Nightingale

David drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. Evelyn was late for what seemed like the millionth time, and he already knew he would have to cut the date short.

“A bottle of Pinot Noir,” he said when the waiter came around again, “and another basket of bread.” He twisted a piece of crust in his fingers as though it owed him money. “Hurry up,” he whispered under his breath. Almost as if on cue, Evelyn floated through the door. David raised his hand to wave her over.

“Hey, babe,” she leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey--” he stopped short as she sat down in the light of the table and a cut below her lip caught his eye. “You’ve got… a little…”

“Oh,” she gave a little laugh as she brought her hand up to her face. “My cat, I guess she didn’t like my lipstick.”

David chucked in return. “Your cat can be pretty mean.”

“Not usually,” Evelyn replied curtly, even though it was clear Daisy had never taken a liking to David.

“I just meant… never mind.” He didn’t want to fight tonight. He scanned the menu. “What are you thinking you’ll get?”

“I don’t know. Everything looks so good!”

He watched her take a sip of water, making sure to put the straw on the side of her mouth opposite the cut. He already knew that she would put the straw in her purse before leaving the restaurant so she could cut it up at home in an effort to save turtles. ‘How does a person like me get to meet someone as perfect as her?’ David thought to himself. There were times he wondered if she was too good for him. But he already knew he was going to propose. Tonight. As soon as he got the ring.

The waiter reappeared over their shoulders with the bottle of wine and basket of bread. “Are you ready to order?”

“I think I’d like a little more time to--”

“We’ll start with a caesar salad,” David cut in, “with extra croutons. Please.” He added almost as an afterthought. The waiter nodded and turned away again. David felt his phone buzz in his pocket. ‘If I can just get through the salad...’ he thought.

“I wonder if the duck is good,” Evelyn murmured.

“You should try it.” His phone buzzed again.

“I don’t know... I’ve never had duck before.”

“Then maybe don’t get the duck.” Buzz.

“But I’ve always wanted to try it…”

His phone buzzed again-- the last straw. “So get the damn duck! Sorry. It’s just this...” he pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

“Look, forget the duck!” she laughed. “I have something I want to tell you.”

His phone began to ring in one hand while Evelyn took the other in hers. 

“We’ve been dating for a long time…”

He looked down and saw 5 unread messages from Nathan, a missed call, and a voicemail.

“...and there’s something that I want you to know.”

But David was not paying any attention to Evelyn. “I’m so sorry,” he said as another message from Nathan flashed across his phone. As much as he wanted to say and listen, he knew he couldn’t propose without a ring. He needed to get it tonight and this was the only window. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go.” He pulled three hundred dollar bills out of his wallet and handed them to her. “Get whatever you want. I’ll come by your apartment later tonight. I’m so sorry.”

She turned in her chair to watch him leave. She wanted to scold him for running off in the middle of their date, but that would be hypocritical. Heaven knows she had done the same thing a countless number of times. Evelyn looked at the bottle of wine, which she knew David would have asked to be re-corked if he had the time (“I paid for it, didn’t I?” he would say). But Evelyn did not want to make a fuss. She took one sip out of her glass before receiving a message on her own phone, saying that she was needed at the jewelry store on 24th and Broad St. She slapped one of the hundred dollar bills on the table before grabbing her purse and stepping out.

Five minutes later, she would arrive at the jewelry store in her elegantly engineered suit just as the masked robbers were making their escape. She would catch one of them and hand them off to the police, but the other two would slip away undetected, and out of the clutches of justice. “It’s Nightingale!” one of the officers would say as she would take to the sky and return to her private life. 

She landed on the roof of her building and took a seat on the edge of the roof to breathe in the night air before going downstairs. She looked across the street and caught sight of David, who was waiting for a car to drive by so he could cross. Earlier tonight, she was ready to tell him everything about this other part of her life, but now she was unsure. She jumped up and raced down the thankfully empty stairwell. She ripped off her suit in her bathroom, tossed it quickly in the shower and pulled the curtain closed to conceal it. As she was tugging an oversized t-shirt over her head, she heard a knock on the door. Evelyn took down her hair and put it back up in a messy bun in order to make it look like she had been lounging around her apartment instead of traveling across the city.

“Hey, sorry about earlier,” David said when Evelyn opened the door. He gave her a kiss and immediately strode over to the window. Daisy hissed as he passed, and she ran off into the bedroom. He looked outside briefly before tugging the curtains closed.

“What’s that all about?” Evelyn asked.

“I saw that… ‘superhero,’” he said with air quotes, “land on the roof of your building. I think they call her the Nightingale.”

“Oh,” Evelyn said. A pause. “Is that a bad thing?”

“All these so called ‘heroes’ kinda give me the creeps.”

“Why? They’re supposed to protect people.”

“Yeah but don’t you kinda think they’re sticking their noses where they don’t belong?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just… never mind.” He still didn’t want to fight. “I really am sorry about dinner by the way.”

“It’s alright. Should we finish that bottle of wine?” Evelyn pulled a fresh bottle of Pinot Noir out of her cabinet, made a tray of cheese and crackers, and set them on the coffee table. “Why did you have to leave earlier?” she asked as she seated herself next to David on the couch. “Anything you want to talk about?”

“Well... a friend needed my help with something and I had to lend him a hand.” 

“Oh, is your friend ok?”

“Yeah he’s… well, he’s fine.”

She nodded.

“How was work today?” David asked.

“Work? Oh it was fine. My boss was in a good mood so that was nice. He gave me an extra day to get those sketches done.” 

It was David’s turn to nod. “That was nice.” He took a sip of wine and set down his glass. “Ok. Enough of the small talk,” he said suddenly. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, preparing to confront the truth, but that wasn’t what was happening.

“Tonight has been a bit of a mess. I know it took months to get a reservation at that restaurant, and I feel terrible about leaving dinner, but I had to go pick something up for you.” He pulled a little box out of his pocket and got down on one knee.

She gasped.

“However much I screw things up, I still think about how much I love you and how thankful I am for you everyday. So I need to ask this question before I do something stupid and lose the chance. Evelyn Jones, will you marry me?”

She leaned in, teary eyed and naïve. “Yes.”

He slipped the ring onto her finger and planted kisses up her arm, up her neck, on her mouth. 

“Should I… go… take a shower?” he asked between kisses. She nodded. Daisy ran back into the room as David rose, and made his way to the bathroom. 

“Daisy, I’m going to get married!” Evelyn whispered. The cat swatted at the ring, clearly not impressed. “Oh, don’t be that way. You’re going to be nice to--” and that was when a realization popped into her mind.

“You don’t think when he said he had to pick this up he meant…”

A shout came from the bathroom.

“The shower,” Evelyn groaned.

David stormed out, wads of iridescent black cloth, reminiscent of feathers in his hand. “Is this yours?”

“David, I think we need to talk.”