AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?”
“I realize it’s a Saturday night and very short notice….”
“I am free, yes,” Maggie says quickly.
“Great. Would you like to have dinner with me?”
What’s happening?Maggie thinks as they reach the front of the line.
“What’ll it be?” asks the girl behind the counter.
Maggie recites her order, then waits as Rick tells the girl he’d like a breakfast sandwich and a large cup of black coffee. They move to the side of the counter to wait. “Well?” he asks.
“Did you just ask me out? Just checking that I’m not hallucinating.”
He laughs. “You’re not hallucinating. I did just ask you out.”
“How old are you?” Maggie asks, the question out of her mouth before she can stop it.
“Twenty-eight,” he says easily.
“My God.”He’s even younger than I thought.
“Is that a problem?”
“Well, I’m a bit older than you are….”More than a bit,she thinks.
“Is that a problem?” he repeats.
Maggie hesitates. “I don’t know.”
“It’s just dinner, Maggie. We don’t have to get married, if you don’t want to.” He smiles.
“No, of course we don’t.” She tries to laugh, but coughs instead. “Twenty-eight! Shit! Sure, why not? I’d love to have dinner with you tomorrow night. What the hell!”
“Anywhere special you’d like to go?”
“I’ve always liked the Palm Beach Grill.” She and Craig used to go there whenever they could get reservations. “But it’s so hard to get a table.”
“It’s off-season. Shouldn’t be too difficult. Seven o’clock?”
“Seven is good. I’ll meet you there.”
He regards her quizzically. “You’re not going to stand me up, are you?”
Hell,she thinks.I’m forty-two; you’re twenty-eight.“I won’t stand you up,” she says.
“Maggie!” a voice behind the counter calls out. “Rick! Your orders are ready.”
Maggie smiles.Ready or not,she thinks.
