Lawless Hero

“Wow. You come here a lot?” Rose asked.

“Yes, usually alone though.” I nodded at the hostess and then gestured toward Rose. “After you.”

She followed the hostess and I followed behind her, loving the way her dress clung to her body. After we were seated at my usual table in the corner, she glanced around. The sound of other diners filled the room with their chatter.

“Looks busy tonight,” Rose observed.

“The food’s good.” I picked up a menu. “I’m not sure what to get yet though.”

We studied our menus for a moment until a waitress arrived to take our orders.

“Sucks that the story didn’t pan out for you,” I said once we were alone again, feeling a litttle guilty about not giving her all the information I had about what was going on in Afghanistan.

She shrugged. “It was probably for the best. At least I’m not traipsing across the planet to war-torn countries anymore.”

“Yeah, me either.”

“So what are you doing now?” she asked, taking a sip of water from her glass.

“Not too much. I saved a bit of money, and I’ve been thinking about starting my own business. But lately, I’ve just been relaxing and enjoying life after all the craziness in Afghanistan.”

“What kind of business?”

“I forgot how much you like asking questions,” I said with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry. When I’m nervous, I tend to ask questions to keep the conversation going.”

“You’re fine. It’s cute.” I unrolled my cloth napkin and put it on my lap. “I guess I’m not sure what type of business I want to run yet. With my background, maybe a security firm or something.”

“It must be nice to have enough money saved up to not need to work for a while.”

“Yeah, I guess. My expenses were super low the two years I was over there, so I saved a lot.”

“Maybe I should join the navy or something then!”

I smiled. “Well, what about you? Boyfriend?”

She glanced away, avoiding my eyes. “Not really,” she said in a noncommittal voice. “You?”

“Still single. I’ve been thinking about that night though…” My voice trailed off as the waitress returned with our bottle of wine and poured us each a glass before leaving.

Rose lifted hers into the air. “To finding friends years later.”

“And to moving relationships to the next level,” I said.

She stared into my eyes as we clinked our glasses together. I took a sip of the expensive wine, enjoying the bittersweet taste in my mouth.

“This is good,” she said after taking a sip of her own.

I smirked. “Maybe I’ll open a vineyard.”

“Then you’d have to move out the city.”

“True. And there’s too much here I’m interested in right now.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well, Maggiano’s, for one.” I joked. “Then there’s you…”