He couldn’t tell her that he’d been thinking about what it would be like to come here on a date, of course. He didn’t rightly understandhimselfwhy he was thinking about dating at a time like this. He supposed it might be the simple fact that they were here planning a wedding — it made sense for a person to be carried away by romantic thoughts at a time like that.
But dates weren’tromanticthings for Theo Davenport. At least, they never had been. He went out on dates, when he could make the time, for fun, not for romance. He wasn’t fantasizing now about taking a woman out with a mind to wooing her andbuilding some sort of relationship. He just thought it would be fun to bring a woman here, to show the place off…
He turned his attention to the food. “Tell me what we’re eating.”
“No,” Harper said tartly. “You should have listened to the descriptions when the chef was giving them. You can try the foods without knowing what they are and see what you think of them.”
“All right.” Theo shrugged. He reached out his fork and dug it into what was obviously some kind of fish in a white sauce.
“What do you think of that?” Harper asked him.
“It’s good. If you like fish.”
“Does Max?”
“I don’t know. I think he likes it just fine,” Theo said. He gestured to another dish. “This is lobster, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, lobster is fancier. We should get that.”
Harper raised an eyebrow at him. “Just because it’s more expensive, you think we should get it?”
He shrugged. “Cost is no object,” he said. “And I wouldn’t hesitate to spend any amount of money to make my brother’s wedding a success. I know you think I don’t care about him.”
Harper frowned. Her eyes were soft. “Is that what you think?” she asked quietly. “That I think you don’t care about Max?”
“You’re always saying things like that,” Theo said. “That I don’t seem like I care.”
“I never saidthat,” she countered. “Iknowyou care about him, Theo, and that’s why I want your help with this wedding. He should have someone who cares for him helping with the planning. There are thingsIcan’t do. That’s why I need you to tell me if he likes fish or not!”
“You take everything so seriously. It’s just fish. And the lobster dish is going to impress people, so I think we should get that one.”
“I suppose you would know if Max is allergic to shellfish?”
“He isn’t.”
“And he likes lobster?”
Theo shrugged. “Everyone likes lobster.”
“They absolutely don’t,” Harper countered. “Ilike it, and I know Tara does, but I know lots of people who don’t. Just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean everyone likes it. Have you ever seen Max order it off a menu?”
“We had lobster boils growing up, and he always ate it then,” Theo said.
“Okay. See… that’s something I can work with! So, there’s nostalgia around lobster for your family? It will remind him of good childhood memories?”
Theo had to laugh. “You are so extravagantly overthinking this.”
“I’m really not, Theo. You want to get the most expensive dish, but that’s only a good idea if we’re shelling out all that money for areason. I mean, what if cod is his favorite fish or something?”
“This is cod?” Theo looked at it.
“You’d know that if you had listened to the chef when he presented it,” Harper said acidly.
“All right, all right.”
“Yes, it’s cod. And what if Max really loves cod and would love to eat it at his wedding, but we don’t get it for him because we think lobster is a fancier choice?”
