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“Miss?”
“I’ll have the chicken.”
I watched as Jim pulled his cell phone from his breast pocket and began typing away, waiting for an answer from whoever had sent him a text, and then he typed back.
“And for the side, miss?”
“Rice and steamed vegetables,” I mumbled absentmindedly as I watched a funny little smile settle on Jim’s face at something he’d read.
“Very good. Would you like another bottle of wine?”
When I didn’t answer, Jim glanced up at me, cleared his throat and nodded. “Please.” Then he went right back to the conversation he was having on his phone.
I watched as the server walked away, and once she was out of earshot, I turned back to Jim. He sat there, his face in his phone, as if I weren’t even here. I could feel the anxiety building in my chest. Something was wrong. My mind flooded with all kinds of questions, but I only asked one.
“I thought you said you’ve never been here before?”
“I haven’t,” he said, finishing up whatever he’d been typing, then slipping his phone back into his pocket.
“Then how did you know what to order?”
Jim squirmed in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with my question. He shook his head and averted his eyes, then pulled his phone from his pocket again and began typing.
“Are you going to answer me?” I demanded. “Or are you going to have this date with your phone?”
“Sorry, it’s my boss.” He said, holding up his phone. “And I studied the menu earlier today, between meetings,” he mumbled.
I looked down at the place setting in front of me, not sure what more to say. I took a sip of wine and looked back over at Jim, watching him type while I sat and waited for him to put his phone back in his pocket. Across the room, another couple’s proposal caused excitement. I turned back to Jim, my smile quickly fading away when I saw he still had his cell phone in hand.
I sighed. “Am I keeping you from someone?” I questioned, annoyed.
Jim glanced up at me, at the annoyed look on my face, and quickly put his phone away just in time for our food to arrive. We both ate in unusual and uncomfortable silence as everyone around us enjoyed the company of their significant other.
Jim had just cleared his plate and set his fork down, stretched, and looked over at me. Clearing his throat, he leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table.
“I have something I want to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
“You know, Bailey, we’ve been dating for what, two years now?”
I smiled and nodded before placing my fork down on the side of my plate. I had to turn my mood around. If it was his boss, he’d been texting with I knew it was something important. If he’d had a bad day, that wasn’t his fault. I’d had plenty of those lately as well, and he never got upset with me.
“I’ve had a really great time with you. The places we’ve traveled and seen together have been nothing short of amazing.”
“Yes, they have.” I smiled, thinking back through the adventures we’d had. The last one took us to Cozumel for our second anniversary. I could feel the anticipation building as I sat there thinking back to those nights in Mexico. One night, we’d gone down to the beach and made love under the moonlight. It had been amazing to feel the warm sea air caress my skin, and I wondered if tonight we’d be sharing the same feelings, of course, without the beach.
“I want you to know I really care about you.”
“Of course, and I care about you too,” I said in a serious tone, as I rested my hand in the middle of the table. “I love you.”
Jim grabbed my hand. I could barely contain the butterflies in my stomach as he rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand. “Bailey, it’s really been wonderful.”
“Yes, it has,” I said, meeting his eyes. Perhaps I’d mistaken his expression for a bad mood when he was just nervous.
His eyes dropped from mine and a look I didn’t recognize came over his face. “Lately, though, I feel that something is missing between us.”
“Missing?” I frowned, swallowing hard, wondering what he was talking about.
