Seasons of the Heart Read Free Page B

lovely.”
    “Thank you. Would you wait a moment while I get my coat?”
    “Sure.” He watched as she went to the closet.
    God, he’d been crazy to think that he could ever cut her out of his life.
    His feeling for her increased as he sat in the dimly lit dining room of Chang Lee’s Imperial Palace. She looked enchanting with the dark ringlets framing her delicate face.
    “Good evening, sir,” said the waiter in halting English. “You like order?”
    “What do you feel like having, Ann?” Phillip asked.
    “Gosh, I don’t know anything about Chinese food except chow mein. Why don’t you order?”
    He looked at her apprehensively. “I thought you said you loved it.”
    “Oh, I do! That is—well … it all sounds so good. I’ll let you order for us.”
    She didn’t like it. He could tell. Damn it, I shouldn’t have brought her here , he thought, but it was the only decent place he could really afford. Now she was just trying to be nice. She was always so sweet, so agreeable. Those were the traits that had attracted him in the first place. Beyond that, Ann was so feminine; she made him feel strong and masculine, when for such a long time he had felt weak and powerless. He needed someone like Ann to look up to him, depend on him.
    The waiter brought Phillip out of his reverie. “I come back when you decide.”
    “Oh … oh, yes,” Phillip answered rather blankly. He looked at Ann. “Have you looked at the menu?”
    She answered seriously, as though it were the greatest decision in the world. “Yes … well … Phillip, I really don’t know. What do you suggest?”
    “You won’t laugh if I tell you this, will you?”
    “Of course not, Phillip.”
    “Well, I don’t know anything about Chinese food except chow mein, either.”
    They looked at one another for a long moment, then broke into gales of laughter. For the moment the tension was broken.
    When Ann saw the waiter placing the plate of pork chow mein in front of her, she felt a little bit queasy. True, she hadn’t been reared kosher, but—just the thought of it!
    “I think this is awfully good. Don’t you, Ann?” asked Phillip, adding a little more soy sauce to the steamed rice.
    “Oh … just wonderful, Phillip. Delicious.”
    “Do you mean that?”
    “Oh, yes—absolutely!”
    As the meal progressed, the tension between them returned. What do we talk about now? Ann wondered. They couldn’t keep on talking about the food.
    Finally she asked, “Have you seen Ruthie and Kenny since their wedding?” She already knew the answer, of course, since she’d asked Ruthie any number of times.
    “No, I haven’t. I’ve been busy. How about you?”
    “Oh, I have lunch with Ruthie every Saturday.”
    Stirring her chow mein with her fork, she took a dainty bite. “It was a beautiful wedding, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes, it really was.”
    Although this seemed a perfect opening, Phillip couldn’t muster the courage to say all the things he had been thinking. Lying in bed fantasizing a conversation was not quite the same as sitting across the table from the actual girl, a girl who would probably think you were out of your mind for asking her to marry you on the first date.
    How could he explain that he felt as though he’d known her all his life? How could he tell her that she’d been constantly in his thoughts since he’d last seen her? He had no idea whether or not she even liked him. And if she did accept his proposal, would he be able to support her and his parents as well? No, he didn’t have the right to ask Ann to share the burdens of his life. He still had his parents to take care of. The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt. He simply couldn’t ask her tonight.
    Suddenly he looked up at Ann. She looked so beautiful in the soft light. Why the hell was he analyzing all this? Love was a spontaneous thing—it made its own luck.
    While all this was running through Phillip’s head, Ann was having a few daydreams of her own. As the