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God, I’m as nervous as a teenager who’s about to say the words for the very first time. To be fair, I haven’t told a woman I loved them since my ex-wife, and that was nearly two decades ago now. I’ve been in several relationships since then, but none of the ladies were serious enough to merit the phrase.
But somehow, this time is different. I love the way that I feel around her. I’m an old man, but Kara makes me feel youthful and relaxed. Plus, the more time we spend together, the more I find to adore about her, from her sassy personality to that ass that just won’t quit. My emotions have developed a lot in these past few months, but telling her as much spooks me more than I care to admit.
Our drinks arrive, and I tip the bartender generously, grateful for the distraction from my inner turmoil. As I turn, I notice a waterfall of dark-brown curls a few stools down. Instantly, my chest tightens as if a hand has clenched my heart. Is that my daughter sitting three yards away from me while I am on a date with her best friend? Oh shit.
The woman turns, and I catch a quick glimpse of her profile. I relax instantly. Not Bailey. Thank fuck.
When I get back to our table, I notice that Kara too has her eyes fixed on the woman with the curly dark hair.
“I almost had a heart attack,” she whispers, passing a hand over her face as I hand her her drink.
“Me, too,” I admit, taking a sip of my manhattan. I consider the flavors for a moment, rolling them around on my tongue, before I nod. “This is really good, babe. You were right.”
Kara smirks at me.
“Aren’t I always?” she teases.
“Well…”
She laughs, firelight glimmering in her eyes. I can’t help but stare at her, an undoubtedly dumbass smile on my face. I take her hand across the table, rubbing my thumb in small circles on the back of it. Now’s the moment, Rick, I tell myself. This is it. Say it now. She deserves to hear it.
“Kara, I…” The words catch in my throat when I notice that Kara’s stare has become vacant, fixated on a point just beyond my shoulder. I search her expression and find a surprising emotion there: fear.
“Kara?” I question, and she swallows hard, shaking her head.
“Sorry,” she mumbles. “I thought I saw someone. The guy who… Never mind.”
“No,” I say, gently, squeezing her hand. “What guy?”
But she’s staring again, and after a moment, her face darkens.
“It’s definitely him,” she says grimly. “Ugh. Shit.” With mounting concern, I see that tears are welling up in the blue pools of her eyes.
“Hey,” I say, reaching across the table to gently turn her face towards me. “Babe, it’s okay. Who is it?”
She dabs at her eyes with a cocktail napkin.
“It’s that asshole who assaulted me,” she whispers. “At that frat party. Carter. Remember? And after, I came to the ER.”
“Are you kidding me?” I growl. Rage immediately flares to life in my chest, a fire stoked by the tears running down my girlfriend’s face. I could barely contain myself when she showed up at the ER and told me that some idiot college guy had hurt her. The fact that we’re now in the same room, breathing the same air as that stupid fuck makes me angrier than I’ve been in a long time.
“It’s okay, really,” Kara assures me, although her expression says otherwise. Seeing that I am unconvinced, she says, “That was months ago now, and I’m sure someone kicked his ass that night for me. It just startled me to see him here, you know?”
“Do you want us to go somewhere else?” I ask, already half-rising from my seat.
“No,” Kara says, her voice taking on a hard edge I’m not used to hearing. “I won’t let him ruin another night.”
Brows furrowed, I turn in my chair, searching for the punk whose ass I’d very much like to kick myself. I spot the culprit almost immediately, and can’t restrain a snort of laughter. He looks exactly how I imagined he would: tall, good looking, smarmy, and with a definite resemblance to a boy band singer. He also looks like he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and couldn’t survive without Mommy and Daddy. A classic snobby twerp. I could knock him out with one punch, guaranteed.
“What a dick,” I say, turning back to Kara, who tries bravely to smile. But I can see that this guy’s appearance has knocked a chink into her armor, even though she’s loathe to admit it.
I crane my neck again to look back at the asshole, and narrow my eyes. I see now that he’s chatting with a leggy blonde who looks more than a little apathetic. She’s saying “please go away” with everything but her mouth because her body language speaks volumes. Her arms are crossed, and her torso angled away from him, with forced laughter not quite reaching her eyes. As I watch though, the guy puts a hand on her arm, and she shrugs it off. He puts the hand back, and tightens it.
