He chuckles. “You can get both.”
Her eyes blow wide. “Really?”
Jasper nods, closing his menu. “Of course. What about you, Salem? Do you know what you’re getting yet?” he asks again.
Salem shakes his head. “It’s all expensive. It’s gonna be almost two hundred dollars for all of us to eat.”
A frown pulls at my lips. “Why don’t you let us worry about money, and you just worry about getting what you want?”
Salem closes his menu. “I can just eat something when we get home.”
“That’s ridiculous, Salem. Dinner isn’t going to break us. Just pick something.”
Salem scoffs. “And you’re bossing me around again.”
“Yes,” I snap. “Because, like I told you earlier, Iamyour boss.”
“Salem,” Jasper says, interrupting us. “It’s really not a big deal, kid. I’m not a bullshitter, right? I’m still the same person I was when you told me that.”
Salem eyes him warily. Fuck. What do I have to do to get him to just fuckingtrustus? I don’t get it. I really don’t understand what changed between all our phone calls and now.
“Right,” Salem finally says.
Jasper blows out a breath that sounds an awful lot like relief. “Good. So pick something. Don’t worry about the price. Worry about getting something that sounds good. That you think you’ll enjoy.”
Salem’s eyes drop to the table, and he opens his menu again.
“And save some room for dessert,” Jasper says. “They have the best cheesecake here.”
His eyes fly up, locking on Jasper, and his jaw clenches. God, I wish I knew what was happening in his brain.
“I’ll just have this,” he says, dropping his eyes and his finger to the menu.
Leaning over the table, I look at what he’s pointing at. “You can’t just have an appetizer for dinner, Salem. Jesus.”
“Why not? Y’all told me to fucking pick something, and I fucking picked something.” He rolls his eyes. “Doesnothingmake you happy?”
For some reason, that makes my eyes burn. This isn’t the time or place for this. I close my eyes, breathing in deeply through my nose. “I’m going to run to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
I hate how my voice sounds choked up, but there’s not much I can do about it.
Opening my eyes, I slip out of the booth, keeping my head down as I walk away.
Thankfully, the bathroom is empty, and I slip into a stall, shutting it and locking it behind me.
Leaning against the wall, I bury my face in my hands, breathing deeply in an attempt to keep myself from fucking losing it. I don’t want to have this relationship with Salem. Not even a little bit. We’ve never fought this way. Not once. I don’t know what to do or how to fix it.
I’m lost. So fucking lost.
Tears well up and spill over, despite how hard I’m trying to fight them back.
I only give myself a few seconds. That’s all I’m allowed to have. It’s time to get my shit together and go back to the table. I can’t be in here losing it all night.
Standing up straight, I scrub a hand over my face, then leave the stall.
I check myself out in the mirror, wiping at my eyes until there’s no trace of my tears, then I wash my hands and return to the booth.
Salem is sitting with his head hung low, and Nora is playing with Jasper’s phone. So much for a nice family dinner. I slide in beside Jasper, and he grabs my hand under the table before leaning into my space and pressing a gentle kiss to my temple.
