Dorsai - Taxi

I managed not to gawk at her too much as she stepped into the dress, then got it pulled up over her hips and her arms into the sleeves. I was still a little wrapped up in the idea that she'd been braless under it when she turned her back toward me and asked me to help her with the zipper. I did as she asked, trying not to notice that she contrived to get my hand on her ass to hold the dress steady as I ran the zipper up.

Once both of us were ready to face the world again, she had me take the box of stuff from the store and stand over by the door while she quickly poured a quantity of her perfume onto the small table behind the screen. She hurried to join me, and calmly buried the towel in the depths of her handbag. When the scent of her perfume was strong enough, she said "There, that should do it. Time for us to leave, James!"

I followed her back into the showroom, carrying the box of assorted items that she'd intended to try on. One of the clerks readily relieved me of that minor burden before asking Katherine if there was anything she was interested in. She calmly answered "Yes, I think I'd like all of them. There's no point to having you deliver them, so if you would be kind enough to wrap them, I can take them with me."

They readily agreed to that, and she paid for everything while they got it all packaged for her. Naturally, I carried the bag for her as we left.

Once we were outside, she quietly asked me "Is there someplace that we can put the towel? I'd just as soon not carry it around with me the rest of the day…"

"We can put it in the trunk, if you like. I lease the vehicle, so it goes home with me each night; I can take care of it for you this evening. If you'll watch to make sure I put this in the trunk properly, you can give it to me then."

Turning her head slightly, she gave me a smile before saying "Yes, that would do nicely. Thank you."

When we'd taken care of those two items, I helped her into the back before getting behind the wheel again. Ready to resume my duties, I asked her "Where to, Ma'am?"

She named another store, and I got us moving. I was perfectly willing to keep my mouth shut and wait to see what, if anything, Katherine had to say about what had happened between us. Sure, I'd likely gotten her settled down then, but now she had the opportunity to go back and think about it some more.

The ride to the next place was quiet, though, and she told me I could wait outside if I wanted; the place was another one she 'had' to visit without any expectation that they'd have anything of interest to her. Sure enough, she wasn't in the place an hour, and it was off to the next one. It was one where she figured to be inside for a bit, and suggested that I come in with her. I did, and got served another couple of tiny cups of bad coffee while she looked at the various evening gowns that they offered. She asked my opinion on a couple of them, and I gave her my honest answer. She ended up buying a couple of things, and by the time we got back out to my cab, it was getting toward late afternoon.

I had asked her for our next destination when she told me "Actually, I think that's it for today, James."

"Yes, Ma'am. Back to the hotel, then?"

"I'm not sure. I'm getting a bit hungry again, but I really don't want to go out, and I don't want to deal with room service, either. Is there someplace that you could recommend?"

I'll admit that I was a little surprised by the question, but told her "There are a couple of places that I like to go to, but they aren't quite up to the standards of where we went for lunch."

"That sounds perfect, then. I don't want to have to change like I would if I went anyplace I usually would."

I asked her if she was interested in anything in particular, and she said that she thought that something a little more substantial than the fettuccine we'd had for lunch would be good. It took me only a moment to decide where to go, and I quickly had us moving.

When we got there, I could see that Katherine was somewhat underwhelmed, but she didn't say or do anything to indicate she wasn't willing to at least give it a try.

It was when we got inside that she realized that although the outside of the place looked a little run-down, the inside was flawless. The hostess recognized me, and quickly showed us to a quiet spot over in one corner. As we waited for our waitress, I told Katherine that the place semi-specialized in steaks, and that her beverage choices were going to be fairly limited: water, coffee, tea, a few soft drink flavors, or one of a limited number of brands of beer. Again, I could tell she was a little surprised, but still game.

Our waitress greeted me by name, and let me know what that nights specials were, before leaving us to consider our options for a few minutes. When she was gone, I looked over at Katherine and pleasantly asked "You took care of me at lunch; will you let me take the lead, now?"

She gave me a smile before answering "Of course, James."

When our waitress came back, I ordered something that the place did particularly well; Katherine followed my lead, though with a smaller portion. For drinks, both of us went with iced tea. When it had arrived, and she'd had a chance to doctor it, Katherine sipped hers and exclaimed "This is excellent – much better than I've had anywhere else!"

I couldn't help grinning as I told her "They make their iced tea by starting with actual tea – not tea BAGS or instant, but real, live tea. Almost NO place does that any more, because it takes time and effort, and a lot of folks either can't tell or don't care about the difference in taste. Faster and easier to use the bulk stuff they get from whatever their supplier can provide. But if you actually like tea, it's worth the few cents more a glass."

As we waited for our meal, the two of us casually chatted about a number of different things; but neither of us got anywhere even close to the events of that afternoon.

Our meal finally arrived, and I could tell that Katherine was looking forward to finding out if the same attention was paid to the food as had been lavished on something as simple as a glass of iced tea. I couldn't help but be amused when she discovered that it was: "This is the best prime rib that I have ever had, anywhere! How in the world do they do it?!"

"For starters, the owner doesn't get his meat supplied by any of the big national outfits. He deals with a small co-op somewhere in Montana, so that he can get the kind of product and service that he wants. Just by himself, he takes nearly a quarter of their output, so they're more than happy to see to it that he gets what he wants. Again, it costs him a little more, but the business he does more than makes up for it."

"I don't doubt that for second!" she said around another bite.

After that, conversation was pretty sparse as we got ourselves wrapped around some damn fine food. When all that was left was some happy memories, I had to laugh when Katherine tried to stifle a soft belch; her ears pinked a little, but she otherwise managed to maintain her composure.

Next on the agenda was what to do about dessert; again, she followed my example of a slice of cheesecake – and found it every bit as tasty as the rest of the meal had been.

When we were finally ready to leave, Katherine was adamant about leaving the tip – half of what the meal had cost me. I tried to tell her that she didn't have to leave that much, but she told me "Nonsense. Even granting that you might have gotten some extra attention because the waitress knew you, it was still excellent service. She was there when we wanted her, but not hovering over us; she was polite and friendly and helpful, but without being cloying. The food was a damn sight better than lunch, and there was plenty of it – I was half afraid I wasn't going to be able to finish that slice of cheesecake! The place was bright and cheery and clean, and I don't doubt that we could have stayed there another hour and they wouldn't have said a word to us; at lunch, I felt like they wanted me to eat and get out so they could serve someone else."