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“So, one of you wanted kids, and one didn’t?”
I give her a sideways glance. “It went a lot like that.” I know I need to get off this subject, but something makes me elaborate instead. “I wanted the whole enchilada, Hartley. A good, loyal wife, a bunch of kids, and all of them running around barefoot on the grass at our forever house. Maybe even a dog, some chickens, and at least one horse. I’ve always envisioned it.”
“Wow.” She lets out a breath.
“You seem surprised.”
She shrugs. “You seem more like the bachelor kind of guy, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“Not at all, it’s often a misconception,” I say, leaning forward. “I would have gone the whole nine yards for my dream. Given up the business, stayed at home with the kids to raise them. A long time ago I named a piece of land on my parents' property back home, Coyote Run, and that’s where I will build my dream home. I’m still going to do it without her.”
Her eyes grow wide like saucers. “You wanted to be a stay-at-home-dad?” she balks with surprise.
“Yes.” I nod. “Tell me, Hartley, is that so hard to believe?” I tilt my head, noting her reaction.
“Well, it isn’t, I guess. I just haven’t heard anyone say something like that in a really long time,” she says. A smile touches her lips again. I can feel there’s a strong attraction between us which I don’t believe is one sided. I’m just hoping she feels the pull to me as much as I do towards her. I’m not even trying to get in her good graces with all my rambling. It’s the most honest I’ve ever been with a stranger.
“What about you? Do you want kids?” I ask her. A highly personal question, I realize, but since we’re going all out…
“Yes, one day.” Her voice is level when she adds, “I wouldn’t mind a bunch of them.”
That makes me smile. “Anyway, it’s all water under the bridge for the time being,” I go on. “But enough of me, surely you must have some drama of your own going on in your life?”
“Only my brother,” she sighs.
I scrunch my forehead.
“He’s my dad’s favorite,” she elaborates.
“Ah.” I nod. “Having brothers will do that to you. Try having three.”
She laughs. “One is enough. You know, he has always been the smart one,” she says, waving her spoon in the air after she takes a bite of the meringue. “Or so my dad thinks, but Patrick’s a surgeon, so of course he thinks he’s God’s gift to mankind.”
My eyebrows pull together. “You look pretty smart to me.”
“You’re just being kind,” she says.
I shake my head. “I always speak the truth. Admittedly, it lands me in trouble most of the time, but I’m not one to play games.”
“That’s a shame,” she laughs, taking another mouthful of the delicious dessert.
I grin, watching her. “Are you flirting with me, finally?”
“Finally? I feel like I’ve been flirting with you all night, after you tried to take my table!”
“I was here first,” I protest playfully. “You were the one who tried to take the table from under me.” And there’s something else I’d like under me, too.
“Is that how it played out in your head?”
I grin even wider. “Oh, it played out differently in my head, believe me.”
Her eyes grow wide as she sips on the Sauternes. “What did you call it, ‘a convenient mess up’?” She makes quotation marks in the air with her fingers.
“Something like that,” I chuckle. “One thing’s for sure, our friends; Bertram and Lyle, are going to be getting the tip of their lives when I leave this restaurant.”
She laughs. It’s very, very sweet. I wonder if she does this often.
She could pick any guy in this busy restaurant and have them on their knees eating out the palm of her hand. The things I could do to that curvy body would shock her pretty pink cheeks.
