When Spirits Beckon

When Spirits Beckon, Part 1, Chapter 3

7 years ago ...

For Ramona, it was pure hate at first sight.

She couldn't believe her eyes as she saw Damien come towards her, weaving between tables with that stunning redhead in tow.

How dare he humiliate her so? she seethed inwardly. How could he have the gall to bring along another woman to our first date?

With much effort, Ramona managed to keep her anger hidden as Damien and his companion arrived at the table. "Hi Damien," she said coolly as the waiter rushed to get another chair to seat the other woman.

"Hi Ramona," he replied as he took his seat opposite her. "I'm sorry we're a bit late. I hope you've not been waiting too long."

"The apology is all mine," that woman said in a clear unaccented voice. "I'm afraid I was held up at work and I was late to pick up Damien."

Damien sheepishly flashed that boyish smile that she had found so captivating before. Now, it simply irritated her. And Ramona didn't care very much for the casual intimacy between the two. She had just about enough of this and was about to crumple her napkin to walk off in a huff when Damien spoke up.

"Laura is a reporter with the Awesome Science. She's here to interview us both on the discovery we made last week. I'm sorry not to have warned you about it earlier, but Laura wanted it to be kept quiet so that her magazine will have the scoop with the news."

Those words quenched her anger so rapidly that Ramona was almost left gasping for breath. How could she have been so foolish! No wonder Damien had been so furtive about asking her out to dinner alone. And she had let herself be deluded into misreading his hesitancy, assuming instead that he had simply been shy at asking her out on a first date!

As she felt her cheeks burning up with embarrassment, Ramona was granted an unexpected reprieve when Damien's phone rang.

"See, I told you she'd be embarrassed by this honor," Damien said as he reached into his jacket. "It's the boss, I have to take this. Please excuse me while I attend to this call outside." Damien quickly stood up and walked out to the restaurant lobby.

Suddenly left to their own devices, Ramona maintained her silence, glad that Damien had mistaken her blush for something else less incriminating.

But, Laura hadn't been so easily fooled. "You really like him, don't you?"

"I beg your pardon!" Ramona responded instantly, flabbergasted.

"You know," Laura's voice deepened into a huskier tone, "that man has such a yummy-looking butt that I wouldn't mind taking a tumble with him later tonight."

Stiffly, Ramona carefully folded her napkin and laid it on the table. "I'm going to get up and leave now."

"Come on honey, don't tell me you haven't thought of getting down and dirty with him. I've noticed how you just can't keep your puppy dog eyes off him."

"That's enough! I don't take kindly to rudeness and besides, I never agreed to meet up with you."

As she began to stand up, Laura kicked her chair from under the table and made Ramona flop back into it again. "I don't think so," Laura said, still sounding cheerful. "Why won't you wag your tail at him once in a while? Men usually can't resist that, as long as you don't make it too obvious."

Realizing that she wasn't going to go anywhere soon, at least not with her dignity still intact, Ramona glared fiercely at Laura. "Look here. Nothing is going on between Damien and me, and even if there is, it's none of your business."