A Little Piece of Heaven

The Cafè Joli Paon was a small but extremely fancy little restaurant in south Huntington. The outside was decorated in bright colors, and there were pictures of peacocks all over. The mosaic on the front step was a huge and colorful peacock, its regal feathers spread out to attract- in this case- customers. I stepped gingerly on it, not wanting to accidentally cause the piece of art to combust suddenly. Johnny took my arm, laughing a bit.

The hostess opened the door for us and said, "Bonjour, mes amis. Bienvenue à la Jolie Paon."

I looked at Johnny, and he smiled. I had taken Spanish in high school, not French. He squeezed my hand and turned to the hostess.

"Deux," he said. "I have a reservation."

"Ah, you must be Mr. Seward," said the hostess. "Right this way, sir."

We followed her past tables of fancy-clad men and women. Most of them stared at us, our tattoos and Johnny's hair standing out like broken bones. But nobody recognized him, which meant we at least had peace here. Our table was in the far corner of the restaurant near a large window. We sat opposite each other, and the hostess handed us our menus.

I felt like a princess sitting across from him. I'd never been dressed so nice. I'd never been sitting in such a restaurant as this one. And if you had told me a year ago that this is where I'd be and who I'd be with, I would have laughed.

"You know what you're getting?" asked Johnny.

"Yeah, what's the cheapest thing on the menu?" I replied.

"Don't worry about it," Johnny said. "Just get what you want, and don't worry about price."

"I shouldn't, but I'm going to because I don't like having a lot of money spent on me."

Johnny took my hand and said, "You deserve it. Just pick out whatever you want. It's not like I'm buying a house for you."

I smiled at his attempted humor. The waitress brought us a couple glasses of water, and we ordered. Much to the dismay of Johnny, I did end up getting the cheapest thing on the menu, but I argued that it was purely coincidence. He didn't believe me, and I didn't even believe myself. I glanced over at a table of middle-aged business men. They were all staring over at the table, and it made me a bit uncomfortable. Johnny followed my eyes to the other table, and he frowned.

"I have a feeling they don't recognize me, if you get what I mean," he said.

"Yeah," I said. "I know."

I selfconsciously put one of my arms around my chest, but Johnny was holding my other hand. I ran my thumb over the R on his right first finger. I looked up at him, trying not to look too happy to be on such an amazing date.

"I feel guilty," I said. "I haven't gotten you anything yet."

"You don't have to," Johnny replied.

"Wasn't it you who said that you do what you want for the person you love?"

"You got me there."

It grew silent between us, and my thoughts drifted. The baby. I had to tell him. I looked up swiftly, and he locked eyes with me. I smiled a bit.

"Johnny, can I tell you something?" I said.

"You can tell me anything, love," he replied.

I took a deep breath and said, "I'm..." I stopped. Why did I stop? I swallowed a bit of nerves down. "I love you."

Johnny chuckled, "I love you too, Lissa. More than you'll ever know."

I squeezed his hand again. I knew I couldn't do it. How could I have thought I could get through this. Not even Naomi knew. Johnny leaned across the table and kissed me. I closed my eyes,
taking in the scents around me- including Johnny's cologne. I smiled.

Nobody ever treated me like Johnny did.