggled like a teenager. “It does my heart good to see you finally realizing what you’ve had all this time. They’re at La Parisienne. I just hope you’re not too late. Their reservation was for seven.”

Dawg looked down at his watch as he raced for the door. Damn. It was eight-thirty, and it would take him at least twenty minutes to get there. He tried not to run over anyone on the way into town, and while he drove he prayed that the service was bad at La Parisienne, or at least real slow.

Twenty minutes and a twenty-dollar bill later, a snooty maitre d’ led him to a small linen-covered table in a secluded alcove, where Kevin Middleton sat alone.

“Where’s JoBeth?”

“ ’Lo, Rollins. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here.”

“Where’s JoBeth?”

“You’ve been on every date we’ve had. Been a silent partner in every conversation. Might as well be here tonight.”

“You’re drunk, Middleton. Where’s JoBeth?”

“Ladies’ room, I think. Asked her to marry me, and she started crying. Said she had to go to the bathroom."

“But what did she say? Did she say yes?”

“Don’t know. Couldn’t understand a word she was saying. She was blubbering all over herself.”

Heartened by Middleton’s confusion, Dawg got directions to the ladies’ room. After a warning knock, he opened the door and went inside.

JoBeth sat on a fancy sofa sobbing into a wet hanky. When she looked up and saw him, she cried harder.