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“Are you sure?” I asked as I got up from my chair. “I don’t mind waiting.”
“No. This is unacceptable.”
I didn’t want to admit how relieved I was. This surprise dinner date wasn’t at all what I’d expected and getting out of there early sounded fabulous. “Okay, that’s fine.”
“You do what you gotta do,” Drew said, and gestured to the bottle of wine. “We’ll at least finish this.”
Tess slid my glass toward her. “Can I finish this for you?”
“Yes, please do. It was nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
I glanced toward the kitchen and saw the owner, Eric Haven. He shrugged, either by way of apology or as if to say he didn’t know what was going on. Maybe it was both.
Preston took my hand and led me outside to his car.
“I’m sorry about all that,” he said. “I didn’t want to sit there for who knows how long only to find out we can’t even order dinner.”
“It’s really fine. Honestly, I’m pretty exhausted anyway.”
He looked at me as if trying to decide what to do. “Can I still salvage this? Take you somewhere else?”
My entire body longed for home. For that mug of tea and my fuzzy slippers. Did I actually want that more than I wanted an evening with Preston?
At this point, yes. I was tired, and that attempt at dinner with people I didn’t know had sucked what energy I had left right out of me.
“Actually, I wouldn’t mind calling it a night and going home. I’m not upset or anything. I just had a very long day and my head is killing me.”
Okay, so the headache was a bit of a white lie, but I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. And as much as I wanted to be home, I wasn’t ready to invite him over. That meant I needed a diplomatic way of ending our evening.
“Fair enough,” he said. “I have an early morning tomorrow anyway. I’ll take you home.”
I let out a relieved breath. He didn’t seem insulted. That was good.
He took me home and didn’t try to invite himself in. Just walked me to my door like the gentleman he was and gave me a soft kiss goodnight.
Not the best date I’d ever been on, certainly. But it hadn’t been a total disaster.
I went inside and had to suppress the urge to text Zachary to tell him what had happened. Why was that my first instinct? And why, once I was back in my pajamas on the couch with a hot mug of tea, did I dreamily imagine what he’d say when he heard the story of the power going out at the restaurant, essentially ruining my date with Preston.
He’d probably say it was the universe telling me I should have been with him instead.
But I was not going to listen to the tiny voice in the back of my head, whispering that maybe he’d be right.
CHAPTER 13
Marigold
Stacey stood to say goodbye to my latest client. The front desk was filled with so many flowers, she couldn’t see over them.
“Maybe we should move some of these,” I said as the front door shut.
“They’re beautiful, but hard to see over.” She sneezed. “And I might be slightly allergic.”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry.” I grabbed the bouquet on the end and moved it to a console on the side wall.
“It’s okay, it’s not too bad. And they really are pretty.”
