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Phew! “How long did you two date?”
“Four years.”
I swallowed my mouthful of salmon. “You dated for fouryears? And she supported your…”Ridiculously cheap?“Frugal lifestyle and houseplant collection?”
He nodded. “Do you want to see a picture of her?”
Did I ever. “Sure.” I needed to see a photo of this living saint of a woman.
Fred held up his phone and showed me a photo of him with a sweet-looking redhead. Lisa wore a yellow cardigan and pearls, and Fred had on—surprise, surprise—a beige button-down shirt identical to the one he wore tonight.
“She’s lovely,” I said.
Fred’s smile wobbled, and he put away the phone. Without looking at me, he began eating his bread again, and I returned to my salmon until a loud, wet sniffling came from across the table.
Oh my goodness. Was he crying?
Fred’s shoulders shook as he blew his nose loudly into his cloth napkin.
That was it. I couldn’t remember the names of all of Indie’s dating goddesses, but this was a sure sign from the heavens that our date was over.
“Fred,” I said as gently as I could.
He looked up, his eyes red. “Yes?”
“Do you love Lisa?”
He sniffled again. “Yes, I do. Sorry, I’m not normally this emotional, but I’ve been a wreck since she broke up with me. You’re fantastic, but you’re not”—a loud sob escaped him—“my Lisa.”
From what he’d told me, no one was. Lisa sounded like a rare breed of woman. “Fred, you love Lisa, and it sounds as if she supported your special bond with your mother.”
“She did, didn’t she?” He sniffed. “And she liked my begonia maculata wightii too.”
Someone get this woman on speed dial. “I’ll bet that if you called her right now, you two could work things out. Just tell her how much you care about her.”
Fred reached across the table and grasped my hand in both of his. “I’m going to do precisely that. Thank you, Everly. I’m sorry we didn’t work out. I hope you aren’t too heartbroken. Mother tells me I’m quite a catch.”
I tugged my hand away, struggling to keep a straight face. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll manage.”
He grabbed his wrapped bread and the takeout container, then gave me an awkward wave before shuffling toward the door.
“Wait. You’re still wearing your napkin!”
Too late. He had already left.
Molly walked over to the table. “Can I get you anything else? Or would you like the check?”
Wait a minute.I glanced at the door and burst out laughing. Had Frugal Fred left me to pay the bill?
Molly must have caught the semi-maniacal edge to my laughter because she gave me a concerned look. “Is everything alright?”
I wiped a tear from my eye. “This was my second date this week. The first guy called me a gold digger, and tonight’s date, who’s still very much hung up on his ex, left me to pay for our meals.”
Molly tsked and typed something into her device. “Here I thought I was having a bad day, but you win. You know what? You deserve a slice of chocolate cake. On the house. If anyone asks, it’s your birthday.”
“But it’s not—” Oh, I got what she was doing there. I grinned. Molly was my kind of gal. “That would be wonderful. And perhaps a glass of wine too, please?”
“You got it.” She glanced at the empty seat opposite me and shook her head again before walking away.
