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Brooke and I had been casually dating since the end of the summer. I'd met her at a client's barbecue, a beautiful brunette in a bright red swimsuit and denim shorts, flirting with me across the docks. I'd strolled over, and we'd exchanged numbers. We'd had a good time at the start, keywordthe start. I thought it had run its course long ago. She just hadn't come to that realization yet.
I had a feeling it would be well into the new year before she would. She seemed to like the idea I was an up and coming lawyer.
The game took a break for commercials, and I glanced up.
She rolled her eyes, and I swore she muttered afinallyunder her breath.
“Score’s tied. It could go to overtime the way they’re playing. It’s a tight game.”
“Fantastic.”
There was enough sarcasm in that lone word to...
I set the cell phone down next to my plate. I could keep an eye on it and pick it up if anything exciting happened. “It’s nice to see you.”
The words may not have necessarily been a hundred percent true, but they probably needed to be said anyways, at least to get through the meal civilly. I’d already decided I was having an early morning meeting, despite it being the weekend, and thus couldn’t have her spend the night, or vice versa.
“I’m surprised you remembered what I look like. We haven’t seen each other since before Thanksgiving.” Her eyes narrowed as she picked up her wine glass and took a demure sip.
Ah, yes, Thanksgiving. She’d invited me to spend the entire weekend with her parents.
We’d met end of summer. I wasn’t ready to meet anyone’s parents.
Hell, I’d neverwillinglymet anyone’s parents.
“You’re busy, I’m busy.”
She worked in finance. She should understand how schedules became jam-packed sometimes, especially during the busy times of the year.
“And I meant to remind you about my office Christmas party…” She took one more sip of her wine before setting it down.
I put a hand up—the players on the bench were being shown on the screen. The game hadn’t started back up yet, but they were talking about an altercation between the benches during the commercial break. “Sorry, can’t.”
“You don’t even know what day it is.”
Her voice had risen with every word, and I could sense a few stares being directed our way from nearby tables.
“I’m busy. They’re overworking us at the firm before Christmas trying to get caught up and look good to the higher ups so we all get our end of year bonuses.”
And I was aiming for a promotion or at least some recognition, so I was going to live at the office if necessary.
She threw down her napkin, which ended up on my plate, partially covering my phone. I pushed it gingerly off, catching the puck drop.
“Really? That’s your excuse?”
“It’s the truth.”
“Then we’re done.”
“They haven’t even brought the food yet.”
I glanced around. The restaurant was still more than half full at that time of the evening. We’d originally planned to dine late anyways because she had a meeting or something. I didn’t care. I’d barely remembered I had a dinner date until I saw the notification pop up on my phone before I went into my first meeting that afternoon.
“I mean us. Done. Through.” She threw me a dirty look, scrambling to pick up her phone and her purse. She shoved her chair back with enough force that it wobbled back on two legs for a split second before righting itself. “Goodbye, Lucas.”
“Bye.” I almost waved as she stormed off.
A weight of a thousand more dates with Brooke fell off my shoulders, and I smiled, a real genuine smile, the first one of the whole day, as I settled more comfortably in my seat.
