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“So, he’s just plain married,” Maeve says.
“Exactly. What a jerk. But I am going to dinner tomorrow night with a guy who says he just moved here to the island. I don’t have high hopes.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m meeting him at the diner. Easy, casual, and no one should be able to screw this up. Then we’ll take it from there.”
“Good plan.”
Maeve’s gaze leaves my face and focuses on something just over my shoulder. When I turn around, I find Cameron Cox standing right behind me.
I freaking hate the way my body comes alive when I see him. How I immediately remember what it was like to be half-naked and in his arms—and then frustrated and embarrassed when he abandoned me.
The jerk.
“Hi.” I hear the moodiness in my voice that always appears when Cameron’s near.
“Hey, yourself. So, going on a date tomorrow, huh?”
“Yeah.” I load my tray and, without sparing him another look, set off to my tables. I deliver drinks and take food orders. I joke with my regular customers and sing along with the band as I weave my way through the tables.
All the while, I’m acutely aware of Cam’s gaze following me through the pub.
We’ve had moments alone since that night. He’s been a good friend.
But that’s all he’ll ever be. A friend. Because he doesn’t stay. And I’ve been in that relationship. I’ve been alone while my husband goes off to God knows where. I’m not doing that again.
But when I return to the bar and see Cam’s blue gaze on mine, I feel that flutter in my belly that I always do. I still want him.
I just can’t have him.
“So, you work at that Irish pub in town?”
My date’s name is Derek Lewis, and when he saw the menu here at the little diner in town, he wrinkled his nose.
Apparently, Derek is vegan, and there’s pretty much nothing on this greasy-spoon menu that looks appetizing to him.
His eating preferences don’t bother me, but it’s a diner.
“I do,” I reply and set my napkin in my lap. I’m excited to eat the cheeseburger that’s on its way out to me. “It’s a family business. My brother owns it—”
“So, you don’t own it?” he interrupts.
“No, my brother—”
“What are your ambitions for your career then?”
Okay, Derek is a bit of an asshole. I sit back as the waitress sets a big plate in front of me with my burger and a small mountain of fries. Derek ordered the dinner salad.
Before I can dig into my meal, I see Cameron come into the diner with a woman I don’t recognize.
I narrow my eyes.
Cam looks my way, gives me a slight nod, and then sits with his date, three tables over, right in my line of sight.
Great.
“Maggie?”
“What? Oh. I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
“What do you have planned for your career? You can’t work in a bar forever.”
I pop a fry into my mouth and study Derek. He’s in his mid-thirties with a little gray at the temples. He has a bit of acne on his chin and a crooked nose. It looks as if someone hauled off and punched him at some point, and he never had it fixed.
Frankly, I wouldn’t mind punching him myself.
“Why do you say that?” I take a big bite of my burger and watch as Derek’s nose wrinkles. The fact that I’m pleased by his repulsion of my food choice probably makes me a bad person.
I’m not sorry.
“Because that’s not ambitious. How will you support yourself?”
“I haven’t had a problem so far.”
Okay, so I can’t afford that new car I need, but my bills are paid, and I’m not hurting. I’m a simple girl.
Cameron laughs across the room and smiles intimately with his date, and I take another big bite of my burger.
Is he doing it on purpose? Is he trying to make me jealous? Because it’s not working.
Cam reaches over and wipes something off his date’s lip, and I have to fight the urge to go over there.
This is ridiculous.
“So, you’re telling me that you have no intention to better yourself?”
I turn my attention back to my date and narrow my eyes at him as I feel my Irish temper starting to heat up.
“What do you do, Derek?”
“I’m a banker.”
“Ah, so you just sit around and count other people’s money all day.”
His jaw tightens. “No, I open accounts and help people with loan applications.”
“Groundbreaking.” I slather a fry with ketchup and pop it into my mouth. “What are your aspirations?”
Cameron laughs again, and my stomach lurches, so I take another big bite of my burger.
“I’ll eventually move up in the bank, and I’d like a family. A wife who also has a strong work ethic in an acceptable career. A couple of children. A home.”
“If your wife is working her ass off in an acceptable career, who’s taking care of the kids?”
