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Chuck raised his glass. “Here’s to a successful solstice ritual.”
That was something I was more than happy to toast, so I lifted my wine glass as well and clinked it against his. The wine seemed pretty decent, although I had to admit I wasn’t an expert or anything. And even better, the warmth of it going down my throat helped to ease some of the tension I’d been carrying in the pit of my stomach ever since I’d agreed to come on this date in the first place.
Maybe Chuck felt it as well. Whatever the reason, the conversation flowed easily enough from there — he talked about the ranch, how his parents had retired and moved to Queen Creek, and he’d taken over running the place. He had one full-time overseer and some seasonal help, but it did sound as if he did most of the work himself. I had to respect that; it wasn’t as though he was some sort of soft rich kid who expected everyone else to do the heavy lifting.
Our salads arrived, and were excellent. In between bites, we talked some more, with Chuck describing what it was like to grow up in Globe, and me telling him something of my life in Los Angeles.
“It sounds like another planet,” he observed, and inwardly, I had to admit he might be right. L.A. was definitely a law unto itself.
“It’s…different,” I allowed.
I didn’t get any farther than that, however, because in the next moment, I heard a feminine voice that I’d already come to dislike.
“Why, Selena Marx,” said Lilith Black. She’d paused a foot or so away from the booth where Chuck and I sat, her two lackeys, as usual, positioned a little ways behind her. “Are you stalking me or something?”
At once, Chuck’s brows drew together. From the dismissive way he looked her up and down, it seemed he wasn’t terribly impressed. “I doubt it, ma’am,” he said in an exaggerated cowboy drawl that made me want to grin, although I managed to maintain my sober expression. “Seeing as how I’m the one who invited Selena here tonight.”
Her icy gray eyes glinted with irritation. Obviously, she hadn’t missed the look he’d given her…or the way he’d called her “ma’am.”
“Oh, well, then,” she said, trying to sound casual, even though I could clearly hear the bite in her words. “I suppose it’s just the universe putting us on parallel paths.”
“What are you doing here at the casino?” I asked. “I thought you were staying in Globe.”
“We are,” she replied. “I needed a house — the rooms here at the casino wouldn’t have suited me at all. But because the elders were so kind about letting me hold my ritual on their land, I thought it would be a good thing to come and have dinner here. I posted about it on Instagram, so I’m sure that’ll send more business their way.”
Considering how her followers seemed to hang on her every utterance, I had no doubt she was right. As soon as those visitors got to town, they’d probably be heading out to the casino to eat the very same meal that Lilith Black had consumed.
“That was nice of you,” I said, figuring I might as well be polite. There was certainly no need to get into a cat fight…even though I could tell she wanted one. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have seen the need to bring up the tribal elders’ largesse again.
“Oh, I do what I can.” Lilith paused there, and her Russian Red–lacquered lips pressed together for a moment as she flitted a quick glance toward Chuck. “Enjoy your date. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your cowboy.”
With that parting shot, she sashayed off, her two assistants in tow. Once again, the Snape lookalike sent me what seemed almost like an apologetic look, although he obviously knew better than to say anything. Some of the other diners stared after them in curiosity, probably because a group who looked like that wasn’t exactly a common occurrence in Globe and its environs.
Chuck watched them for a second or two as well before returning his attention to me. “I think that woman has seenMean Girlstoo many times.”
I actually laughed outright — partly because I could never have imagined such a comment coming from Chuck Langdon’s lips, and partly because I needed to do something to ease the tension. “Probably,” I agreed, then reached for my glass of cabernet and allowed myself a bracing swallow. “I didn’t think that was the sort of movie cowboys watched.”
He shook his head. “It was a favorite of my ex. Why, I don’t know — you’d think she would have recognized more than a little bit of Regina George in herself.”
“That bad?”
“Oh, yeah. Except I was too stupid to realize it until we were married.” His shoulders lifted, and he picked up his own glass of wine and drank some. “Her walking out was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
For a moment, our eyes met, and I stared back at him, not sure what to say. I hadn’t really expected him to be quite so brutally honest on a first date. But then, he obviously knew what I’d already begun to realize.
There just weren’t a lot of secrets in a place like Globe.
Once again, we were saved by the arrival of the waiter, this time with our entrees. As if both recognizing that it would be better to pay attention to the food for a bit, we dug into our steaks and loaded baked potatoes. And after the moment was safely gone, we discussed logistics about the ritual — where he’d set up barriers to point the crowd in the right direction, whether we should hire someone to direct traffic.
Everything safe and easy.
After dinner, he drove me back to my place. The wine and the good food — and the absence of Lilith Black — should have combined to make me feel mellow. However, tension gripped me as Chuck pulled up next to the spot where my Volkswagen Beetle was parked.
Should I invite him in? No, that would send entirely the wrong message. What if he walked me to the back door and wanted a kiss? The stoop felt awfully exposed, even if no one else actually lived on this block — or the next one. There shouldn’t be any witnesses to such an embrace…if it even happened.
He spoke. “I had a really good time.”
“So did I,” I replied, then added, “Sorry about Lilith.”
