“Could we have the one beside the window?”

The hostess warned that it was exposed to the sidewalk, but he insisted the view was better.

Richard pointed toward the front instead.

I thought he meant the city lights.

Now those heels rested beneath a table beside the restaurant’s front window, exactly where Richard had insisted we sit.

***

Moments later, a black sedan slowed outside.

Richard stopped stirring his water.

I thought he meant the city lights.

When it continued down the street, his shoulders lowered.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Nothing. I’m a little nervous.”

That answer might have satisfied me if he hadn’t immediately checked his watch again.

“What was that?”

Our appetizers arrived.

Richard asked about my garden, but his gaze kept returning to the glass.

I tried to recapture the easy man from our messages.

He hadn’t heard a word.

His gaze kept returning to the glass.

Then he set down his fork.

“Marilyn, would you mind standing?”

“Standing?”

“Just for a moment. I’d love to see how tall you look in those heels.”

“Marilyn, would you mind standing?”

I glanced at the surrounding tables. “Right here?”

“Please.”

There was no admiration in his voice now.

The word came too quickly, as if we were running late.

“Right here?”

Still, refusing felt like turning a peculiar request into a scene.

I pushed back my chair.

“If someone asks me to change a ceiling fixture, you’re explaining.”

Refusing felt like turning a peculiar request into a scene.

In those heels, I stood close to seven feet tall, and people noticed immediately.

A little boy near the entrance stopped chewing until his mother redirected him toward his plate.

Richard did not look at me.

He stared through the window.

People noticed immediately.

A black SUV had stopped across the street.

Two men stepped onto the sidewalk.

One wore a dark jacket.

The other surveyed the restaurant entrance.

A black SUV had stopped across the street.

Richard’s hand closed around my wrist.

“Sit down. Now.”

His grip hurt.

“Richie, let go.”

He loosened his fingers but kept hold of me.

“Sit down. Now.”

With his free hand, he dropped several bills beside his untouched plate.

“We need to leave.”

“Who are those men?”

“I’ll explain outside.”

He pulled me toward a doorway beside the kitchen.

“We need to leave.”

My heels struck the tile sharply, each step reminding me how difficult running would be.

I could not tell whether Richard feared those men or intended to hand me over to someone waiting behind the building.

***

The restaurant manager stepped into our path.

Richard feared those men.

“Sir, guests aren’t permitted through the kitchen.”

“We need another exit.”

The manager looked at Richard’s hand around my wrist, then met my eyes.

“Ma’am, do you want to go with him?”

“Sir, guests aren’t permitted through the kitchen.”

I pulled free.

“No. I don’t.”

The manager shifted between us.

One of the men from the SUV entered the restaurant.

I pulled free.

He spotted Richard near the kitchen and walked toward us.

“Richard.”

Richard pressed two fingers to his forehead.

The stranger stopped several feet away.

His anger seemed aimed entirely at my date.

He spotted Richard near the kitchen and walked toward us.

“Where are you going?”

I stayed beside the manager. “Who are you?”

The man looked surprised. “I’m Eleanor’s husband.”

“Who is Eleanor?”

“Where are you going?”

Richard studied the floor tiles.

“His daughter,” the man answered. “The daughter he asked to drive past this restaurant tonight.”

I turned toward Richard. “You arranged this?”

“His daughter.”

***

The man introduced himself as Daniel.

The other man was the driver, waiting near the SUV.

Neither had come for me.

“Eleanor thought you wanted her to see something,” Daniel told Richard. “Why did you run when we arrived?”

The man introduced himself as Daniel.

“I panicked.”

“Because of me?” I asked.

Richard rubbed the side of his thumb against his palm.

“I wanted Eleanor to see us together. She has worried about me since her mother died. I thought if she saw me enjoying dinner, she’d stop treating me like I was falling apart.”

“I panicked.”

The window table, the watch, and the heels settled into one ugly picture.

“You asked me to stand so your daughter couldn’t miss me.”

He looked toward the dining room rather than at me.

“You weren’t admiring my height,” I added. “You were using it as a sign in the window.”

The heels settled into one ugly picture.

“Marilyn, I do admire you.”

“Did you ever plan to tell me she was coming?”

His lips parted, but no answer followed.

The request for heels had made me feel chosen.

“Marilyn, I do admire you.”

Now I understood that Richard had chosen me partly because no passing car could overlook me.

***

A woman entered in a wheelchair and moved toward us with practiced, quick turns.

Daniel stepped aside.

Her eyes went first to Richard, then to me, and finally to the wrist I was rubbing.

A woman entered in a wheelchair.

“What happened?”

“Eleanor,” Richard began, “I can explain.”

She ignored him. “Ma’am, are you all right?”

“I’m Marilyn,” I said. “Your father grabbed me when he saw the SUV.”

Eleanor’s hand settled on one wheel. “Did he tell you I was coming?”