”So...what are you doing here?” came a man’s voice.
We both looked up to see a red-faced man -- bald and rotund, nowhere near as good-looking as the restaurant’s actual clientele, and dressed not in latex, but in a standard gray suit and striped necktie.
The Maracino’s maitre’d came walking up behind him. “Excuse me, sir and madam, this gentleman --“
The man in a suit raised his hand toward the maitre’d, then addressed Haley. “Don’t you ever check your phone? I’ve been calling and texting you for the last 45 minutes. Did you forget about the rehearsal?”
All Haley could say was, “What?”
”The rehearsal!” The man wasn’t raising his voice, obviously cognizant of the fact that he was in a romantic restaurant, but the veins in his neck were throbbing. “For your worldwide tour that starts in a week? It would help a lot if you knew the dance steps!”
”Oh,” said Haley. She turned back to me, an unreadable expression on her face.
With the red-faced man staring at both of us, and the maitre’d looking very uncomfortable, I raised my hands a bit and tapped the wishing ring with a finger. “Uh...”
Haley raised her wine glass, took a sip, and then another, bigger sip. She put it down and said, “No, I’m the pop star, I wanted this life, I wanted this world.” She wiped her mouth with the linen napkin and stood up. The red-faced man looked relieved.
Haley reached over, took my hand in hers, and leaned toward my ear. “Please don’t change things too much, but you really should enjoy this.” She used a finger to stroke the ring a couple of times, giving no doubt what she meant by “this.” She continued, “I’ll get in touch with you if I really don’t like this, though.”
She kissed me on the cheek, then stood back upright and said, “Thanks for everything.” She nodded toward the man, and they walked out.
The maitre’d was still standing there, looking concerned about me. I said, “I guess you can cancel her filet mignon order.”
”Yes, sir,” he said, “although I should let you know, we do happen to have several women at our bar who would be interested in your companionship.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
”Yes, sir, I never joke with our valued patrons.”
I drummed my fingers on the table a couple of times and then said...