Dinner at Hillaker's

Chapter Forty-five

Why did she always wear such uncomfortable shoes? Janelle slipped off her heels under the table, hoping no one would notice.

         They were at Hillaker’s Restaurant at a secluded table in the corner. Janelle took the menu from that same waiter with the kind brown eyes. He obviously recognized her, but thankfully he didn’t mention that fact, or ask about her sister. Of course, Ben had been here before also—with Corrine Hackle.

         Kurt glanced at his menu before looking across the table at Janelle. “Order whatever you want, young lady.” He glanced to his left. “You too, Ben.”

         “Thank you,” Janelle murmured. She could see why Lyssa had fallen in love with Kurt Dunlevy. He was such a cute little man with those long dimples, and he had a wonderful voice. Lyssa probably loved talking on the phone with him.

         Ben looked across the table at his mom. “How long have you two been married? You must have tied the knot before Dad was murdered.”

         Lyssa removed her reading glasses. “I still can’t believe your father is gone, Ben. The sheriff told us everything, and no one knows who killed him.” She shook her head. “It’s so sad.”

         Ben folded his arms on the table. “We’ll find out who did it, Mom.” He nodded at Janelle. “Her dad is a private eye, and he’s looking into the case for me.”

         My dad! Janelle pressed her lips together. Didn’t Ben know by now that she wanted to solve this case herself? But she wouldn’t vocalize her thoughts and embarrass him in front of his parents. However, when they were alone…

         Ben picked up his menu. “You didn’t answer my question about your marriage. Why didn’t you tell me?”

         “It happened so fast,” Lyssa said. “We’ve been married about a month.”

         “Twenty-nine days.” Kurt leaned toward Ben. “Your mother was ashamed of me. She couldn’t bring herself to admit she had fallen in love with this fat Santa Claus.” He smiled and winked at Janelle.

         She smiled back, loving the timbre of his voice.

         Lyssa laughed as she slapped his arm. “That’s not true! Actually, I listened to Kurt on the radio every morning for a couple years.”

         “I’m an announcer on a Christian station in Dallas,” he put in.

         “And one day, about four months ago—” Lyssa met his eyes and smiled. “I called in to ask about a song he had played over the radio. Before we knew it, we were talking on the phone every day.”

         Kurt nodded. “She wanted to meet me, but I was scared to death. How could I tell her I was this short fat Irishman? She would take one look at me and walk away.”

         “But I didn’t.” Lyssa folded her hands under her chin as she gazed at Kurt.  “To be honest, I’m glad you’re not ‘tall, dark, and handsome.’ I already had one of those.” She glanced at Ben and lowered her voice. “Your father was too handsome for his own good.”

         Ben nodded, and Janelle felt sorry for him. He had his own regrets where his dad was concerned.

         “Anyway…” Lyssa donned her glasses and glanced at the menu. “Kurt and I talked about marriage, and prayed about marriage, and finally—”

         “We were pushed into it!” Kurt’s baritone laughter rang out. “Good thing too, or we might have never taken the plunge.”

         Lyssa gazed at him, a beautiful smile on her face. Janelle gave a wistful sigh as she witnessed their mutual love, hoping she would have such a happy marriage someday.

The waiter stopped by their table and took the orders for their meal.

As soon as he left, Ben leaned forward. “So you got married fast, I take it.”

“That’s a story in itself.” Lyssa tucked her glasses in her purse. “The reason you didn’t know we were engaged is because we weren’t.”

                  “Yes, we were, Lyssa.” Kurt turned to her. “We were engaged about twenty-four hours. I even bought you a ring.”

“That’s true. A very short engagement.”  Lyssa smiled and splayed the fingers of her left hand. A large diamond with two gold bands resided there. “Some of Kurt’s friends had tickets for a cruise in Europe, but at the last minute, something came up and they couldn’t go.”

“Not just a cruise, honey. It was the works—twenty-five days to seven cities in Europe including airfare, hotels, train travel, and the cruise. When they realized they had to cancel, they gave the tickets and itinerary to me. Said I could give the package away on the radio, or something. But the trip started in two days. So instead—” Kurt glanced at his wife. “I bravely asked Lyssa to marry me, and she bravely said yes.” He chuckled.

“It was truly a whirlwind romance.” Lyssa shook her head. “We agreed to get married, notified our friends, had a quick church wedding, and hopped on the plane to London—all within forty-eight hours.” She looked at her son. “I tried to call you, Ben, but I couldn’t reach you. I kept thinking I’d call from Europe but that never worked out either. So I never knew your father had been killed.”

Ben gave a little shrug. “Well, since you were on your honeymoon, I’m glad you didn’t know.”

The waiter returned with their salads, and they spent the rest of the meal in pleasant small talk. Kurt kept the conversation lively with stories from the radio world. Ben seemed interested, and Janelle was glad, since he hadn’t been too friendly toward Kurt when he first met the man.

* * *

Until tomorrow, God bless your day!