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Seated at a table by the window with her parents.
Our eyes held and my heart fell to my stomach. A rush of anxiety replaced the elation.
I had no choice, though, Daniel was already being seated. I rushed to catch up, dropping into the booth across from him and taking the menu from the oblivious hostess.
Daniel was oblivious, too, peering at the offerings speculatively. “I don’t feel like a burger. Maybe the burrito. But they have a better one at Sunspot. Hmm.”
I felt frozen, my tongue caught in fear. Because it was definitelyfearthat I felt. Fear and sick anxiety, all lined with unresolved grief and anger and hurt. Lots of hurt. Dammit. How was hestillruining my life? I’d cut him out. I’d banished him. And yet he managed to crash one of the happiest moments I’d ever had and destroy it with just his fuckingface.
Ugh.
“Hey,” Daniel said, reaching out to touch my hand. “Are you okay?”
“Um…” Tears pricked my eyes, and I rubbed at them carefully so as not to dislodge my contacts.
“What’s going on?” He started looking around, trying to identify what had upset me, and that’s when he saw him, too. He’d never met Adam, never seen a picture of him even, but there was no missing the utter hatred and rage Adam arrowed his way from across the room. Nor did Daniel miss the blond girl on Adam’s arm who was also gazing at us with a concerned expression. “Shit. Do you want to go?”
I shook my head. “No. Let’s just ignore them.” My jaw tensed. It’d worked out on the street and ignoring them could work again here.
“Baby, this is dumb. We can go somewhere else.”
“If we leave then…” I trailed off.
“Then what? He thinks he got to you? He did, baby. He knows that already. And you got to him, too. He looks miserable. So, let’s go and just save ourselves from all this tension, maybe salvage our dinner.” He stood up, putting the menu down.
Across the room, Adam rose too, and Leslie grabbed his arm. Both her parents turned in their seats to see who or what was eliciting this odd behavior from their daughter’s boyfriend.
“C’mon,” Daniel said again, putting his hand out for me to take.
I did, leaving the menu on the seat of the booth, and letting him lead me out of the restaurant. A few heads turned at our hand-holding, but there were no nasty comments. The cool air outside was welcome on my hot face, and I sucked in a deep breath, realizing only then that I was shaking.
“Sunspot’s just down the way,” Daniel said, pulling me along. “We’ll have a longer wait, but I’m not so hungry now. So that’s fine. We can get burritos.”
I went with him, my heart hammering, my entire body running cold.
“Peter!”
I stopped in my tracks, jerking Daniel to a halt, too. Light footsteps ran up behind us. I turned and was confronted by all my past mistakes. Again. Why couldn’t I just get away from this? All I wanted was for it to stay in the past. For good. Forever.
“Hey,” Leslie said, her tone gentle. “Are you all right?” She darted a glance at Daniel and then back to me. She touched my arm, and I struggled not to cringe away from her.
“Yeah. Great. Um, how are you?”
“I’m fine.” She dug her fingers into my bicep. “Look, Peter, I’m sorry to chase after you like this, but you’ve been ignoring everyone, and I get it. I do. But Adam’s sorry, you know? If you’d just—”
“Stop,” Daniel said, stepping up beside me. “We were just on our way to dinner. So let’s say goodbye and be done with this.”
“Are you…” She looked to me, a hopeful kindness in her eyes. “Peter, is this your—”
Daniel talked over her. “Hey, look, I’m sure you’re a sweet girl, and I know you mean well, but this isn’t your business.”
“It’s notyourseither,” she retorted. “Peter’s my friend, or he was, and he totally ditched me, and us, without any explanation.”
“You were there,” I said, my jaw so tight the words came out like a low growl. “You saw. You know exactly why.” Though she didn’t really knowexactlywhy. “You don’t need an explanation.”
“Adam’s sorry! He knows it was wrong, and he’s grown up a lot in the last few—”
“Leslie!” a woman’s voice called.
