Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Alex held the back door of the Range Rover open, and I quickly slid in with him following.
Once the door was shut, the driver pulled out.
“I know the head chef at the restaurant.”
“That’s nice. How did you meet him?”
He looked at me. “Her. We dated.”
My grin instantly fell. What the fuck was it with these men? Could they not let their past relationships go? And why was I the one stuck in the middle of them?
“Um…”
It was the only word I could get out.
Alex saw my perplexed face and laughed. “Oh, no, no. Nothing like that. She is happily married to the manager of the restaurant. That’s how they met. I’m friends with them both.”
I relaxed in my seat. “That’s a relief. I thought maybe you were bringing me there to make her…”
Shut up, Clare. Shut up!
“To make her what?” he asked, confusion written all over his face.
With a wave of my hand, I said, “Oh nothing. Just ignore me.”
Alex reached for my hand. “I know we talked a lot yesterday at Preston and Harmony’s house, but tell me a little more about yourself.”
“Well, I work for the Boston Red Sox as an executive assistant. I, unlike you, am a huge baseball fan. I love hiking, running, cats and dogs, and my favorite meal to eat is spaghetti with meatballs. I eat Swedish Fish all the time. As a matter of fact, I have a bag in my purse.”
He wrinkled his nose. “What is that?”
“They’re like licorice.”
“Ugh, I hate licorice.”
I blinked at him a few times. “Um, my favorite TV show is Friends. Favorite movie is Jumanji, but only the second and third one. The first one is good, but I like the new ones.”
He nodded.
“I’ve lived in Boston my whole life. My parents live in Boston. I have an older brother, Manny. He’s in the Marine Corps but is due to get out in just a few weeks.”
Alex was watching me and would give a little head bob or smile every now and then.
“What about you?”
“Well, I love flowers, the opera, Broadway musicals, I like to bike, fish are my go-to animals, I have a tank at my house. I don’t watch TV at all, so I don’t have a favorite TV show, and I haven’t seen a movie in maybe like ten years.”
It was my turn to give the head bob and smile. “You don’t watch TV at all? How do you decompress at night. Meditation? I love to meditate.”
He laughed. “No, no meditation for me. I usually make myself a drink, sit in my living room and listen to jazz music.”
No. No. Not the jazz music.
“Do you like jazz music.”
“You know, I’ve never really listened to it.” For more than five minutes.
“We’ll have to change that. I know a great jazz bar we can go to.”
Smiling, I said, “That sounds like fun.”
The car pulled up to the restaurant and Alex thanked the driver, told him he’d call him when he wanted him to come back, then he slipped out of the car. I slid over and waited for his hand to help me out, but he was staring up at the restaurant.
I stepped out of the car and shut the door. It wasn’t like I couldn’t do that on my own, but what happened to men being a gentleman? Maybe I had too high of expectations. No, it wasn’t a high expectation for me to think he should help me out of the car.
“Ready?” Alex asked.
“I am so ready. I’m starving.”
We were seated immediately at our table, and when the waiter walked up, Alex spoke. “I’ll have a glass of the house Sauvignon Blanc. And the lady will have?”
They both turned and looked at me. “I’ll have a Dirty Goose.”
“Then if you could bring us the oysters to start out with.”
The waiter nodded.
I went to speak but Alex kept going. “We’ll also start with a bowl of the clam chowder.”
“Oh, wait,” I said as I lifted up my hand to stop him from ordering. “I’m not a fan of clam chowder, what other soups do you have?”
“We have caramelized French onion soup, lobster bisque.”
Picking up the menu, I quickly looked at it. “I’ll take the onion soup, please.”
The waiter wrote it down, then looked back at Alex. “Do we know what we want for our main meal.”
He turned to me. “Would you mind if I ordered for us?”
I stared at him for what I was sure was an uncomfortable amount of time. The man hardly knew me yet wanted to order my meal for me. Hard. Pass.
“Actually, I do mind. If you could give me a few minutes to look at the menu.”
The waiter nodded. “No problem at all. I’ll get this put in and come back with your drinks.”
I smiled then turned to Alex when he walked off. “I’m sorry, I am not used to someone ordering for me.”