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I nodded, wondering again why that seemed so surprising. After watching them share another look, I spoke up. “What? Is he not supposed to date or something?”
“We just…” Emma started, not seeming to be able to find words. She usually never stuttered or fumbled words unless she was upset.
“We just thought he was too in love with you to date someone else.” Liam finished her sentence for her, leaning across the counter to grab some of the appetizer, acting nonchalant.
I barked out a laugh. “Yeah, right.”
“No really! Why haven’t you two ever tried dating?” Emma asked, suddenly her normal boldness again.
“Why would we? We’re great friends.”
I watched Emma and Liam share another frustrating look before Liam started pouring our glasses of wine.
“You two get along perfectly. Almost too perfectly, to be honest. And you already live together, so you know how messy he is and how annoying he can be about random household things,” Emma stated, turning a glare to her fiance.
“Just because I want the–” Liam started to argue with whatever her statement had been about, but she cut him off.
“Anyway, you two have already done most of the hard part. And you obviously care for each other. Not to mention that he looks at you like you hung the moon.” Emma swooned, as if she didn’t have a man doing exactly that to her right now.
I just rolled my eyes. “He doesn’t look at me like that,” I assured them, but neither of their expressions softened. I kept my face set in lines, not wanting to expose the way the thought made me feel. Did he look at me like that? No, there was no way. But if he did… “Sure, we get along great and live together easily, but that doesn’t mean we’re romantically compatible.”
“I don’t know, Izzy. I’ve seen you two together a lot. Both of you are always gravitating towards each other. He loves you, I just know it. Even if you refuse to see it,” Emma insisted. Something in my chest burned at her words, but I chalked it up to indigestion.
“Sorry to burst your rosy bubble, Em. But he isn’t. In fact, he’s going on a date with a girl that was super sketchy to me in college, and Landon definitely knows about that. So I think it’s safe to say he’s not in love with me.” I ended the conversation by picking up my wine and downing half of the glass in a second.
I didn’t look, but I just knew that Emma and Liam were probably sharing another look. Gritting my teeth, I tried to calm the building anger in my head. They were both just trying to set me up in a relationship because they wanted me to have what they have. Their insistence had good intentions; they weren’t just trying to force something on me. I didn’t have to get mad at them about that, even though I found their persistence incredibly annoying.
Knowing that I needed to steer the night as far from this topic as possible, I grabbed my wine and took another swig before placing it in front of where Liam stood on the opposite side of the island. After I gave him a sweet smile, he refilled my glass, and I swiveled in my chair to look at my sister.
“So, update me on all the wedding plans.”
12
Landon
Tiffanyhadashinynew apartment in the business area of the city. She offered to bring me up before our date to check it out, but I turned her down, telling her I would see it at a later time. The answer seemed to satisfy her because she gave me a wide grin in response before getting in my car.
“Where are we going?” she asked excitedly, which was endearing. I looked over at her in my passenger seat, a cream silk dress creeping up her tanned thighs as she settled.
By all accounts, Tiffany was extremely attractive. It was obvious that she was active, especially by the looks of her toned biceps and shoulders. Her long brown hair was styled in loose curls, and she wore minimal makeup, giving her the perfect beach girl look. She was stunning, and her plump lips were coated in a glossy nude color.
“Sandbar,” I said simply, putting the car in drive.
“What’s that?” she asked, reminding me that she didn’t know much about the island.
“Oh, it’s a great restaurant on the beach. They have a little bit of everything.” It was an easy choice, since I had no idea what Tiffany looked like. But I wasn’t about to be the guy that asked her what she wanted because I’d learned that usually women didn’t want to pick food out of the fear they’d pick wrong.
“Oh, yay! Thanks for picking something out. I’m the worst about picking food.” I obviously had hit the nail on the head, and I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face.
Once we were at the restaurant and seated, things became so relaxed. There weren’t any of those first date nerves between either of us, and conversation flowed as though we were two old friends that had everything in common. This was definitely the most we’d ever interacted with each other, and I started to wonder why that was. We had so much in common, like our enjoyment of physical fitness, hiking, and '90s action movies. Every topic was easy to talk about with her, and by the time we got our food, we were barely able to stop talking long enough to eat what we’d ordered.
“Why didn’t we ever get together in college, Landon? If we would have hung out together just once, we would have realized how compatible we were.” Tiffany spoke the thoughts that were in my mind, but hearing them from her made me wonder if that was really true. There was probably a reason I didn’t hang out with her too much in college, especially not alone. Whatever it had been, I couldn’t remember. A lot of my college memories were hazy now that I’d moved on and been inundated with so much information in my job and current life.
“I’m not sure,” I responded, trying to think back to that time. But came up blank. All I remembered were the few times Tiffany had been around at parties or smaller gatherings with Belle and our friends. “But you’re right.”
After we were finished with our food and Tiffany turned down dessert, I walked her to my car and opened the door for her. When the engine rumbled to life, Tiffany turned in her seat to face me. I pulled out of the parking lot while I waited for what she wanted to say.
Boldly, without a hint of reservation, she asked, “Do you want to go back to my house?”
