I decide to switch topics so I don’t have a slip of the tongue and express my thoughts of the other parents. “Tell me a little more about your restaurant.”
“It’s been open almost ten years now.”
“Really? I think I was causing riff raff in high school ten years ago,” I only half-joke.
His eyes crinkle at the corner. “Is that your way of calling me old?”
I smirk at him. “That depends. How old are you?” I lean closer as I wait for his answer and get a whiff of an intoxicating woodsy cologne.
“I’m thirty-two.”
I dramatically widen my eyes. “Yep, definitely an old man. Why aren’t you in the geriatric ward?”
He laughs at that and I find myself grinning at him. “I’m wounded.”
“Sorry, old man, I only speak the hard truths.” I prop my chin on my hand as I look at him. “I’m kidding, you’re only six years older than me.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t even remember what it feels like to be twenty, it must be fun.”
I roll my eyes at that. “Yeah right.”
“I’m serious,” he laughs. “I keep telling Chase that he only has a couple more months until thirty hits and then he’ll feel my pain.”
Before I can reply to that, our waitress returns and places the piping hot foot on our table.
We chat casually as we dive into our plates, but we’re both more focused on the food and when Nathan sees me eyeing his fish he slides his plate closer to the middle of the table. “Thanks.” I cheerfully accept the food and find it fresh and seasoned well, just like my shrimp.
“Dessert?” he asks when both of our plates are clear.
“Of course,” I tell him, “I spotted caramel cheesecake on the menu when we got here and I have zero intentions of leaving without it.”
“My type of woman,” he says and when the waitress comes back over he orders two slices. It doesn’t take long for her to bring them over and even less time for us to devour them.
Nathan pays for the food and I feel a sinking feeling in my gut as I realize the date is already over.
It doesn’t even feel like it was that long and there’s so much more I want to know about him.
“Do you have to pick the kids up from Jamille’s?” he asks as he tucks his wallet back into his pocket.
“Yes.”
He nods thoughtfully, his gaze moving to the side before he looks back at me. “How about we stop and pick them up on the way home so you don’t have to come back out tonight and so we have a little more time?”
I bite my lip. “Are you sure?” As much as spending more time with him entices me, I don’t want him to feel like he has to do it.
“Of course.” He offers me a smile as he stands and I follow his cue.
“Okay, if you insist.”
We walk out to his car and I can’t help but watch him as we do. He’s so different from my usual type. He’s so put together and mature, but I find that I like that about him. Even my college professor, who I was fucking, was just a boy in a man’s body.
We get in the car and as he pulls the car out of the lot, I decide to take the chance to ask him more about himself. “How did you meet Chase?” He opens his mouth to reply but I quickly add on, “You can’t tell me how Emmet factors in, he wants to keep it a secret until the next time we have lunch, says it’s the only interesting thing he has left to say about himself.” I repeat the man’s words before realizing how it sounds to talk about having lunch with someone else while you’re on a date. I wince slightly.
I look at Nathan but his only reaction is to laugh and shake his head. “That sounds just like Emmet, fortunately the way I know Chase doesn’t tie into him. I go way back with Chase, all the way to Elementary school, technically, but he was my little sister’s friend first. We didn’t become close until high school when I was playing my senior year of baseball and he was playing his sophomore year. Plus he was always at my house because of my sister so we started hanging out even more outside of practice. We kept in touch when I left for college and then I started Spice Works and bought my house almost immediately out of college. When I found out that Chase was looking for somewhere to live off campus, I offered to rent out one of my rooms to him. Which really helped me out a lot since I’m paying off the loans for Spice Works and the mortgage for the house.” So the house technically belongs to Nathan. “Being housemates kicked back up that friendship we had and much to my sister’s dislike, since she always claims he was hers,” he rolls his eyes, “we became best friends and the rest is history.”
I laugh at that. “How many siblings do you have in total?”
“Just the one sister.” He pauses and I watch as his hands tighten just the smallest fraction on the steering wheel. “Um, how about you?”