“You did?” That certainly surprised me. I’d been such an anxious mess, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d come off as a jerk. Then again, if I’d been a jerk, Giselle wouldn’t have asked me out. I knew some people who loved to fix people who were broken, but Giselle didn’t seem like the type. Which was why nothing could ultimately happen between us. Hopefully, we would have a great time tonight, and I would do my best to make it incredibly special for her, but in the end, I was irrevocably broken.
She deserved so much better.
“Of course! I?—”
“Thank you for being patient, I had a ten-top who took forever to decide what they wanted to actually order. If you guys have made any decisions, I’d love to start you off with some appetizers,” our server said.
“No worries,” I said. There had been quite a wait after she’d brought my beer and Giselle’s lemonade and water, but if she hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have even realized. I guess I’d been so wrapped up in hearing various tales of Giselle’s experience as a teacher that I’d completely lost all sense of time.
But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. Considering how the night had started, things were goingmuchbetter than anyone could reasonably expect, let alone me.
“I’d like to begin with your appetizer flight,” I said, pointing to a sampler plate on the menu, but they’d named it something fancier to make it sound more high-class. Granted, it wasn’t exactly mozzarella sticks and chicken wings. It had half a dozen fresh oysters, coconut shrimp, caviar en croute, and the odd one out, truffle and wagyu eggrolls. I was game to try it. “Would you like an appetizer, Giselle?”
“Huh, oh no, I’m fine. Still struggling with a little nausea.”
“I understand. You’re more than welcome to sample everything on my sampler. It’s in the name, after all.”
“Technically, the name is a flight,” our server corrected with a wink. “And do you know what entrées you want, or do you need a moment?”
“I know what I want now,” I said with a grin. I had looked up the menu ahead of time to make sure I’d have good fare. I wasn’t the pickiest eater, but since it was the first time I’d gone out in over a year without the kids, I wanted my stomach and taste buds to enjoy it. “Do you need more time?”
“Uh, you go ahead and order, and I’ll be ready by the time you’re done,” Giselle said, eyes glued to the menu. With someone else, I might have thought they were upset, but her scent and heart rate told me she was excited about what she was seeing.
My wolf loved the ego boost. Despite the hiccup of my panic attack, he felt like we were succeeding at being a provider. Eh, animal logic.
“Okay then.” I turned my attention back to the server. “I’ll have the tomahawk steak with a baked potato, all the fixings, and I’d love an extra side of the grilled asparagus with it.” I’d made sure to eat before I picked Giselle up as I knew ordering enough food to actually satiate me would look pretty suspicious. While I was out of the seemingly endless hunger and voracious appetite that came with being a shifter in their twenties, I was still awolf.My caloric needs were three times that than a male bodybuilder when I was trying to maintain my physique, which was pretty much the state I was in. I wasn’t planning on adding more muscle mass, because it took too much effort. Shifters were naturally stronger than humans, so the workout had to be all the more intense to get any sort of gains.
Normally, I would always have the lady order first, even if it was a little old-fashioned, but I wanted Giselle to see I wasn’t concerned about money. I could have told her money was no option, but that would’ve been too braggadocious. I suspected that even if I told her anything on the menu was fair game, she’d still be polite and order something budget-conscious.
Sure enough, I heard a slight uptick in Giselle’s heartbeat. For all that she was sweet and gentle, she was also quite keen. I suppose she had to be with twenty children in her custody five days a week.
“Goodness, there are so many amazing things,” she breathed. “I’m caught between a couple.”
“Then order them all,” I said. She looked at me like I’d grown another head, and our server chuckled slightly. “I’m serious. If you can’t decide, then don’t.”
Giselle was blushing again, and it was difficult not to lose my train of thought. My wolf preened at the idea of thoroughlyproviding for her. He and I had failed at protecting our own, so he was starving for the opportunity to take care of someone. Especially someone like Giselle, who was so valuable to the community, even if I got the impression that she didn’t realize it.
“I couldn’t possibly eat all that,” she murmured, a pinch of embarrassment in her voice. My wolf rumbled at that, displeased that we were stressing her.
“You don’t have to,” I said in what I hoped was a soothing manner. Both Millia and Natalie had told me I could be far too blunt. I didn’t mean it a grand majority of the time; I really did often just mean what I said and only said what I meant. “Box it up and take it home. You’ll have leftovers for the weekends, so you can concentrate on getting ready for the school week. Just make sure you eat anything with greens first. They tend to get slimy.”
I hadn’t learned that until the past year. Perhaps it sounded crazy, but I’d never had leftovers. So imagine my surprise when I’d served Junior a leftover chicken finger sub and accidentally gave him a slimy, soggy sandwich. Of course, Junior had been sweet about it, but I’d felt like such an idiot.
“A-are you s-sure?” Giselle said, her ears bright red now. “I don’t want to be… uh…”
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re stuck between, and I’ll tell you what’s what?” our server said helpfully. Shit, I had completely forgotten she was there again. Strange how easy it was to forget the rest of the world when my attention was so thoroughly concentrated on Giselle.
Giselle pointed to a few items, and the server gave her opinion. Much to my satisfaction, she ordered three dishes. It looked like it took her quite a bit of effort, and I was strangely proud of her.
Sometimes it took a lot of nerve to demand space, and I recognized that there was an extra layer of complication withthe whole women-eating-on-a-date thing. Shifters didn’t really follow that. If a wolf wasn’t eating, they were sick, but I lived close enough to humans to be aware of their weirdness about women having an appetite.
Since her illness made it hard for her to eat large amounts all at once, I could see how that might make her self-conscious. But just as she’d helped me through my panic attack, I was more than happy to help her through any nerves about how much food she got down.
And I was serious about having leftovers. Cooking was exhausting. Between making sure the fridge was stocked and taking care of the dishes after, it could be a lot. Natalie and delivery apps had saved my ass multiple times.
“Do you want your appetizer served with your meals or before?” the server said. She was going to get a fat tip. Between her patience, her sweetness to Giselle, and her professionalism, she was making our night even better.
Things really had turned around, and I was immensely grateful for that.
