“I believe you.”
“So what? Now you’re flirting with another man? He can have you! You are not fit for my Benjamin.” She added a stomp of her foot to prove her point, but all Grace heard was a squish of spaghetti.
“Grace,” Grandma called out for her.
“I need to leave,” she told Caleb.
He nodded and moved to the side to let her pass by. She slipped once more but steadied herself on her own. Then she lifted her chin high and walked out of The Diner like she hadn’t just embarrassed the hell out of herself.
At her car, she finally breathed again, having held her breath until she couldn’t hear that woman anymore. She was never going back in there again, or to dinner with Grandma.
Grace reached into her purse to get her phone and dug around. It wasn’t there, which summed up this day perfectly. That meant she’d either left it in The Diner or at home.
The ringing proved that wrong entirely; she’d just left it in the car. Kristen’s name flashed on the screen.
“Did Mike call you?” she asked as she buckled her seatbelt.
“He said your date was going bad, and you probably needed an exit strategy. Are you already in the car?”
She put it in gear and pulled out of her parking spot. “I am. I’ll call you later; I need to do something.”
“Wait! What is going on?” Kristen sounded worried now.
“I just embarrassed this terrible date, myself, and probably the guy that was here with your husband, who had to catch me when I nearly fell in the water I knocked over.”
“Oh, Grace. It can’t be that bad.”
“Let’s start with I didn’t know I was going on a date. And this guy was a real peach. Then, his mother showed up.”
“Stop it. She did not.” Kristen laughed.
“Oh, she did. I put up with it for a little bit before I couldn’t be nice anymore. Then she started cutting his steak, Kristen. She cut her grown son’s food. That was it. I had to leave.” Grace turned onto another road, making her way home.
“No way. That’s so weird.”
“She kept saying things that were rude. And this man ordered a salad for me before I even got there. What is wrong with people? This is exactly why I don’t date.”
“Grace,” Kristen sighed. “They aren’t all like that.”
“Enough is. You have the best one out of the lot. No hope for me now.”
“There is someone out there for you.”
“Yeah, he was probably at The Diner and just witnessed me make a complete fool out of myself. I went to leave, knocked my purse on the salad plate, which spilled my water, and then made Tilly fling spaghetti all over the man’s mother. Now I’m starving, and all I had to eat was a few of my fries.”
Kristen was laughing too hard to speak.
“Then I slipped in the water, and Caleb caught me. His mother proceeded to yell something about me already flirting with another man. Then Grandma called my name, and I just fled. I cannot believe this is my life right now.” She pulled into her driveway.
“Stop. I’m asking Tilly for the footage.”
“Don’t you dare.” Grace gritted her teeth and gripped the steering wheel.
“It’ll be funny later,” Kristen said, still laughing.
“Doubtful. Anyway, I’m home. I need to order takeout, and then I’m going to call Mr. Anderson and let him know I’ll test out the cabin for him.”
Kristen stopped laughing, and her voice changed to soothing. “You don’t have to run from this.”
