Nettie felt her lip tremble at the tenderness in his dark eyes over the candle that flickered and danced between them. This was so casual and so weirdly sweet, that it made her chuckle.
Weird.
Again.
“What?” he asked curiously, smiling at her – and she shook her head nervously. “No, you have to tell me, or I’m going to think the worst.”
“This is… wonderful,” she replied openly, refusing to utter the word ‘weird’ to ruin this evening when he’d made it so magical for her. “I feel like a princess, and I’m so flattered that you’ve done all of this for us.”
“For you,” he said simply, moving to touch her hand. “Make no mistake, this – right now – is how I always want you to feel when you are with me. No regrets, no worries, no fear that I will hurt your feelings…”
“Tate…”
“I would rather give up hockey, give up everything, than to have you avoiding me again, Sticks,” he said emotionally, not bothering to hide his feelings from her. It wasn’t an ‘I love you’ – but it was almost along the same lines.
Tate was never one for mushy stuff, for the foolish romantic gestures, but for her, it was different, and he showed how much he cared all the time. In moments, the way he was protective of her, the way he cared, how he treated her.
He treated her like she was everything – and she knew it.
“Never,” she replied tearfully, rubbing her thumb against his where they held hands in the middle of the table. “I would never ask that of you – because I’m always going to be here, right beside you, cheering you on.”
He closed his eyes, swallowed, and nodded before opening them again.
“God, I sure hope so…” his voice was low, raw, and thick – and full of so much love that her own eyes burned. “I really, really hope so because I’d be lost without you, Sticks.”
“I’d be lost without you, Cujo.”
They both let out a nervous, tearful chuckle – smiling tenderly and knowing that today was a moment they would never forget.
Nettie had never felt so special, laughed so hard, or enjoyed being around Tate so much in her entire life. It was like they had both settled into their places with each other, finding their ‘home’ with the other person, and that gave them both a new freedom in their relationship.
Things were different.
Things were weird.
Things were beyond wonderful.
He scooted closer to her on the ‘U’ shaped banquette table that they were snuggly and romantically enclosed within behind the dark curtains. They shared smiles, cuddled, and fed each other bites like a couple of romantic fools who were enthralled with the other person.
The food was delicious.
The atmosphere perfect.
The company— everything.
Tate was everything she could have ever wanted in a man, in a relationship, no matter how rocky things started long ago – and he seemed to sense that too. He moved to kiss her temple, brushed his cheek against her hair, and sighed before speaking.
“I hope you can forgive me…”
“For what?” she asked softly, knowing she could forgive anything in this moment and with the way he looked at her tonight.
“When I told you to get out all those years ago,” he drew in a deep breath and paused. “I never wanted to hurt you, but I wasn’t ready to be the man you needed and…”
“Tate,” she interrupted softly, touching his hand where it rested on her leg just beneath the table. “Stop beating yourself up for things in the past, because we have our entire future to look forward to, if and when we are both ready.”
“About that…”
Cue the record-scratch in her head as she jerked back slightly to look at Tate’s expression, trying to read him, at the same time that the curtains were pulled open by Vinny himself, not the waitress.
