Sheridan picked up the wine menu and scanned it for a brief moment before looking to her. “Wine?”
“Please,” she answered quickly.
He smiled at her enthusiastic response while she cringed.
“Preference on white or red?”
“Red, please. If that’s fine with you.”
“Absolutely.”
He turned back to the menu for another second before their waitress stopped by their table and introduced herself.
When she asked if they wanted anything to drink, Sheridan said, “Cabernet, please. House cab is fine.”
She nodded and took the wine list from him. “Are you ready to order, or do you need another few minutes?”
Kelsi knew what she wanted, but only because she ordered the same thing every time she came here. Sheridan looked at her and the menu in his hands, then back to her.
The waitress could see his indecision and said, “I’ll grab your wine and let you have a few more minutes to look the menu over, okay?”
Sheridan gave her a relieved smile and thanked her as she walked off to the bar to get their wine and glasses. He turned to Kelsi sheepishly, a cute blush faintly coloring his golden cheeks. “Sorry if you were ready to order. I thought I knew what I wanted but something else caught my eye, and I was too indecisive to make a quick decision.”
She laughed and said placatingly, “No, don’t worry. I know what I want, but I’m not going to starve to death or get hangry waiting another few minutes.”
He chuckled with her. “I have a feeling you’d even look cute hangry.”
She flushed again and was grateful when the waitress returned a moment later with their wine and took their orders. She ordered the creamy garlic pasta with pan-seared scallops, and Sheridan took another moment to decide, finally settling on the house specialty, a crabmeat macaroni and cheese dish with Old Bay seasoning. It was truly divine.
When the waitress left the two of them, they were once again engulfed in silence. Kelsi broke it first, but not before taking a giant gulp from her wine glass. “So, Sheridan, did you recently move to town? I don’t remember seeing you around the last time I was home.” Not that she’d been home in a while, but still.
“It feels like longer, but I guess I really have only been here for maybe five months now?” He paused and looked up over her right shoulder, thinking. “Damn, yeah, it has been only five months.”
“What made you pick Oyster Shoals, of all places?”
“I was looking for a change. I’d been living in Fairfax and working for the force there, but I was burnt out and neededsomething different.” He took a rather large sip from his wine glass as well before continuing.
Maybe I’m not the only nervous one.
“I saw a job posting for the department here and figured the change of pace might be nice.” He shrugged and trailed off, looking done with the subject. “So, what brings you back to town? You’re originally from here, right?”
“Born and raised.” She gave a half-hearted smile as she pondered over how much to say about her breakup. It was a first date and even though she wasn’t super interested in him, she didn’t want to scare him off completely. She picked up her wine glass and swirled the wine around, staring into the maroon depths. “My first job out of law school was with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office in Virginia Beach. I loved it, but you know that saying ‘don’t shit where you eat’?”
He nodded, then his eyes widened slightly as he connected the dots.
She laughed sarcastically at herself. “Yep, it didn’t end well, and rather than stay and see him every day, I decided a change of scenery and some distance would do me some good. And I guess it helps that I don’t hate this place.” She cringed. “Sorry, I guess that’s probably not first date territory.”
“Is this our first date though? I did buy you a drink last week,” he countered with an easy smile.
“And my mom. Are you dating her too?”
“Just you, don’t worry.”
They both laughed before subsiding into pensive silence. Sheridan looked lost in deep thought. It wasn’t awkward, necessarily, but it certainly wasn’t a comforting silence. Kelsiregretted saying anything about Tom and their breakup. Even though she hadn’t given too much away, did he think she was looking for a rebound? Hung up on her ex?
Eventually his phone chimed and shook him from his reverie. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the notification, brows furrowing at whatever he read.
“Everything okay?” she asked him, slightly annoyed that he was ignoring her in favor of his screen. Definitely losing points for that one.
