Brian Forrester felt like the luckiest man on earth as, with a hand lightly on her back, he gently guided Adrienne after the maître‘d. They walked between tables covered with white linen and adorned with silver candleholders surrounded by crystal bowls of fresh flowers. Adrienne turned, looked up at him and smiled as her heels sank into the plush carpet. The maître‘d stopped beside a table for two that was one of a half-dozen, tucked away among a plethora of potted palms that screened them from the main dining area. 
“Will this be satisfactory, sir?” the maître‘d inquired.
“This is fine.” Brian nodded. The maître‘d held a chair for Adrienne. When she was seated, Brian slid his lean body into the one opposite.
Loosening his tie slightly, he sat gazing fondly at the petite girl across the small candlelit table. The soft light gleamed on her short auburn curls as her green eyes took in every detail of the restaurant’s interior, from the wall mirrors that reflected highly polished silver wall sconces to the waiter coming toward them. Her gaze swept approvingly over the waiter’s starched white shirt, black tie and on to the satin cummerbund.
“Nice place,” she murmured appreciatively as the waiter approached their table.
“Good evening,” the waiter said stiffly. “May I bring you a cocktail?”
Adrienne started to speak, but Brian held up his hand.
“Champagne,” he said with a broad smile. “Bring us a bottle of your best champagne.”
Adrienne’s mouth dropped open and she stared wide-eyed at him.
“Very good, sir,” the waiter said.
“What is going on?” Adrienne whispered as the waiter moved away. “First you bring me to this place and now you’re ordering champagne. Did some rich relative die and leave you a small fortune?”
“Hardly,” Brian answered. “We’re celebrating.” He smiled at her confused expression. “You know that promotion I’ve been hoping to get?” She nodded and his smile broadened into a grin. “Well, I just found out today. I got it! I am now an official member of management.”
Adrienne watched the waiter as he brought menus and their champagne. He showed the label to Brian, who nodded his approval. The waiter then filled a glass for each of them before re-depositing the bottle in its bucket. Adrienne picked up her glass and, with a smile, tilted it toward her companion.
“Congratulations!”
“Thank you, m’lady.” He gave her a mock half-bow.
Adrienne set down her glass, picked up the menu and slowly perused the pages. “Since we’re celebrating,” she said, “I think I’ll have the lobster.”
Brian’s eyes flitted over the prices. This evening could end up costing a lot more than he had expected. Oh well, he thought, it isn’t every day a guy moved up into management. And it certainly hadn’t been every day that he’d been able to treat his girl to an evening out like this one.
As Brian scanned the menu, he read from right to left unconsciously hoping to offset Adrienne’s lobster without seeming obvious. Making his decision, he closed the menu and laid it to one side.
“What are you having?” Adrienne asked.
“I think I’m going to go for the stuffed chicken breast.”
“What? Why not have the lobster? Or maybe the prime rib? Did you see all of those lovely steaks? Why don’t you have one of those?”
Brian shrugged. “I don’t really like lobster. Besides, a guy can’t be too careful about his cholesterol.” He grinned. “Isn’t that what you nurses are always telling your patients?”
“Yes, but just this once wouldn’t hurt, and I’ll bet they’re delicious here.”
“Probably are, but I think I’ll pass.”
“Whatever. You’ve never listened to anything I’ve said before,” she said with a smile. “It’s a funny time to start, when we’re supposed to be celebrating.”
Brian saw the waiter approaching to take their order and didn’t comment.
When the waiter had gone, Adrienne took a sip of her champagne and smiled at her companion. “So tell me about your new job.”
Brian shrugged and ran his fingers through his chestnut waves. “Not much to tell. I’ll be the Marketing Manager for a new product line we’re developing.”
“When does the promotion take effect?”
“I start next Monday. But I’ll still have to spend about half of my time covering my old job until they find someone to fill it.”
“I hope you got a nice pay increase.”
“Not bad. It’s a two-level jump.”
“When will it show up on your paycheck?”
“It’s supposed to be the end of this month.”
She took another sip of her champagne. “What does the job entail?”
“Oh, the usual stuff, like setting our budget, overseeing development of the product, developing markets and, of course, reporting to upper management on how things are going.”
“Will you have to travel much?”
“I don’t know yet. I know there’ll be some, but I don’t think there’ll be a lot.”
She frowned. “I hope not. You know how I hate being left alone.”
“I know. I’ll minimize it as much as I can.”
“I especially don’t like it when you’re not there and I have to work evenings. It’s no fun coming home to an empty apartment in the wee hours of the morning.”