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“No. This place isn’t shitty. It’s lovely. It has a charm to it that I haven't seen since I did LSD in college,” Victoria replied.
Chaz tilted her head and looked at her as if she might be on LSD now. Her eyes got dark, and I was worried that Victoria had offended her, but then she started to laugh. As she did, her laughter grew until she was almost doubling over with it.
“Oh, she’s great. Where have you been keeping her?” Chaz asked when she could talk.
“We just started seeing each other. It’s kind of new,” I replied.
“She must be special if you brought her so soon after you started dating. I don’t think you’ve ever brought a woman here. So, either you like her a lot, or you’re hoping to get rid of her quickly.”
“I’m not trying to get rid of her. That’s for sure,” I said and smiled at Victoria.
She sighed deeply and gave me a sideways look. I know we had discussed not making this a date or even allowing anyone to think that it was, but Chaz was a different story, and it was evident Victoria and I were on a date.
“The jury is still out on my end,” Victoria said, and Chaz laughed again.
“You’re welcome here anytime. Can I get you some oysters to start out with?” Chaz asked.
I looked over at Victoria, trying to see if she liked oysters or not. I was sure Chaz mentioned the oysters because they can be an aphrodisiac, and she liked busting my balls.
“Sure. I love oysters. Thanks, Chaz,” Victoria answered.
“One bucket coming right up. Some wine too?” Chaz asked.
“Did you get some since I was here last?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s right. The wine cellar is broken or more like non-existent. Some beers then?” she asked.
“Yes, please.” I looked over at Victoria.
“That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much,” she said.
“Sit back, you two love birds, and enjoy the view. Sunset should be starting, and you have a great spot. I’ll be back,” Chaz said then walked away.
Victoria waited until Chaz was out of sight before she turned and looked at me. I gave her a big smile, but she didn’t return it, and I wondered if I had overstepped my bounds and had ruined the date before it had even begun.
Chapter 13
Victoria
He was too sexy for my own good. I had told myself that I only wanted to go out with him because I needed to see what this was. I figured, if nothing else, I would find something that I didn’t like about him that would make me want to end things with him. So far, the exact opposite was true.
I had never thought he would take me to such a hole-in-the-wall place as The Fish House. I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or annoyed. I had figured he would take me to a nice high-end restaurant. The Fish House was anything but that. It was one of those places that you had to know it was there in order to find it. I had driven past its tiny driveway a thousand times in my life and had no idea it was there.
It looked like something out of the ’70s with its all-wood frame and pictures of old surfers and beaches on the wall. There were random knickknacks and souvenirs from other countries and surfing locations, giving the impression that they had been left by other patrons through the years and found their way to the walls.
Chaz was exactly the type of person I would have expected to be running a restaurant like the Fish House. I could tell when she came up to Zach and me that she had great affection for him and that she was a bit wary of me. As soon as she opened her mouth, I could tell she was a woman who gave as good as she got and wanted to see if I could do the same. It wasn’t hard to banter back and forth with her, and I actually enjoyed it.
It was as much fun to see Zach’s shocked expression when I did as Chaz’s infectious laugh. I hadn’t expected such a reaction, but I wanted her to know that I could hold my own and that Zach was safe with me.
Though why I cared whether or not some woman in Zach’s life approved of me was still something I was trying to comprehend. I shouldn’t have cared. Zach and I were just having some fun, seeing where this all went and going from there. I couldn’t see Zach and me lasting longer than a few months. We might have the same background, but we were in two different worlds. Eventually, we would fizzle and die, and our differences would become too much to keep us going.
Yet, when I saw him in a restaurant like The Fish House, I started to wonder if I was wrong about him and who he really was. It wasn’t a restaurant to see and be seen in. It wasn’t one where he would want or could flaunt his successes. No one cared who he was or who I was, and I wondered if that was the point.
I had been so reluctant to go out with him, but he had been so persuasive, and I wanted to see him so much that I had said yes. But I had been worried about how it would look, what people would say. But being there, seeing the lovely view of the ocean, knowing we were going to have a wonderful meal, that the conversation would be as fun as all the others, and no one would care that we were there, my worries faded away.
It was nice to think that we could have this. That Zach and I could live in a world, in a bubble where it didn’t matter who our parents were, and I was starting to see that it was possible. But even if it was, that didn’t give him the right to tell anyone, not even Chaz, that we were dating. He had agreed that this wasn’t a date; it wasn’t right that he went and changed the rules without telling me.
“It’s kind of new?” I asked.
