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Evangeline is staring at me in surprise and I wonder if I did something wrong. I remember how much she liked the macaroni and cheese and burgers at lunch at school and just took a guess.
“Is that alright?” I ask after the waitress has left and Evangeline bites her lip.
“Yeah, I just, I thought that I was supposed to eat a salad on a date.”
“According to who?” I ask, outraged at the thought.
“Um, this magazine.”
“Well, it’s wrong. I want you to eat and be happy around me.”
“Then yeah, it’s perfect. I love macaroni and cheese,” she says with a happy sigh and I smile.
“I remember.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, you used to eat it every time that they served it at school. If they weren’t serving that, hamburgers, or pizza then you just grabbed something from the vending machine. Usually pretzels and Skittles.”
Evangeline looks shocked that I remember that and I take a sip of my water, my eyes locked with hers.
“You caught all of that, huh?”
“Yeah, I caught everything that you did back then,” I admit softly.
“Really?” she asks, her eyes filled with excitement and I nod.
“How could I not? You were the most beautiful girl at our school.”
“No, I wasn’t,” she says but she’s still smiling.
“Yes, you were. Still are.”
The waitress comes back with our food and sets it down a little harder than she needed to and I wonder if she overheard what I said to Evangeline and is pissed.
We dig in and I share some of my baked potato with her. She gives me some of her macaroni and cheese and I smile when I see that she ate it all.
I order us dessert even though we’re both stuffed and ask that they be put in a to-go box. The waitress comes back with the dessert and bill and I ignore her flirty smiles as I hand over my card.
She stomps off and I smile at Evangeline.
“I had a lot of fun,” I say and she leans forward, resting her elbows on the table, her face in her hands.
“Me too,” she says with a smile but I can see that she’s getting tired.
“We should do it again.”
“Okay,” she says as the waitress comes back.
I sign the slip and add the tip before I stand and offer Evangeline my hand as we head back out to the valet stand.
We drive back to her place and I ask her about the nursery and why she never left town.
“I would have thought that you would have left,” I admit and she shakes her head.
“I was going to for college at least but then my mom got sick so I stayed here and took care of her.”
“How is she doing now?” I ask.
