“Different than a greasy burger joint or a taco truck?” he finishes the thought for me.
I sigh a soft laugh. “Yes.”
And even though Evan has smiled at me before, this dimpled one makes me feel something like an anchor’s just dropped low in my stomach, and I’m not so sure I’ll be able to come back up for air.
Chapter 34
Evan
Awaitressapproachesus.I glance at the name embroidered on her black shirt: Candace.
I’ve always made it a habit to call people by their names. I’ve been the nameless nobody before, and you feel…insignificant. As if your life is just there to fill in the gaps of the lives of others. It’s the least I can do. An appreciation for what I understand.
“What can I get for you two?” Candace asks.
Rachel looks at me expectantly, as if she’s deciding her own order from mine.
“I’ll have a water, Candace,” I request.
Rachel tilts her head.
“And you, ma’am?” Candace asks.
“Um.” Rachel pauses. “Are you really ordering water?”
I smile. “I don’t drink.”
I watch as her face registers something before she grins.
“You don’t drink, but you agreed to meet me for drinks?” Rachel questions.
I shrug my shoulders. “I didn’t really care about the drinks.”
Rachel smiles at me coyly before she looks up at the waitress. “I’ll have water as well, Candace. Thanks.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll still tip well,” I say to Candace.
Candace nods at me before leaving to retrieve our waters.
“Is that why Lily said ‘drinks’ weirdly?” Rachel asks. “You really don’t drink?”
I shake my head. “I’ve never had it.”
“Never? Not even college?” she asks.
“I didn’t go to college,” I reply.
“Whoareyou?” She laughs. “I don’t know anything about you.”
“That’s the point of the drinks.”
“The waters,” she clarifies.
“They’re drinks,” I say.
I see her fidgeting beneath the table with her legs. I lean back, looking under the table. She’s kicked off her shoes.
“And I don’t drink because my mom drank enough vodka to make the Titanic float,” I say, trying to deliver this part of my life in a way that doesn’t feel as heavy as it’s weighed me down since I was ten years old.
