Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

“No way,” she replied. “You don’t need to pay for mine.”

The couple across the table completely ignored our interaction.

“I know I don’t have to,” I said to Sarai as I caught the waitress’s eye. I pulled out some bills and handed them to the waitress when she walked over to us. “Keep the change.” I’d given her a fat tip. It was the least I could do after spending so long at her table during one of their busiest nights of the week.

“Really,” Sarai said, pulling some cash from her wallet. “How much do I owe you?”

Sean and Hailey were still talking to each other like they had no idea that I’d just paid for their goddamn dinner. No one was that oblivious. I was pissed, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to make Sarai pay for her own meal. I’d had a good time, and I’d probably be thanking Sean later for setting this double date up, but it was the principle of the thing. The bill was his responsibility.

“Nothing,” I said to Sarai, shaking my head. “Seriously, this one’s on me.”

“It’s not like this was a real date,” she said softly, her lips tipping up at the edges.

“Doesn’t matter,” I replied, standing up from my seat. I pulled her chair out as she finally put away her wallet and stood up, too.

“You guys leaving?” Hailey asked, suddenly out of the Sean-fog she’d seemed to be lost in.

“I still need to get the check,” Sean said jovially. The prick.

“Alex already got it,” Sarai said drily. “I’ll see you Wednesday in class, Hailey?”

“I’ll be there,” Hailey said. She made no move to get up, so I guessed that was our cue to leave without them.

I followed Sarai out of the restaurant, still completely annoyed. That dipshit was going to pay me back. It wasn’t as if I was hurting for money, but I definitely hadn’t budgeted for paying for four expensive dinners this week.

“It was nice meeting you,” Sarai said as we stepped out into the cold night. She was holding her sweater tightly around her.

“You too,” I said, smiling. The night had been complete shit from beginning to end, but now that we were ready to leave, I was kind of disappointed. “Where’d you park?”

“Right over there.” She nodded to her left.

“I’ll walk you.”

She opened her mouth to reply, then tilted her head and snapped her mouth shut again.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t have been able to talk me out of it,” I said jokingly. She rolled her eyes, and I knew that I’d guessed her unsaid words correctly. “My dad would kill me if he knew I let a woman walk alone in the dark to her car.”

“Yeah, but how would he know?” she asked, pulling her keys out of her purse as we walked.

“I’m a terrible liar,” I replied.

“Do you think he’ll ask if you’ve let any women walk to their cars alone lately?”

“It’s possible,” I joked, nodding my head. “But even if he didn’t”—I sighed—“the minute he answered the phone, I’d probably blurt out the truth. Guilty conscience, you know?”

“It must have sucked to be your friend when you were a kid,” she said, chuckling.

“It did,” I replied in mock seriousness. We’d arrived at her car, and I searched for a way to buy myself some time. I hadn’t wanted to come, but now that the date was over, I didn’t want to leave.

“Well, thanks for the escort,” she said, smiling politely.

“You want to get dinner sometime?” I asked, grinning down at her.

“I’m really busy,” she hedged.

“I could work around your schedule—”

Before I could say anything else, she shook her head.

“Thank you, but no.” She unlocked her car door.

“Really?” I said, unable to hide the surprise in my voice.

She looked at me and snorted. “Yes. Really.”

“Uh, okay.” I stepped back, completely unsure of myself now.

Opening her car door, she turned to look back at me. “I’m focusing on school right now, but thank you for the invitation. Besides, I don’t date men prettier than me,” she said with a teasing smile.

After that parting shot, she climbed into her car and drove away, leaving me standing there on the pavement, a dazed look on my face. As I watched her taillights disappear, I started to laugh.

I was still laughing while I walked to my truck and climbed inside. Jesus. Getting completely shot down because I was too pretty was a fitting end to the hellish day I’d had. I mean, with the way the entire day had gone down, had I really expected that it would end any differently?

My phone rang as soon as I’d stepped through my front door, and I groaned when my brother’s name flashed on the screen.

“Abraham,” I answered.

“It’s Ani,” my foster sister, sister-in-law, and best friend whispered.

“Why are you calling from Bram’s phone?” I whispered back, grinning.