Shattered Part II (complete) ✔️

Shattered Part II - 30

Pulling the car into the parking lot of the vineyard I see the front door open and Kat steps outside with a crutch under her arm. She looks at me and says. "What are you doing here?"

"Bas called," I tell her. "He told us you were calling out for your sister."

"Shit," Kat shakes her head. "I didn't mean to ruin your plans, Chad. I thought you were spending time here?"

Eliza is at my side and she speaks up. "Don't worry about it, Kat. I need your help finding something to wear. Chad wants to take me out for dinner."

A smile spreads across my face.

Out of nowhere Kat squeals and I'm tempted to cover my ears. Then she says. "Oh My God, that's great news. You're moving on from Austin too by letting someone else take you on a date. Let's go inside and look for something."

Eliza turns towards me and says. "What time do you want me ready?"

"Seven," I walk through the door and head towards the kitchen. The one place I know Sebastian will be. When we were kids and one of us fell over we ended up in the kitchen snaking on something that Evelyn had made that morning.

Sebastian hides what he's eating behind his back. "Oh, it's you. I thought it was my wife. She's been trying to make me eat healthy for the last couple of weeks and I've been sneaking in cakes while she's at work."

Shaking my head I move over to him and grab a brownie that's sitting on the table. "Do you remember the time when Grandma made these with pot, one year and we were stoned for a couple of hours and all we could do was eat and eat?"

He laughs. "I remember that. Grandma didn't know what was happening, but she later found out that my cousin Dominque put the pot in it and she was fuming because the house smelt so bad. We told Grandma that it's the way it should smell after someone puts a secret ingredient into it."

Evelyn walks through the door at that moment. "And she's never been able to step foot into my kitchen ever since. I didn't approve that she did that to my cooking and family." she looks between us and says. "I found the both of you in the lake lying on your backs."

Oh, god. That's so embarrassing. Knowing that Grandma saw that.

"Grandma," Sebastian groans. "Can we not go there, please?"

She laughs. "Alright, so what do you want dinner for dinner tonight? I have no idea what to cook."

"Actually," a smile spreads across my face. "I have a date tonight with Eliza. So, we won't be around for dinner."

Evelyn pulls me in for a hug. "I'm so happy for you, Chad. You deserve to be with a girl like Eliza. Take it easy on her though. She's not ready to date and it will confuse her if she gets too involved with you."

"I promise I'll take it slow. We agreed that we'd eat dinner as friends and nothing else."

***

At 7:30 pm, I pull the car into the parking lot of 'Burlesque.' It's a popular restaurant at the front and at the back of the building it turns into a strip club. The one place I don't want to show Eliza. Especially, on our first date.

The pink neon sign flashes against the brick building that's located on the main street of the town. A red door sticks out against the building. I step out of the car and round it, before opening Eliza's door.

She steps out of the car and walks with me to the door. Opening the door I let her walk in first.

A woman is standing behind the podium and she has a purple wig on, with a corset and mini skirt that's attached to a small belt. A smile spreads across her face revealing her white teeth. "Welcome to Burlesque. I'm Candy. You're waitress this evening. Do you have a booking?"