“I don’t need saving,” I say. “And you need to leave. You’re disrupting my date.”
“You don’t want to be here with this man,” Roman says confidently. The nerve of him. He’s been texting me for eight months and ignoring me in person and now he thinks he can show up to my date and I’ll play along with him.
Over his shoulder, I see Benjamin walking to the table.
“You have to leave,” I hiss. “Benjamin is coming back.”
Before Roman can reply, Benjamin is standing next to the table, looking curiously between Roman and me. My face heats as I look up at him. This is beyond embarrassing.
“Benjamin, Roman is an old friend. He was having dinner here and stopped to say hello, but he’s leaving now.” I look pointedly at Roman, gesturing with my eyes for him to leave so I can get back to my date.
I might not be enjoying it, that doesn’t mean I’m going to give in to Roman because he’s suddenly decided he wants me or whatever the hell he’s doing here.
“Actually, he can stay,” Benjamin says. “I’ve been called in for an emergency. I already settled the bill.” He pushes up his glasses and looks at Roman for a second before turning back to me. “I was hoping I could get a redo. I promise I won’t talk about plaque.”
I smile up at him. He’s handsome and he’s sweet; I’m definitely on board with that.
“That would be?—”
“Not possible,” Roman says.
I glare at him, and he smiles at me sweetly. Oh, he makes me so angry. Angrier than even Josh did when he left me on our wedding day. At least he came out and told me how he felt instead of stringing me along for eight months.
“He doesn’t speak for me,” I tell Benjamin, standing up. “I’ll text you tomorrow.”
Leaning in, I give him a kiss on the cheek and wish him a good night. Once he’s gone, I pick up my purse and jacket and walk out. I pull up the ride share app on my phone.
“Where are you going?” Roman asks.
I ignore him and order myself a ride. It shows a car is five minutes away. I pull on my jacket while I wait.
“Are you really going to ignore me?”
I look over my shoulder, throwing him my best death glare. At least he has the decency to look contrite. “I don’t believe in rewarding bad behaviour. Do you know what it leads to?”
He sighs. “More bad behaviour.”
I look away, crossing my arms over my chest. Five minutes feel like a million minutes right now. I sense Roman step up next to me, his hand gently brushing my elbow.
“I’m sorry I overreacted and showed up on your date like a jealous idiot,” Roman says.
I glance at him. In my heels, we’re practically the same height and I like that right now, I don’t have to look up at him. I don’t say anything, waiting for him to add to that. I already know he’s a jealous idiot.
He runs a hand through his hair and the mess he makes of it makes him even more handsome. When he doesn’t say anything, I look at my phone to check how far my ride is.
“My ride will be here in two minutes,” I say.
“You look beautiful.”
I’m wearing a magenta dress with asymmetrical hemline, so it’s longer in the back than the front. It’s a good thing the temperature hasn’t dropped yet, though the nights are starting to get chilly.
“What the hell were you doing on a date with this guy, anyway? You can do so much better,” Roman says.
“Well, ifyousay he’s not good enough for me then it must be true,” I say. I see a car coming up with a license plate that matches the one on my app. “My ride’s here.”
I don’t ask Roman to join me and I don’t stop him either when he gets in the car with me. Oh no, maybe Iamrewarding bad behaviour. I can’t help it, I’m curious to hear what all he has to say, even though he’s somehow made himself the authority on what’s good for me.
“You’re upset,” Roman says.
