In Danni’s absence, Corey smiled and said, “She reminds me of Andrea a little. Doesn’t she? Or do all models act like that?”

Why? Why did he keep bringing the girl up, just when Danni had calmed me back down?

I said, “Hey, man…” and I just decided to let it roll. But one thing was for sure, Corey wouldn’t get another drink with me. He was fucking up my mood. Andrea was in the past. I didn’t want to hear shit else about her.

Danni arrived back at the table. At the same time, our waiter presented me with a notebook pad of yellow paper to scribble my John Hancock on.

“I’ll be right back with your food,” he told me. It was like I was the only one at the table.

As soon as he left, Danni turned to me and said, “You’re not really hungry, are you?”

It was her cue for us to leave, like in right now!

I shook my head and told her, “Not really. I can get it to go.” It was rude to Corey, but like I said, he had ruined his welcome.

He grinned and took it in stride.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around then, Terrance.”

“Yeah, you got my numbers.” That was all I had left to say to him.

When our waiter returned with the hot food, Danni wasted no time in telling him our change of plans.

“You know, we’re all gonna have our food to go now.” Then she looked over at Corey. “Oh, but you probably want to stay, right?”

Sounded like she was putting his thoughts in his head.

Corey continued to grin. “Yeah, I’ll stay. I like it in here.”

“Okay, well, nice meeting you.” Danni didn’t mean that shit. It was all a part of being cordial. She told me, “I’ma get my car while you get the food. I parked with the valet.”

What else was there for me to say? She had already made her moves.

I nodded and said, “Okay.”

When she walked out, Corey told me, “Man, you got your hands full with that one.”

“Mmm, hmm,” our disgruntled waiter mumbled.

“Yeah,” I mumbled back to them. They just didn’t understand the girl. Danni was easy. She wanted to make her own moves and feel in control of her destiny. She only wanted a man to counterpunch with tact and precision. And I was just the right man for the job.

WHEN I ARRIVED outside the Cheesecake Factory with a bag of hot entrées in hand, Danni blew the horn of a midnight blue BMW sports car and got my attention. It was shining like it had been freshly waxed. Either that or she had just driven it off the dealer’s lot.

“You like it?” she asked me, cheesing.

“I like you more,” I told her.

She said, “Of course you do. So where’s your car?”

“It’s parked in the back.”

“I’ll wait next to the curb for you.”