Fate

'What was that deep sigh for?' Ethan quietly asked squeezing her hand.

'Oh …nothing.' Felicity nervously tucked a nonexistent loose strand of hair behind an ear. 'Where are we eating?'

'Macca's!' Chloe obviously thought it was worth another shot.

To save Ethan from once again having to reject his daughters preference quipped. 'I'm too dressed up for there Chloe.'

'Where then?'

'Somewhere…nice.'

'Does it have a playground?' The discerning takeaway food critic asked.

'No. Felicity's heels might get caught on the slippery dip.'

'What about kid's meals?'

'Most do.'

'Fried ice-cream?'

'No not Chinese.'

'Nachos?'

'Not Mexican either.'

'Magic box?'

'We had Thai only last week.'

Exhausting her list of dining preferences Chloe forlornly asked 'Where then?'

'It's a surprise and it's not so much the menu that's special but the view.'

'View!' Chloe was clearly unimpressed and muttered something about yukky vegetables under her breath as the three entered the family room. Her natural sunny temperament returned at the sight of a decadently iced chocolate waiting for its 5 year old customer on the kitchen bench.

'What does the lovely couple want?'

Couple! Want? Something about the stunned look on Felicity's face and the pole axed look on Ethan's made Darlene add 'For pre-dinner drinks?'

Ethan recovered his composure first and bade Felicity to join him at the breakfast bar while asking what she would like.

Felicity quickly ran through the short list of cocktails she knew - Brandy Alexander, Marguerite, Mudslide. It only took a few seconds as the list was hardly long. Another indication that she didn't live the high life perhaps? Felicity decided to take the easy way out. 'I want Ethan-er…I mean I'll have Ethan -um…what ever Ethan's having, thanks Darlene.' Felicity didn't dare look at Ethan. It was bad enough hearing his barely suppressed chuckle.

'A martini it is then!' Darlene quickly filled in.

'Alas, you know me too well Darlene. I think I'm in a rut. I won't be offended if you don't want one Felicity.'

'I'm game.'

Darlene poured out three martinis.

Since many alcoholic drinks were a learned taste Felicity realized she hadn't had any lessons in Martini 101. And this one unlike Ethan and his housekeeper, she was failing miserably. Her wrinkled nose gave her away.

'Not to your taste?'

'It's fine…no really.' She lied. In response to the challenge afforded by his quirked eyebrows and a look that said he was unconvinced Felicity downed the lot in one go. Not too lady like, she thought but, like ripping off a bandaid, it wasn't so bad if you got it over and done with quickly. Of course ripping off a few hairs didn't result in giddiness and heavy arms that a stiff drink on an empty stomach did. Having Ethan so close and yet so far didn't help either.