Page 4 of Alfie

She cleared her throat.

He slid his gaze back to her and leaned forward on the table. “What was that?”

“You asked about my family.”

“Did I?” He took a drink of a martini. She’d chosen iced tea.

They’d been sitting at the table for ten minutes, and he was already tossing up red flags. “Yes. Anyway.” She decided to change the subject. “Do you like working at the bank?”

“Really? That’s what you’re going to ask? You want to know how much money I make? Well, I make a great living, but I’m not looking for a trophy wife, okay? I expect my future wife to keep a job no matter how well off we are.”

She straightened in her seat as warning bells went off in her head.

“Wow. Okay.” She stared at him, thinking he might be the sort of guy to cause a scene if she called him out on his BS. He was not nearly good-looking enough to be such a jackass. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to use the bathroom.”

He wrinkled his nose and picked up his phone without a word.

She grabbed her bag and hustled to the hostess stand, out of view of Eddie. Handing over cash for her half of the dinner bill, she whispered, “I’m at the table with the waitress named Sasha. I’m ditching that asshole. Here’s my half of the bill and tip.”

“Oh, are you okay?” the woman whispered.

“I will be. I just need to get the heck out of here.”

“We won’t tell him where you went. Go, girl. Fly like the wind.”

She smiled gratefully and hurried from the restaurant, glad she hadn’t taken off her coat because it had been chilly inside. In her car, she turned it on and locked the doors, then texted her future sister-in-law, Alice.

He was SUCH a jerk! I paid my half of the bill and left after telling him I was going to the bathroom. I’m going home and never coming out until I have to go to work on the second.

What? I’m sorry, babe! I want all the details. Where are you?

Hometown Grill.

There’s a bar down the road from you that Milo and I like. My cousin Lou owns it—Crossroads.

And? Myla responded.

Go there, tell whoever is behind the bar that you’re a friend of Lou’s cousin, and I’ll be there with Milo in a jiff.

I just want to go home, I think.

Nah, you wanted a night out, you should have one! Don’t let your night go down in flames.

Alice was a sweetheart, but very persistent. Myla had a feeling if she didn’t say yes, that the girl would show up at her apartment. All right. I’ll see you there.

Woohoo!

Myla put Hometown Grill in the GPS, put the car in gear, and headed away from her disastrous blind date.

It wasn’t really her style to walk into a bar alone, so she waited in the parking lot for a little while, getting her nerve up. She was just going to go inside and tell the bartender about Alice, and then get something to drink. She could check this off her bucket list: go into bar alone.

If she had a bucket list, which she didn’t.

Climbing from the car, she shivered and stared at the bar’s front door. She could hear muffled music from inside, and see the pulsing lights in the windows with the logos for various beer companies.

Walking forward, she pulled open the door to step inside, when someone grabbed her arm and squeezed tightly.

“Hey, bitch, you think you can just ditch me like that?”