AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you,” she said, reaching in and grabbing a piece and placing it on the small bread plate beside her. “I used to run in high school but stopped when I went to college, then got married, and it was just another thing I allowed my life to take over.”
“I understand. Well, perhaps you could join me sometime?”
“I’ll think about it.” She picked up her bread and tore a little piece off, shoving it into her mouth and looking around like she was trying to avoid being seen.
“So, I couldn’t help but notice you looked a little upset in the car. This wasn’t a terrible choice, was it?”
She looked over at me, then shook her head. “No, not at all. I’ve heard the food is fantastic here.”
“Bella? Bella, is that you?” a woman’s voice called out.
I looked in the direction the voice came from, and suddenly a woman appeared. “Bella, it is you!”
“Oh, hey,” she said unenthusiastically before glancing over at me.
“How are things? I hope you’re okay? God, I could kill my brother for what he did to you,” the woman said as she stood at the side of our table, giving me the occasional glance.
“Yeah, well, it’s over now. I’m fine.”
I could see the tension in her shoulders as the woman looked between her and me and then back to her as if questioning what it was she was doing here with me. The conversation had literally stalled, so I jumped in.
“Hi, I’m Asher, a good friend of Bella’s,” I said, shoving my hand out toward this woman.
“Hi. Stacey. So, you say you’re a good friend of Bella’s?” she said, glancing my way. “Perhaps I’m not so angry with my brother after all. Perhaps I should be angry at you, Bella, for cheating on my brother. Anyway, I’ll talk to you later,” she said, taking off in the direction she came.
Bella smiled at me uncomfortably and shrugged. “That was Mile’s sister. She works here and apparently, she hasn’t changed one bit. She used to spread rumors about me in highschool, and she apparently going to do the same now.”
“Why didn’t you say something? We could have gone somewhere else!”
“I didn’t want to do that. I hoped she wasn’t working tonight, and at first, I thought I was safe, but then I caught sight of her. She has a hard time minding her own business, as you can see. Plus, all that talk about how she hates her brother for what he did to me is a lie. However, now it looks like she’ll have a real hate on for me,” Bella said, taking another bite of her bread.
“Don’t worry about it. People love to talk. It says way more about them than it does about you.” I winked. I’d learned that over the past six months as rumours flew around about me.
Bella smiled at me. “Yeah, and she loves to start them. I can almost hear her now.”
“So, let her. I used to tell people when they’d approach me with the latest rumour they’d heard to add to that rumour whatever the hell they wanted. That would just make them stand and stare at me, wondering if I were serious.” I chuckled.
“I bet. So, you had someone like that in your life too, then?”
“Oh, try about ten of them. All my ex’s friends. I do not know what she told them, but the things I heard just blew my mind.”
Bella let out a little giggle. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“And I am sorry I chose the restaurant your sister-in-law worked at.”
Dinner finally came, and the rest of the meal passed, drinks flowed, and so did conversation. We avoided our past issues as a topic of discussion and talked about our hobbies and things we were interested in. Turned out we had more than a few things in common, and before we knew it, we had an entire list of events and things to do throughout the summer. When the server set the bill down on the edge of the table, we both reached for it, but I grabbed it first.
“Asher, please, let me see it.”
I opened the billfold and shook my head. “No, I got it,” I said, pulling out my credit card, placing it on top of the bill.
“No, that isn’t fair. I’d like to pay my share.”
Asher looked at me and smiled. “How about you get it next time?” I said, winking at her.
I was surprised she didn’t fight me. Instead, she just agreed. As soon as I paid the bill, we walked out of the restaurant together and climbed into my car.
“Thank you,” I said, before starting the engine.
