Marriage For One

I reached for my whiskey with my left hand, getting rid of Samantha’s touch in the process. “If Wes doesn’t mind taking a little break from talking about work—”

Wes cut in before focusing on the plate in front of him. “Of course. Please go on.”

After everyone’s seafood dishes were served, another waiter came over and leaned between Fred and Rose to place a different one in front of her. It was larger and fuller than the other plates he had just delivered. “Creamy steak fettucine with shiitake mushrooms,” he explained quietly, only for Rose’s ears.

Her surprised gaze flew to mine. I wasn’t sure if she was aware of it, but her fingers tightened around mine and she softly said, “Jack, you didn’t have to say anything. I’m the only one who—”

When I was served the same pasta dish as her, she didn’t finish her sentence, instead giving me a big smile that reached her tired eyes for the first time since we’d walked into the restaurant. She mouthed a silent thank you.

My eyes dropped to her smile and I had to let go of her hand or otherwise... “A better option than seafood, I hope.”

“This is perfect, really. Thank you.”

Fred broke into our little conversation. “Come on, you’ve been whispering all night with each other. You’ll have plenty of time to flirt with each other once you leave here. Tell the story, Jack.”

“I already told you it’s not that exciting, certainly not exciting as your story with Evelyn.”

Fred turned to Wes. “He’s probably right. The first time we met, my wife, who is also a lawyer, threatened to put me in jail, and she almost managed it, too.”

“Oh, I’d love to hear about that,” Rose cut in, most likely trying to get them to stop talking about us so we wouldn’t have to come up with a lie. I had no intentions of lying, at least not about the entire thing. Also, I was curious about what her reaction would be.

“I saw her at last year’s Christmas party the Colesons were throwing at their place. If I’m not mistaken, you were also there, right George?” I asked.

George paused with his fork in the air and frowned, trying to recall the night. “Wasn’t that when Gary called us to talk about one of the startups he was considering buying? It was after Christmas, though, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, right after.”

“I remember the night. I thought you left before me, right after the meeting.”

I nodded. “I was about to.” I met Fred’s eyes since he was the one who was the most curious about how Rose and I had met, and Rose looked just as interested in hearing it. “I was at their place before you, and I think Rose arrived seconds before me. Gary briefly introduced us before we went up to his office to wait for you. At the end of the meeting, I left George with Gary and went downstairs. It was pretty crowded, actually, so I was trying to get out as quickly as possible. Then my eye caught something in the kitchen and I stopped.”

Rose’s eyebrows crept up, waiting for the rest. Did she remember the night?

I looked away from her. “I couldn’t walk away. Of all the things she could have been doing at a Christmas party, she was playing with a puppy, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I watched for a minute or two, trying to decide if I should talk to her again or not. Introduce myself again or not. Then a little boy came and took the puppy from her, and she finally came out of the kitchen.” That was where I had to change my story.

“And did you talk to her?” Samantha asked, clearly into it.

“Yes, I did. I told her I wanted us to get married.” Everyone at the table started laughing. My eyes slid to Rose. “She didn’t say yes, of course. I tried everything I could think of, but it didn’t look like she was going to budge.”

Rose’s confusion disappeared and her smile grew. “He really did try, maybe a little too hard, and the entire time he was so serious, so confident, not even a hint of a smile on his face,” she added, joining in telling our made-up story.

I placed my hand on her back and then changed my mind, pulled it back. “She thought I was insane, kept saying it over and over.”

Rose looked around the table. “Who wouldn’t? But I couldn’t walk away, either. As much as I wasn’t taking him seriously, I think anyone would be insane to just walk away from Jack.” She paused. “My husband.”

I took a long sip of the whiskey in front of me. “I wasn’t planning on letting you.” I cleared my throat and avoided her gaze. “I was sure if I came up with the right offer, she’d at least say she’d consider it, but she turned me down each time. Eventually, she agreed to give me her number, but I’m afraid it was just so I would leave her alone. I took out my phone while standing right next to her and called to make sure she wasn’t giving me a fake one. The next day, I called her, and we started talking.”