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The waitress came over to our table with menus in hand and said, “Sorry to keep you two lovebirds waiting so long. It’s crazy busy in here.” She handed us the menus and turned to Joyelle, adding, “The way he’s looking at you, I have a feeling he doesn’t mind one bit.”
Joyelle met my gaze and her cheeks turned pink before she looked away. When we were alone again, she said softly, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I’m so out of practice. This really wasn’t good date conversation,” she said, staring intently at the menu.
It dawned on me. She thinks this is a date. I should’ve guessed by her attire. I wasn’t about to correct her. Instead, I said, “I’m sure we can think of something to talk about over dinner besides work.” And your ex.
She smiled. “Maybe hobbies?”
I picked up my menu. “Sounds good. Tell me yours.”
Joyelle stared into the air and then sighed, “Damn. I don’t have any.”
“Hobbies? I thought all women did!”
“I’m not your ordinary woman, I guess,” she snorted.
I’m glad you’re not.
“That’s not a bad thing. Usually by this time, I’ve grown tired of listening.” Most of my dates didn’t talk about deep or meaningful things. It never worked when they spoke of their purchases or dropped names to impress me. Joyelle thought of her future, her business. I liked and respected that. Hell, I could use someone like her working for me. With her on my staff, I’d be the one not getting my work done. She would be very…distracting..
“Sounds like you date the wrong women. I mean, you don’t seem like a total ass, so maybe you just pick boring women.”
I chuckled. “I believe you’re right.”
“Then I guess it’s your turn to do some talking,” she laughed.
“What do you want to know?” I asked.
She wrinkled her nose as though struggling to come up with that one special question. “What is the wildest thing you’ve ever done?”
I laughed. “Don’t want to scare you off just yet. Maybe we can start with…”
“Anything but work,” she said.
“Agreed. I like hiking. How about you?”
“I like riding bikes,” she replied.
I could easily picture her being physically active in the great outdoors. My turn. “I like camping.”
“Does that come with s’mores over a campfire?” she interrupted. “Because that’s one of my favorite things. But I’m kind of a baby - I need a tent and an air mattress.”
“Don’t like sleeping on the ground?” I asked.
“It’s not the ground that bothers me. I watched this show where people are dropped into the woods with nothing, not even clothes. You don’t want to know where some of those bugs crawl into. Nope. I love nature, but I like a mattress between us,” she snickered. “You might want to watch the show before you go camping again.”
I grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”
“Do you know I haven’t been out camping since I was in high school? I keep telling myself I need to do it again, but Lizzy’s idea of roughing it is a hotel without an indoor pool.”
“I know many people like that.” If she was hinting for me to invite her for a camping getaway, she had the wrong guy. I loved camping alone. It provided the quiet I craved. Hours of endless chatter would defeat the purpose. Thankfully we were once again interrupted.
The waitress asked, “You ready to order?”
Wide-eyed, Joyelle admitted to me, “I haven’t even looked at the menu.”
