Because you’d be having a better time.
With you? I don’t think so.
We should test that theory. Don’t make plans with him tomorrow night.
Leave me alone, Lucas.
Please.
Ugh. There was that word again. When had he learned to use it so proficiently?
“Everything okay?” Richard asked, causing her to glance up from her phone.
“Yeah, just had a long day today.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“No,” she admitted, realizing she didn’t want to tell Richard about her day.
“Were you out that late last night? No one forced you to participate in the fund-raiser,” he reminded her, his voice full of condemnation. Again.
“No, I wasn’t out that late last night, and no one forced you to let someone else win my bid.”
Ouch. Had she really just said that out loud? She hadn’t meant to. She’d meant to keep her feelings quietly under wraps. Even if Lucas had pointed it out. Even if Lucas was probably watching her argue with Richard.
Richard’s lips compressed into a tight line. “If you’d wanted me to buy your bid, you should have told me.”
Practical. Logical. Infuriating.
“Really? I shouldn’t have to tell you that I wanted you, the man I’m dating, to win my bid.”
His voice had taken on a truly confused tone. “Then how was I supposed to know?”
“You shouldn’t want me going to dinner with another man.”
“I don’t want you going to dinner with another man, but you went anyway.”
“Then you should have bought my date so I wouldn’t have had to.” She pushed her plate away. “I’m tired and ready to go home.”
He frowned but put his napkin down. “We can leave as soon as I pay the bill.”
“Good. Great. The sooner the better.”
Why, oh, why did it bother her so much that he tipped their waitress to the exact penny of the recommended amount?
She’d barely had a couple of conversations with Lucas and he’d already managed to make her question her relationship with a man she’d been quite content with.
Content?
Since when was life about just being content?
When did she stop wanting happily-ever-after and the full-blown fairy tale?
She knew. She’d stopped believing, stopped dreaming, when her marriage to Lucas had fallen apart.
She fought to keep from looking around the restaurant to spot Lucas. Where he was didn’t matter.
She and Richard walked back to her apartment in silence. She turned to him. “I’ll just say good night down here.”