“Did you bore him with more wedding details?” she asked. “I’m pretty sure as soon as you started talking specific colors of roses his eyes gazed over.”
“They did, but they perked right back up again when I started giving him options for cakes. I’ve never seen a man so interested in almond or buttercream frosting,” Jess teased.
It was a chilly spring evening and the sun was just dipping down below the horizon. Enough light lit up the sky that I could see the flush of her cheeks.
I walked over to her and grinned down at her. “Chilly?” I asked.
“What? I’m fine,” she said. She was trying to hard to play it cool, I could tell by the look on her face. I knew how to read woman like her. Hell, I’d been doing it for a long time.
“Let me give you my coat,” I said as I pulled it off and around her shoulders.
“You don’t need to-“
“I insist.” Tenderness. That was what she needed. Just a little bit of tenderness. It was easy to give and I could tell by the way she smiled that it worked.
“I still owe you a plaid shirt,” she said lashes flittering. An opportunity. An opening. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into me.
“Here, let me warm you up.”
I could tell from the heat emanating off of her cheeks that it was working. She was so close to letting her guard down. To letting me in.
“Are you sure he knows what restaurant we are at?” I asked Jess, we’d been sitting there, sipping water awkwardly for the last thirty minutes.
“I texted him to call me three times. I swear to god he better have his phone on him. He’s always forgetting it at the bar.” I could tell she was starting to get nervous. Jess was normally so light, so sweet. I didn’t expect it coming from her.
“Why don’t we order some appetizers while we wait?” Wyatt asked. He seemed completely at ease despite the mounting concern growing on Jess’ face.
“Yeah, sure,” I said. Anything to take our minds off of what this really was.
A forced double date.
I flagged down the waiter who smiled not so pleasantly at us through pursed lips. We’d already held the table for twenty minutes without ordering anything.
I wouldn’t be surprised if our food came with live toads in it at this point.
“Are you ready to order?” he asked as he looked at Wyatt and then me, and finally at Jessie.
I could see the tears forming in her eyes, but she blinked them away quickly.
“Why don’t we get an appetizer platter, a bourbon for me, and around of martini’s for the ladies,” he said.
“No drinks for me, please.” My stomach had been a little queasy all day and I didn’t want to give it any fuel to get worse.
“Could you make mine an appletini?” Jess asked. I saw Wyatt cringe but he didn’t say a word.
I fought back a giggle.
Something told me that it was a cardinal sin to order frilly concoctions in the Graves household. No, men like him were probably brought up drinking scotch straight, no ice.
“Sure,” the waiter said as he pursed his lips even tighter and exited.
I was glad we’d chosen a chain pub, the kind of place that everyone could afford. Wyatt had gently suggested it and Jess readily agreed.
It was not the kind of place I could see Wyatt in though, the frilly drinks, the kitschy decor. He was doing his best to hide his discomfort, but I could see it on his face.
“I’m sure he’ll be here, hon. Just give him a little bit longer. He might have had to work late.” I was coming up with excuses, hoping that it would keep those tears that were threatening at bay.
Brandon burst in through the door as soon as the appetizers were placed on the table. He looked irritated, his hair was a mess and he was still in his work clothes.
In short, he was a hot mess.
“I couldn’t find my phone, I didn’t have time to change, and I went to the wrong restaurant,” he said as he sat down. The smell of spilled beer and fried food hit us hard.
It must’ve been a rough shift.
“I told you how important this was to me,” Jess said, but she kept her voice down. After a tense moment she forced a smile across her face.
“At least we have appetizers,” she said as she grabbed an onion ring and shoved it into her mouth.
“I know what it’s like to work for the ol’ man,” Wyatt said as he took a sip of his drink.
“Yeah, but yours isn’t around all the time. He wanted me to work a double tonight but didn’t tell me until my foot was out the door. It took a twenty minute argument just to get him to let me go,” he waved down the waiter and ordered a double whiskey.
Wyatt just nodded.