“Hi,” she almost whispered to me. “I have a reservation, to meet, um, someone.”
Ah, the “someone” reservation. Someone has the potential to be one of many types of customers:
–“I am here for a retirement party for SOMEONE in my office, but I have no clue who, because I just started working there this week.”
–“I am here to meet SOMEONE I only know on the phone, and I left their business card at home.”
–“I am here to have lunch with SOMEONE who set up our lunch meeting, but I’ve only met them once, a year or so ago, and I don’t remember their name or what they look like.”
But my keen ability to read people told me this particular whispered SOMEONE was the as yet unknown, but potential, Mr. half of a future Mr. and Mrs. SOMEONE.
Enter, The Blind Date.
My restaurant has evolved into a mini bastion of lunchers looking for love. They come in via “Just Lunch” or “Just Drinks” or “Just Because My Stupid Friend Set Me Up And I Couldn’t Say No One More Time.” Usually the reservation is easy to spot. A first name in the last-name slot; another first name in the first-name slot. Bingo, blind date.
No matter how busy my foyer is, no matter how slammed we are at 12:30 p.m., I am a sucker for dwelling on the blind-date rendezvous, doing my best to make the introductions myself in a vain attempt to right all the wrongs I have wielded in my past efforts to set up my single friends–always a disaster. If I introduce the blind-date customers to one another in my foyer, and they click, then my bad fix-up karma is, well, fixed–right?
A girl can dream.
There was the really tall guy in jeans and the really short girl in a suit, a date I am sure didn’t work, because their initial assessment of each other was twin deer-in-the-headlight expressions. But they pretty much found each other on their own, then came forward to the podium to say they were ready to be seated. So, I don’t count that as another of my failures.
The two incredibly shy people whose first names we had wrong in the book, but whom I connected anyway, seemed right for each other. They could barely look each other in the eye, but they seemed compatible that way. Half a point for them, I say.
And the kind-of-cute guy and the very uptight I-am-woman-hear-me-roar young lady sat at their table for more than an hour. I consider that a positive sign.
But this one, the whisperer, she was drop-dead gorgeous with the perfect name to fit: Annabella.
Please, please, please I begged the blind date gods, let Antonio–the SOMEONE she was meeting–be all of the dark good looks that his name implies. Blind-date couples can move right along to the do-I-even-remotely-like-you-enough-to-talk-to-you phase, when the looks issue is no longer an issue.
“I’ll wait over at that bar,”Annabella told me, a glimmer of confidence shining through.
“Great. I’ll bring Antonio over when he arrives,” I smiled.
“Thanks,” she smiled back.
I liked her. In any other situation, I predict she has nerves of steel.
Deuces, four-tops, and large parties came and went. A half hour passed. True, Annabella was early for the reservation, but still. No way was Antonio standing her up. Was he? He couldn’t be!
As if I had a shred of control over this.
Every few minutes I glanced over at the quickly filling bar. Annabella sat elegantly on the stool, nursing an iced tea, laughing quietly with one of my favorite bartenders. Yeah, she is awesome and deserves a great SOMEONE, I decided.
“Excuse me. I have a reservation,” smiled the young man as he approached the podium.
“Sure, the last name?” I asked.
“Just me–Antonio. I am here to meet…”
“Oh, Antonio, hello!” Rapid heart beat. So cute. “Please, follow me.”
We had to make our way through a bit of a throng, and as we neared the bar, Annabella must have sensed our arrival. She swung around, tilting her head, smiling just a hint of a smile.
“Annabella,” I told her, “This is Antonio.”
They exchanged a firm hand shake, looked each other right in the eye, then gazed at one another for the briefest of seconds longer.
Yes!
“Follow me, please, and I’ll show you right to your table.”
I was invisible. The booth was pointless. The menu was moot. Their waiter was irrelevant.
They adored each other on the spot. I just know it.
I just know it.
I mean, I am pretty sure….
Comments
7 responses to “Love is in the Air–and Blind”
Indeed! Let us hope Love is in the Air!
Hey RG. I’ve been reading you for a while – actually, reading you out loud to my roommate every evening after we get home. Firstly, thank you!
Secondly, I thought you might enjoy these gems from tonight at our restaurant:
Single mom with eight-year-old daughter in tow, and a thirtyish fellow riding the razor’s edge between I’m-just-your-mommy’s-new-friend and am-I-looking-at-my-stepdaughter?
Within the hour, young Angie peeped around into the kitchen on her way back from the loo, to ask if we had any cake for dessert. She wanted to buy her mommy’s friend Sean some cake, and wanted to make sure she had enough in her purse. We later learned it was their first meeting, and Angie now considered Sean her friend.
Later:
Young dad with small baby, to waitress: “I think it’s bedtime,” he says, “Could we please get our stuff to go, before the meltdown hits? If you could just pass me a container or something? We don’t want to disturb anyone.”
No problem at all. Classy and considerate. The patrons nearby, who had been getting tense while Baby got fussy, suddenly relaxed and start making silly-baby faces as they left – with a piece of cake hidden in their carryout bag.
Sweet story. I’m rooting for Annabella and Antonio too!
Looks like Annabelle got lucky. This hostess has had to seat some pretty ugly potential blind dates. And by ugly, I’m not just referring to their respective faces…
Hi – just a quick thanks for taking the time to comment on my site.
Nice place you’ve got here. I might just pull up a chair and order an espresso 🙂
I found you the other day and have read all of your posts already! Keep up the great job (here and at work).
I loved this post. Like Annabella, there are so many traits we possess that elude us when we need them the most, and that’s part of what makes us all so wonderful and so fascinating. And sometimes… sometimes everything comes together in the right way at the right time with the right people, even when we’re feeling unusually shy and unconfident.