I didn’t want to text him if he was out having a good time. So, I left a message for him with the front desk that I had gone out with a friend for a while. He would get the message when he returned.
I walked over to the lobby and sat down to wait. Ten minutes later Mac walked in wearing a USMC sweatshirt and jeans.
“Hello.” I smiled.
“Hi.” He looked nervous. “I thought you didn’t want to dress up.” I looked down at myself confused. “I’m wearing jeans and sneakers?”
“Well you have a way of making jeans and sneakers look better than they should.”
I almost laughed. I saw his cheeks redden just a bit. So, I let it go.
“Thank you.” I said accepting the compliment.
“Ready?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
We walked to the door and he held it open for me, then he walked over to a bright yellow charger.
“I love your car.” I meant it.
“Thank you.” He smiled, closed my door and then walked around to the driver’s side.
“Do you like burgers and fries?”
“Love them.”
“Or tacos?”
“Love them, too.”
“Good I know just the place.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
The car started with a roar and he carefully pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. We headed out of the city and into Virginia. I wasn’t sure where we were exactly, but I could still see the DC skyline. We parked on the street and walked past a few shops to a little place nestled between a clothing boutique and a vintner. Both businesses were closed. You could easily walk past this place assuming it was closed too. He opened the wooden door and stepped aside to let me in. The place was eclectic to say the least. I still wasn’t quite sure where we were. There was a counter like you might find in a diner with a window that opened to the kitchen. There were checked tablecloths on the tables and an interesting collection of mismatched tables and chairs. The booths looked like they had been repurposed from another restaurant and crammed into the space. There was a stuffed armadillo on display and pictures of historic buildings mixed in with pictures of the cook posing with celebrities and politicians who obviously had stopped in for whatever it was they served here.
“Is here, okay?” Mac pointed to a booth in the corner.
“Sure.” I wasn’t though.
I noticed a sign above the counter that said, ‘Toni and Tiny’s - Welcome.” A moment later a heavyset woman appeared wearing jeans and a t-shirt that had a picture of an armadillo standing up holding a burger in one hand and a taco in the other. She approached the table with two glasses of water and a cup of coffee for Mac.
“Evening, Mac.” She said sweetly.
“Evening Toni.” He nodded.
“What can I get you drink, sweetie?” It took me a minute to realize she was talking to me.
“You have sweet tea?”
“Is there another kind?”
“No.” I admitted.
She nodded and turned away. I noticed the back of her shirt said Toni and Tiny’s on it too.
She returned a moment later with a menu and tea for me.
“I’ll give you a minute.”
“Thank you.” I said.
This time she turned to look at Mac and she winked. He pretended he didn’t notice.
“I take it you’ve been here before.” I said.
He gave me a small smile. “Yeah, Toni knows me well enough to know what I like.”
“What would you recommend?” I said opening the plastic covered menu. There was a slip of paper clipped to the top with daily specials listed.
“Well, they have the best burger in town and if you’re into tacos, they can make them with anything you like, beef, chicken, fish.”
“I think I’ll go with a burger and fries.”
He nodded. “Good choice.”
A moment later Toni was back. “Have you decided what you would like?”
“Yes, I’ll have the blue cheeseburger and fries.”
“A girl after my own heart.” She smiled and turned away.
I took a sip of the tea. It was in fact sweet tea. Someone knew what they were doing.
“So, you said you had a hard day.” Mac stated.
“Oh yeah. Well it was good, but not easy.” I tried not to sound like I was complaining.
“How so?” he asked.
“My company developed a new kind of prosthetic to replace damaged bone and we wanted to see if Bethesda Naval Hospital would consider using it or at least offering it to soldiers and marines.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Really? You’re a doctor?”
“Uh, well yes and no. I have a Ph.D. but I’m not a medical doctor.”
“So, how’d you come up with the idea for the new prosthetic?”
“Out of necessity mostly.” I hedged. I didn’t think my injuries and their circumstances made for good first date conversation. If this was a date.
He nodded. “So, how’d the meeting go?”
“Well I won’t know probably for another week or two. They did show interest. Where it really needs to be used is in the field hospitals. I figured if I can get the Naval hospital to approve of it, others might follow.”
“So, no starting off small?”
I laughed.
“No, not with me. For something like this it’s go big or go home.”
He nodded and smiled. “I see.” He sipped his coffee. “Don’t you need government approval or something?”
“Yes, I have FDA approval.”
“Well that seems like it would be the hard part.”
I smiled. “You’d think so.” I sipped my tea. It reminded
