Page 21 of July (New Orleans #7)

T he restaurant Jill had chosen for them was a seafood place in the Quarter, and it was very busy this time of year, so they had parked blocks away and had walked hand in hand the rest of the way there.

“Jill, I love seafood, so this is perfect,” she said, having checked the menu posted outside per Jill’s instructions just to make sure Willa would find something to eat there.

“They had steaks and a chicken dish or two, so I thought it might be worth the risk even if you didn’t like seafood.”

“Well, I do,” she replied. “Scallops are my favorite. My mom makes them, like, once every two years or so, but they are so good.”

Jill smiled at her and asked, “Are you and your mom close?”

She pulled open the restaurant door and ushered Willa inside.

“Pretty much. I don’t spend as much time with her as I should, but I try to visit the house at least once a month, and I call her about once a week.”

“What does she think about you being gay?”

“Is she the biggest fan of it in the world? No,” Willa said. “But she made her peace with it a long time ago.”

“When you came out?”

“Yeah. I was about seventeen.”

“How’d that go?” Jill asked, taking Willa’s hand again as they stood in front of the host stand. “Solomon for two,” she told the hostess.

The woman looked down at the book in front of her, nodded, and said, “I have your reservation. I just need one minute to verify that the table has been cleaned.”

“Thanks,” Jill replied.

Then, she turned to Willa expectantly.

“Oh,” Willa said. “Well, she caught me making out with a girl at the high school football game, so she kind of found out more than I came out.”

“You were making out with a girl at the game, where there were probably hundreds of people?” Jill chuckled.

“Not exactly. We were in my girlfriend’s car, and I didn’t know that my mom had parked one row over. She saw us on her way out,” Willa replied.

“You got busted.” Jill laughed.

“Your table is ready, Miss Solomon.”

“Thank you,” Jill replied, and they followed the hostess, who was carrying menus and silverware, to the back of the restaurant.

Willa assumed they would be sitting close to the kitchen because that was where she’d spotted the only available table, but they veered right instead of left and were walked through an open doorway that led to another part of the restaurant she hadn’t even known was there.

Inside the room, there were about ten tables spread much farther apart than the ones in the main part of the restaurant.

It was much quieter in there, which made it feel all that more romantic.

The lighting was also dimmer, and the white tablecloths, along with the blue candles placed atop them, elevated the space.

The hostess placed the menus down on a table for two in the back of the room, and Willa hurried, letting go of Jill’s hand so that she could pull out Jill’s chair.

Jill laughed, and Willa pushed the chair in for her before she sat down across from her.

“Your waiter will be right with you,” the hostess said before walking off.

“I can’t believe you were able to get this reservation at the last minute,” Willa said. “This is so nice, Jill. Thank you.”

“I didn’t even know they had this room, so don’t thank me. I only called to see if they could reserve a table for us,” Jill replied.

Within seconds, it seemed, a waiter was standing next to their table, filling their water glasses from a bottle he had pulled from an ice bucket before setting that ice bucket on the table.

“Welcome. My name is Scott, and I will be your server this evening. I understand, you know our chef?”

“I do, yeah,” Jill said.

“Well, he is happy you have joined us tonight, and he has asked me to take special care of you. He would love to get you started with an appetizer.”

Jill looked at Willa, who shrugged.

“Whatever he recommends,” Jill said.

“Great. What would you like to drink this evening?”

“Wine?” Jill asked Willa.

“Sure,” she replied. “It’s white with fish, right?”

“What goes well with scallops?” Jill asked the waiter.

He rattled off a few wine options for them, and Jill told Willa to pick. The wine list was on the back of the menu, so she tried to keep up with the waiter’s suggestions in order to see how much each one cost. Then, she ordered the cheapest bottle, and he left them alone.

“I saw that,” Jill said with a smile. “I told you to get what you want.”

“I don’t need expensive wine. I can barely tell the difference, anyway.”

Jill laughed and replied, “Neither can I.”

“So, neither of us is a big wine snob? That’s good to know,” Willa said.

With the wine and appetizers delivered, the conversation flowed naturally between them, and it felt to Willa as if they were on their hundredth date, not their first. Yes, they were still getting to know each other, but it didn’t feel as if she had to force out questions or try to get Jill to open up with her answers.

Now that she thought about it, a lot of her first dates just felt like interviews.

She would ask a question. The other woman would answer.

Willa would get a question tossed her way as well, she’d answer, and by the end of the night, she would be exhausted and thinking about what had gone wrong.

Tonight didn’t feel like it wasn’t a question-and-answer format, though.

It was just two people having a great conversation over good wine and an incredible meal, with the best ambiance Willa had ever had on a first date.

“So, did you take a girl to prom, then?” Jill asked.

“I didn’t. We broke up about a month before prom, and I was too devastated to go with anyone else.”

“You missed your prom?”

“I went to the one junior year. It was with a boy, but he was fine. He didn’t even push for a kiss at the end of the night when other boys were getting hotel rooms to do something more with their dates.

It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I hardly talked to him all night and was really awkward when we were taking the photos because I wanted to be there with my girlfriend and not him. ”

“Did she go with a guy, too?”

“Yes. We all got the limo together.” Willa smiled. “Let’s just say, after the limo dropped both of us off at my house, and our dates left without their goodnight kisses, she and I went to my room and locked the door, if you know what I mean.”

“You got laid on prom night?” Jill laughed.

“I did. My first time. I’m a cliché.”

Jill smiled and asked, “Was it perfect, with candles and R&B music?”

“It was anything but perfect. It was her first time, too. Neither of us knew what to do, but we spent the whole night trying to figure it out before my parents woke up, and we all had breakfast together.”

“You two got it on down the hall and had breakfast with your parents the next day? That’s savage, Willa Mailor.”

Willa laughed and said, “She was my best friend before my girlfriend, so they thought she had slept over because of that. My mom didn’t catch us until the fall of my senior year. I think she probably put two and two together after, but we never talked about it.”

Jill took a sip of her wine, and then, her fork magically appeared over Willa’s plate. She took a tiny bite of the scallop that was still there, and Willa smiled as she did.

“Does this mean I can have a bite of your steak?” Willa asked.

“Yes. You can have whatever you want, honestly.”

“What if I want to be crazy and have another dessert?”

“The cheesecake didn’t do it for you?” Jill asked.

“It did. But I’m not ready to leave yet.”

“Coffee and crème br?lée?” Jill suggested. “They make a good one here.”

“Sure.”

Minutes later, the coffee arrived, followed by their dessert, and this time, Jill leaned over the table and spooned the fresh raspberry on top of the hardened sugar.

She held it out for Willa to take, and Willa did so slowly, licking her lips after.

That caused Jill’s smile to drop, and Willa laughed loudly.

“You’re still killing me, you know?” Jill said.

“Not sorry,” she replied and cracked the sugar in the dish. “So, you’re going to be running NOLA Guides?”

“Maybe. I’ve been waiting on Mel to figure out what she wants.

She found this new location that she might lease, but she hasn’t decided yet.

I do know she’s going to promote me. It’s only a matter of when.

I’ll make a little more money and have some good benefits, which is especially important now. ”

“And it’s what you want to do for a while? Run the thing?”

“I never thought I’d stay beyond the busy first season I worked there, but I like it, and Mel is a good boss.

I don’t know if I’ll be there forever, but I think I’ll stay for a while, yeah.

When I first started there, I didn’t like it all that much because it felt like I just kind of ended up there.

I didn’t have anything lined up after school like I’d hoped I would, and I ended up on Mel’s doorstep, basically, before it turned into a career for me.

” Jill laughed a little. “I’m guessing, though, you always knew you wanted to be a teacher, didn’t you? ”

“How did you know?”

“You have that quality about you,” Jill said. “I bet you taught imaginary students when you were a kid.”

“I did.” Willa laughed. “I shared a room with my sister, so sometimes, I asked her to pretend to be a student, but most of the time, I was just in my room talking to myself.”

“I bet that was cute,” Jill replied, smiling at her, and she took the last sip of her wine just as the waiter arrived.

“The chef was wondering if you would like to tour the kitchen,” he said.

“Want to?” Jill checked.

“I’ve never toured a kitchen before,” Willa replied.

“Let’s do it, then,” Jill said and then asked the waiter, “Do you have the check?”

“Oh, your meal has been comped, Ma’am,” the waiter replied.

“What?” Jill asked, looking just as shocked at Willa. “He didn’t have to do that.”

The waiter smiled and said, “Compliments of the chef.”

When he placed the padfolio on the table, Jill picked it up and opened it. Willa wasn’t sure what she was looking at until Jill opened her clutch, pulled out some cash, and tucked it inside.

“Thank you very much,” she said and handed it to the waiter.

“Thank you, Ma’am. Shall we go to the kitchen now?”

The kitchen tour had been fun, and Jill’s chef friend, who was very, very gay, had made Willa laugh, telling a story of how he’d met his husband because of one of Jill’s tours.

They’d sampled some food, despite the fact that Willa had already been full, and he’d bid them farewell, suggesting they go out the back, which had led them around the crowds of tourists and onto a less busy street.

Once outside, Willa took Jill’s hand and leaned into her side.

It wasn’t exactly late yet, but it wasn’t early anymore, either.

Willa knew Jill would want to get back to Juni soon, so their night would likely be coming to an end.

“Can we do this again?” she asked.

“The restaurant or a date?” Jill checked.

“Maybe both. But really, I want another date with you. I know it’s complicated because you have Juni, and you can’t get your friends to babysit all the time.

I just want time with you, Jill. I don’t care if it’s sitting on the couch with that deer hanging over our heads while Juni eats ice cream on the floor in front of us. ”

“It really doesn’t bug you that this is hard? That I’ve got a lot to figure out, and it’s not the most romantic way to start dating someone?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, stopping them on the relatively empty sidewalk. “Jill, we just had the most romantic date I’ve ever been on. We’re still technically having it.”

“So, this was better than all-night sex on prom night?” Jill joked.

“A million times better,” Willa said, turning Jill toward her. “I have a feeling that if we get that far, you won’t spend an hour down there, constantly asking me if I was done yet.”

Jill laughed a little and said, “She didn’t…”

“She did.”

“ Did you get there?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she teased and wrapped her arms around Jill’s waist.

“I would like to know. I want to make sure you’re taken care of.”

“In the past?” Willa asked as Jill’s arms moved around her neck. “Or now?”

Jill licked her lips and said, “I wish it could be now, but I need to get home to put Juni to bed.”

“I know,” Willa said with a soft smile, which she hoped conveyed that she really loved how Jill took care of her sister. “Maybe another time?”

“Yes,” Jill replied, nodding rapidly, and then took a step into Willa’s space.

Willa leaned in and pressed their foreheads together.

“You’re not moving in for a hug, are you?” Jill asked.

“No, I’m not moving in for a hug,” she said and pressed her lips tentatively to Jill’s, giving her a second to adjust to the fact that Willa was kissing her.

When Jill’s lips began moving against her own, Willa’s hands slid up Jill’s back, pulling her in ever closer.

Jill’s hands, still on the back of Willa’s neck, began playing with her hair.

They kissed for what felt like several minutes, but it still wasn’t enough.

Willa wanted more. She pulled Jill’s shirt up a bit and ran her hands over warm skin, moaning at the feel of it beneath her fingertips.

She really didn’t want to stop kissing Jill’s lips, but she needed more still, so she pulled out of the kiss, and her lips moved to Jill’s throat, kissing and licking before she sucked slightly at her pulse point.

“If we’re not having sex tonight, you have to stop doing that,” Jill breathed out.

“You taste so good,” Willa replied.

“And saying that ,” Jill said on a laugh.

“Sorry, it’s just been a long time for me, and you’re…” Willa ran a hand up the other side of Jill’s neck and held her in place. “Just so…” She kissed her neck over and over again. “I know we have to go, but please tell me we’re going out again.”

“Yes,” Jill whispered. “And we’re doing this again when I say goodnight to you at your door.”

Willa hummed against Jill’s skin.