“It’s always such a hard choice, but I think I’m gonna get therisotto alla Milanese.”
Oh. I’d noticed that one was a bit more expensive thanothers. I knew Braden had saved some money but did he really want to blow it on me? “Do you eat here a lot?”
“No, but I have fond memories. When I was a kid after my mom started working, we used to eat here once every month or so. I’ve tried every dish on the menu. My favorites were lasagna and Margherita pizza, but they don’t have those on the menu anymore.”
Both sounded good, especially because the smells in the restaurant were making my stomach growl. “What is it you’re getting today again?”
“Risotto. Have you ever had it before?”
“No.”
“It’s a creamy rice dish—and I like risotto anyway, but they make theirs with saffron.”
I just nodded like I knew what he was talking about even though I admitted, “I’ve never had that before.”
“You can have a taste of mine if you wanted to get something else and just want to try it.”
“Thanks.” Scanning the menu again, I settled on the spaghetti carbonara, a food that seemed familiar and comforting.
And, as if he’d had an innate sense of our readiness, our waiter appeared at our table with two salads. After taking our order, he said something to the busboy nearby—and soon we also had a plate of soft Italian bread with some sort of dipping oil…with no conversation, even though the busboy winked at us.
Braden was right. The food was amazing, and we hadn’t even gotten to the main course. I must have made some small sound of pleasure, because he said, “Good, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“But it was a stupid idea.”
“What was?” I asked, pausing before putting another forkful of crisp salad in my mouth.
“I was hoping to kiss you later—but I’ll have garlic breath.”
I started laughing. “I think you’re safe. There’s at least a whole clove in the salad dressing—and the oil’s full of it too. If we’re both eating garlic, doesn’t it cancel out?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, and it keeps the vampires away too, I’ve been told.” Suddenly, though, I saw his expression change as if a flip inside him had been switched. “Can we talk?”
Trying to keep the mood light, I said, “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing this whole time?”
“Well, yeah….” Putting his fork down, he picked up his water goblet and drank almost the entire glass. “I hope this isn’t too uncomfortable, but I just kinda wanted to check in with you. I don’t want to rush you or put pressure on you—but I know you and Zack got really serious…and I don’t want to step in… I guess what I’m saying is if you still have feelings for him, I’ll back off. If you need time—”
And, with perfect timing, our busboy reappeared to refill Braden’s water glass, possibly hoping to chat with us more. On the one hand, I felt some relief, because I hadn’t expected to be confronted with having to dig deep and talk about it. How did you tell the sweetest man in the world that your heart still belonged to another profoundly flawed man who didn’t appreciate you?
Seriously, what the fuck did that say aboutme? I too was flawed deep down and I knew that because it was like I was addicted to the man.
Braden, though—God, he was smart. He told our busboy, “Me and Dani were talking and wondered if you’d want our autographs.”
The busboy’s eyes grew wide, as if he’d stumbled upon a hidden cache of gold. He whispered, “Hell, yeah.”
“If you could get us some paper and a pen—”
“On it, boss.”
As soon as he was gone, Braden’s chestnut eyes nearly bored into me—but there was no anger, nothing negative.
Just hope.
And I wasn’t about to take that away from him. I knew deep down that Braden would be the best boyfriend a girl could ever ask for: attentive, caring, thoughtful, gentle, kind, putting my needs above his. I’d already experienced this side with him, and I knew I’d be the world’s biggest idiot to kick him to the curb.
I could grow to love Braden. How could I not?
