“I’m rehearsing for a new show,” Jules told him.
“Oh, how wonderful. Tell me about it.”
This led to an obnoxiously long conversation aboutIt’s in Her Kiss, during which Jules never mentioned anything about it being a coming out story or that she herself was in the process of coming out. And Sophie was trying not to read anything into it, because Jules was probably caught off guard being confronted by an old flame during her first date with Sophie. It was perfectly understandable, despite the sting Sophie felt over the slight.
Stephen was talkative and overbearing, regaling them both with tales of his work at the television studio where he and Jules had apparently met when she did voiceover work for a commercial.
“Well, I don’t want to keep you,” Jules said pointedly, hands clasped tightly in her lap.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” he said, although whether he was truly clueless to her meaning or just willfully ignorant, Sophie didn’t know him well enough to say. “In fact, maybe we should get together sometime and catch up.”
“I’m very busy right now,” Jules said. “It was great to see you, though.”
Still, he lingered, pressing her about scheduling an interview with someone at his studio to talk about the show. Luckily, the waitress arrived with their entrees, and not even Stephen was rude enough to interrupt them while they ate their dinner. As he finally headed for the door, Sophie let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m really sorry about that,” Jules said quietly. She set her napkin on the table and stood. “I’ll be right back.”
Sophie watched her go, as uncomfortable about Jules’s reaction as she was with Stephen’s interruption. She sat there for a minute, staring moodily at her tuna steak before she left her seat and followed Jules to the bathroom. She found her standing at the mirror, swiping at watery eyes.
“Shit,” Sophie mumbled as she stepped up behind her. “Jules…”
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head, not meeting either of their eyes in the mirror. “I know I screwed that up.”
“It’s fine. Are you okay?”
Jules blew out a breath, casting her gaze toward the ceiling. “If I’m not, it has nothing to do with Stephen. Truly, he’s ancient history.”
“What happened between you two?”
“We dated a few months. He was screwing around on me the whole time.” Jules waved a hand in front of her face. “It was years ago, and it sucked, but I’m over it. I’m just upset that he crashed our date and that I…I let him think you were a friend.”
Sophie felt her own hurt evaporate in the face of Jules’s shame. “It’s fine. Really. Come on, let’s eat before our food gets cold.”
But as she led the way back to their table, Jules’s mood was noticeably dimmer than it had been before Stephen’s interruption, and if Sophie were being honest with herself, so was hers.
* * *
“Wouldyou like to see the dessert menu?” their waitress asked.
Jules caught Sophie’s eye with a wink. “No, thank you.”
After she’d walked away, Sophie gave Jules a peeved look. “What if I wanted dessert?”
“I already got us dessert,” she said. “Assuming you want to come over, that is. Otherwise, I’ll get the waitress back over here.”
Sophie’s eyebrows lifted. “No, I like your original plan.”
“Good,” Jules said, injecting as much confidence into her tone as she could. Generally, she was bold and in control when it came to her sex life, and there was no reason for tonight to be any different. Especially after her run-in with Stephen, she needed to reclaim the rest of the evening. She wanted the second half of their date to be perfect.
When the waitress returned with their check, she insisted on paying. She’d invited Sophie out, after all, and while she wasn’t accustomed to paying for a date, she found a kind of power in that too. She could get used to dating a woman. There was the thrill of something new and uncharted, but beneath it was a sense of ease she hadn’t expected, although that might be due to Sophie herself, regardless of her gender.
They wrapped up in their coats and headed out, opting to walk to Jules’s apartment since it wasn’t too far. She slid her gloved hand into Sophie’s as they strolled down the street, pausing to exclaim over a particularly charming little Christmas tree in the courtyard of an apartment building as they passed. The city really was beautiful at Christmastime, despite the cold.
“It’s odd spending all my time in Brooklyn like this,” she commented.
“Why? You’ve lived here awhile, haven’t you?” Sophie asked.
“Yeah, but I’m not sure I’ve ever lived, worked, and dated someone here at the same time before. I’m used to making the trek into Manhattan much more often than this.”
