He sucked soy sauce off his thumb. “For what?”
“For being such a decent guy when it came to that stupid video. I appreciate that.”
“That was a hard thing for you to go through. Seems rude to continue to harp on it.”
“Tell that to your coworkers.”
There wasn’t much hostility behind her indelicate snort, but Daniel could tell it still bothered her.
“Now that you’ve mentioned it, howareyou holding up post going viral?” He put his hands up. “I’m only asking because I really am concerned.”
“I know you are,” she said. “I appreciate that too.” She swirled the chopsticks around the bowl, mixing up the vegetables. “Things are starting to die down a bit. At least the friend requests on Facebook aren’t in the hundreds anymore.”
“The views on the video have slowed a bit too,” he said.
“You’ve been checking?”
Daniel shrugged. “Just wanted to see how long your celebrity status would last. Gotta decide if I should move on to someone else.”
Amusement gleamed in her deep brown eyes. “I think there’s one of a dog riding a vacuum cleaner that’s getting all the attention now.”
“Told you dogs were better than cats. I bet he handles the fame better too.”
“The dog can have the fame,” she said, some of that spark leaving her eyes. “I never asked for it.” Her shoulders dropped with the sigh she released. “But at least I found out Craig was a dog before things got too serious with him. I consider myself lucky, despite the unwanted notoriety.”
Daniel stared at her bent head for several moments. He should let it go. It was obvious she was uncomfortable talking about this.
He stabbed at a pink square, but then set the chopsticks on the rim of his bowl.
“There’s something about how all of that went down on that video that I can’t figure out.”So much for letting it go.But then she encouraged his question with a nod. “You learned about the other date on Twitter, right?”
“Actually, it was my sister, Denise. She’s the Twitter fanatic. I was at home getting ready for a date I was supposed to have with Craig later that night. Of course, Denise had no way of knowing I was connected to the guy when she started reading those tweets. Craig and I hadn’t been seeing each other for very long. I hadn’t introduced him to family or anything.”
“So how did you get to the restaurant so quickly? Wait, how did you even know which restaurant to go to? It wasn’t mentioned in any of the other woman’s tweets.”
“Taylor.”
“Come again?”
“The woman he was out on the date with? Her name is Taylor. The tall one with the gorgeous hair is London. And I knew which restaurant because it’s the same one he’d taken me to for our first date. It just so happens to be in my neighborhood. The moment she mentioned the volcano sushi roll in her tweet, I knew where to find him.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “Guess that makes sense. I know that restaurant. I haven’t been there, but I’ve seen it while out running.”
“Oh, do you live nearby?”
Daniel realized he’d just outed himself.
No, he hadn’t outed himself; he’d just given himself a credible reason for being in her neighborhood. Not that he planned to run into her. He’d decided to never put himself in that predicament again.
But it didn’t hurt to establish the story. Just in case.
“No, I live near the Triangle,” he said. “It’s nice up there, but I like running along the river and sometimes through downtown.”
“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” Her eyes lit up. “The moment I moved to Austin I knew this area was where I wanted to live.”
“You’re not from here?”
She shook her head. “Houston. The Third Ward. Or, as the rest of the world knows it, the place where Beyoncé grew up.”
