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“Yes, honey, five years.”
He grinned at her. “It’s been so perfect, I lost track of time.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I keep telling Preston he needs to settle down,” Drew said.
Preston glanced at me, his dimples puckering. “Let’s not scare her off.”
Drew and Tess both looked at me, as if they expected a reply. But I didn’t know what to say. As dreamy as Preston was, and as enjoyable as our first couple of dates had been, we barely knew each other. What was I supposed to do, give his friends an indication as to whether I was wife material?
Thankfully, the server came to my rescue, bringing four wine glasses and the bottle Drew had ordered. He poured for each of us. I took a small sip, although I felt like I needed something caffeinated.
“How’s the construction coming along?” Tess asked.
“Slow.” I could hear the irritation in Preston’s voice. “If we don’t make significant progress in the next week or so, I’m firing my contractor.”
“We drove out there earlier today,” Drew said. “Only saw it from the outside, but it’s looking good so far.”
Preston put his arm around the back of my chair and turned to me. “I’ll have to take you out there soon.”
“I’d love to see it.”
Drew lifted his glass. “To plans coming together.”
Preston and Tess followed, so I lifted mine as well. I tipped my glass to meet theirs even though I wasn’t quite sure what plans we were toasting. Preston’s vacation house, I supposed, although it seemed like something had passed between Preston and Drew that I didn’t understand.
Then again, maybe not. I was among people I didn’t know well and feeling rather brain fried. I was probably reading too much into everything.
The server still hadn’t taken our dinner orders. While a slow-paced dinner could be nice, I was already so tired, and trying to keep up appearances in front of Preston’s friends was draining the rest of my energy. I took another sip of wine, hoping that would help.
The room went dark and, for a second, silent, as if the shock of darkness made everyone stop eating or talking to take a simultaneous breath.
“What the hell happened?” Drew asked no one in particular.
A buzz of concerned voices filled the darkness and the staff began flitting from table to table.
“I’m so sorry about this,” our server said. “We seem to have lost power. I’m sure it will come on again any second.”
“Why would the power have gone out?” Tess asked.
“Good question,” Preston said.
The front door opened and shut again. Someone had looked outside. I heard him tell the rest of his table that the lights were on in the neighboring buildings.
Preston stiffened and moved his arm from the back of my chair. He looked around and I could feel the agitation coming off him in palpable waves. He was not happy about this.
I touched his arm. “It’s okay. I bet it will come back on. We’ll just wait.”
He glanced at me, then looked away, shaking his head. “This is unbelievable.”
“At least we have wine,” Tess offered cheerfully and held up her glass.
The moments ticked by with agonizing slowness. No power. A few people got up and left. Others set up their cell phones to light their tables and continued eating, making the best of it.
“Too bad they don’t have candles on the tables,” Tess said. “That would have been pretty.”
Preston stood and held out his hand for me. “We’re leaving.”
