Chapter Fifteen
Erica
I turned to the side, checking myself out in the mirror, trying to see how the jeans and top I had on hugged me. It didn’t look horrible, so it would have to work for tonight. The only hint Chase gave me about our date was that I needed to be comfortable. I still wanted to look cute, so I went with a three-quarter sleeve green dress shirt that matched perfectly with my dark wash jeans and black boots.
I gave myself one more look when I heard the doorbell ring and my heart dropped to my stomach. This was it.
Deep breaths and take a step toward the door. That’s all you have to do.
Nothing in the whole time I had known Chase had ever prepared me for this moment. The moment I would be going on a date and getting dressed up. The moment I knew our lives together were changing, and I knew in my heart that it was for the better.
I grabbed for my small cross body by the door and swung it open to see Chase standing there in black jeans and a grey shirt that was loose on his waist but tight on his biceps. I licked my lips and pulled the door closed behind me before I had the urge to grab and shove him inside.
“You ready?” Chase smiled as he asked me and grabbed my hand while leading me to his truck.
“For what exactly? You haven’t given me much of a hint as to where we are going.” I laughed at his eagerness when he opened the door for me and grabbed my waist. He hoisted me into the truck and reached across me to fasten my seat belt, then jogged around the car to the driver’s side before he answered me.
“Dinner first, then a little hike.” He smiled to himself as he drove in the direction of Old Mills and my stomach settled from the butterflies fluttering around. This was something familiar for us and it eased my anxiety. I hadn’t helped it earlier when I had gotten home from work with throwing all my clothes on the bed while trying to decide what to wear, or when I paced up and down the hallway naked because I honestly thought I had nothing to wear. It hadn’t been until the steaming hot shower that I had at least gotten some of my thoughts straight enough to get me here with Chase.
We walked into Old Mills like we owned the place, and in some little way we did. We used to come here all the time and the servers knew us, but of course we had a favorite. Harriet was standing in the back corner and immediately abandoned the table she was with to greet us. Another of the servers took her spot as she dotted on us.
“Look at you two! It’s been weeks!” She brought me in for a hug and I squeezed her back. Harriet was almost twice my own mother’s age, but Harriet was basically a second mother to me. Checking in on me whenever she could, trying to set me up with the best guys, all whom I turned down. She was the sweetest little thing and Chase always lit up when he saw her.
“And you, boy!” She slapped his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. Chase clung to Harriet and kissed the top of her head. My heart melted at their relationship and how close they were. I had no idea what we would ever do without this woman, and for now knew we didn’t have to think about that. “You making reservations behind my back!”
She swatted his arm again and made her way to a table by the window and I followed Chase to where she stood. The table was already set up with candles and plates of waffles, stacked high and steaming.
“Breakfast for dinner? I thought that was a ‘never allowed to order’ item!” I screeched as I dove into the booth and grabbed for the napkins and silverware.
“Apparently Mills had a soft spot for your boy here when he called to say he needed to reserve a booth for you two. He said it was a date and I swear to you that we all jumped into action to make it happen.”
Harriet tossed me a wink and left us be.
Chase was sitting there with a smirk on his face, like he had pulled off the best surprise ever.
“Don’t look so smug.” I soaked my waffles in syrup and cut a piece, shoving it in my mouth. The moan that escaped me was involuntary, just as the nostril flare that was on Chase’s face probably was.
“They good?” His voice came out as a husky rasp and I felt something stir inside of me. I wasn’t quite sure if the predatory look on Chase’s face was for the waffles or me.
“Isn’t breakfast for dinner always better?” I raised an eyebrow at him, wanting to challenge him to say something more, and put another piece into my mouth.
Chase drew his eyes away from me and onto his own plate of food. We ate in silence for a little, and unlike earlier today, it wasn’t awkward. We were comfortable in our own little worlds. I looked up a few times, catching him staring at me and then looking away quickly. I smirked at his coy behavior.
“So,” I started to talk between chews, pulling his gaze back to me from where he had been looking out the window into the almost empty parking lot. We were winding down to almost finishing and soon Old Mills was going to be closing up for the evening. “Where are we going on this hike?”
“Where I want to go is actually along the lake out back.”
“Where?” I questioned. As many times as we had been out this way, I had never seen anything so much as resembling a hiking trail along the lake. It was just a bunch of trees lining properties that backed up to Old Mills Lake.
“It’s a surprise, but it’s a place the guys and I found while we were in college. It was a great place to come out to think, but Max and Jack used it as a make out spot.”
“Is that what you plan to use it for tonight?”
I snapped my eyes away from Chase when I saw his go wide as saucers. I had been bold with my question and I wasn’t sure if it was the anticipation of the statement of kissing Chase coming true, or the syrup overload talking.
“I had no true plans but this tonight, but we can make tonight whatever we want it to be.”
He held a hand out to me and I took it without hesitation as he pulled me from the booth. He placed money for the bill on the table before leading us out of the restaurant toward the unknown of the night. I looked back one more time to see Harriet and Mills standing by the window, offering faint waves as Chase walked us farther from the diner.
