Beauty and The Beasley

Chapter 10

Bree had feared that her date would turn out to be a total flop or Norman would set out a dish she couldn't force down her throat but she was so wrong.

Valentine's Day with Norman turned out to be one of the few best days of her life.

He hired a taxi that drove them to Grand Parrish. It was 20km away from Oakwood and Bree had never bothered to look at the place whenever she passed by in a cab because that part of town seemed so quiet, almost surreal and there was this funny cold breeze hanging around that made Bree shiver.

But she had only judged Grand Parrish from the outside.

Their taxi cab pulled over and Norman had a short conversation with the driver, something about coming back to pick them up later.

"Let's go." He said offering his hand. Bree took it and followed him despite the cold feeling that washed over her.

She couldn't tell if it was her nerves trying to fight one another like Kate and Gaius considering this was her first date or if it was generally the discomfort she regularly felt when she passed by this part of town.

As they walked on, Bree was surprised that people actually lived there. Houses lined the street with roads bending and curving behind and in front of them. Many houses had matte black roofing that looked like polished charcoal. Others had blue, green or red roofs. Every house seemed to grow the same small tree by the corner making it look like a boundary between the previous house and the next house.

Bree thought they would walk for long but at the next second, Norman turned a curve. He pushed open a gate next to one of the houses. It was painted sky blue and the walkway was cobbled.

Bree looked to him questioningly like hello, trespassing?

He smiled reassuringly. "I know the owner."

As they entered, Bree realized it was a garden. A beautiful garden. She suddenly spotted the huge vase Norman had presented her with earlier.

She laughed heavily. "You finally found a place to put the......" Her sentence stuck halfway in her throat as her gaze landed on where they were heading.

At the end of the garden stood a majestic gazebo painted to look like vanilla ice cream. It had four bold pillars and three wraparound steps that led to the middle. The flooring looked like tiles but were bolder and smooth. The roof was ornated with flowers of red since it was Valentine's Day. Beautiful golden trolleys held flowers in them and was placed everywhere. The pleasant smell of flower, food and candy was so overwhelming that Bree began to feel lightheaded.

As for lunch - Bree was dumbstruck. There were two comfortable looking chairs and a wide table covered with muffins, scones, sandwiches and light meals, a transparent vase with three skinny flowers in it but Bree was sure it was just a plant, a box of chocolate and a bouquet of roses.

With everything blaring red, Bree suddenly felt her yellow dress was a traitor.

"Do you like it?" Norman asked grinning from ear to ear. He smiled so hard that Bree feared his face would break.

"Norman, this.....this is....amazing." She gasped still trying to take in all the beauty around her.

She could tell her date was proud to finally please her and he had every right to be, the place was lounge worthy even for royalty.

"A befitting lunch for my lovely princess." Norman said as he pulled her chair out and helped her in.

Of course, he'd always thought her to be royalty. Although she wasn't sure if maybe he used princess as an endearment term.