Taylor rolled down the passenger window to offer him a tip, but Harsha waved him off, retreating to his station with a grin so wide it bordered on joyful disbelief. Taylor caught my eye in the mirror and smiled. “Looking very elegant tonight, Ms. Nyah. Do you have a date? Or are you just out breaking hearts?”
I laughed, the sound easing my nerves. “Don’t you start, Taylor. I just took a year off poor Harsha’s life.”
“I think he’ll pull through, ma’am.”
“I hope you know where we’re going,” I added, settling back into the seat. “Because I have no idea.”
“I do, ma’am,” he said, glancing over his shoulder as he pulled the big car smoothly into traffic. “Sit back. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
A few minutes was all it took. Taylor had just finished telling me about his plans for the evening—dinner and a movie with Martinaafter they put Lucas to bed—when we pulled into the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel.
Taylor leaned back and handed me another note, written on the same cardstock as the one from Lakshmi.
Inside, it was signed simply with aCinside a hand-drawn heart.Pour Deux?I knew enough French to translate it—for two. It sounded like the name of a restaurant, but I knew every restaurant in the Pan Pacific. They were the competition, after all. None of them were called that. Maybe it was the Honeymoon Suite under a new name, but I’d already been tricked once into misjudging Caleb’s intentions tonight, and I wasn’t quick to assume another tactless booty call.
I waved goodbye to Taylor and hurried inside, grateful to escape the cold. The events board near the entrance read:
POUR DEUX - RÉCEPTION
The hotel events board inside the entrance seemed unequivocal yet shed no light whatsoever on Caleb’s plans for the evening. Was this just for me? It seemed elaborate, even for Caleb—the man who’d treated her to a spa day with her friends on New Year’s Eve.
“MademoiselleRodriguez,bonne soirée,” the man at reception said before I even opened my mouth. “Give me a moment to cover the desk, and I’ll show you upstairs.”
“Upstairs?”
“ToPour Deux, ma’am. Another couple is waiting in the lobby. I won’t be a moment.”
He returned quickly, escorting an elderly couple from the lobby. The woman’s silver hair was freshly permed, and the gentleman wore opaque glasses, his hand clasped firmly in hers. The way they leaned into one another told a story all its own.
“Hello,” I said, smiling at the woman. “Are you going toPourDeux?”
“You too?” she replied. “It’s very mysterious, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say. I don’t even know what it is.”
“Mesdames, monsieur,” our host said, sounding less like a receptionist with every word, “follow me, please.” He guided us toward theelevators. “Welcome to Pan Pacific Vancouver, playing host tonight toPour Deux.”
“Which is?” I asked, half-laughing, half-desperate.
“We are a pop-up restaurant,mademoiselle,” he said. “Tonight only, in our Royal Suite, the chef is preparing a seven-course dégustation menu for seven special couples only.”
“A Michelin-star chef,” the older woman said excitedly. “Isn’t that right, Herb?”
“That’s what you told me, Alice,” the man replied calmly.
“Exactement,” the host confirmed, scanning a key card and pressing the button for the top floor. “Your invitation,s’il vous plaît.”
“You have an invitation?” I asked, my mind reeling at the fact that one mystery was solved before being replaced by another.
Alice unfolded hers, showing us both. It read like something out of a fairytale—fifty years of marriage, a complimentary Valentine’s dinner for two with the hotel’s address and phone number. At the bottom was a grainy newspaper photocopy of their wedding announcement.
“I’m sorry,” I said to the man, “I don’t have an invitation.”
“Peu importe, Ms. Rodriguez. We were expecting you.”
Somewhere, there was a VIP list with my name and Caleb’s face beside it. I’d prepared lists like that myself countless times. I’d just never imagined being on one. Would dating him always feel this surreal?
“I told you, Herb,” Alice whispered loudly. “She’s a celebrity.” Then to me, “I don’t recognize you, dear, but I knew you were a movie star the moment I saw you. I’m just lucky Herb can’t see you, or he’d leave me in a heartbeat.”
