“Phew, okay. But if this is jalapeno, where are our appetizers?”
“Let me ask.” Cadence raised a hand and then got all the way to her feet, trying to signal to their waitress that they needed some help. But Deborah was torn between watching June and weaving her way through the restaurant’s many customers, and didn’t turn in their direction at all.
“Excuse me.”
The handsome man’s voice wasn’t quiet, and that was good, as he never would have been heard over the sounds of June singing plus the din of cheers and encouragement if he had been. But he was extremely polite as he approached their table, a basket of appetizers in his hands.
“I noticed that you were trying to signal the waiter too, and I thought that maybe… did you get jalapeño poppers, by any chance?”
“We did!” Cadence exclaimed. “Mozzarella sticks?”
“Yeah.” The man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I admit that one is missing, because I didn’t realize they’d been swapped until I bit into one.”
Cadence laughed. “No problem at all.”
Diana remained quiet, distracted by the fact that this newcomer was even more attractive up close. He had gentle laugh lines at the corners of his eyes that suggested that he smiled a lot, and his eyes were a warm hazel.
She was trying to gather her thoughts, mentally chastising herself for not even managing “Hi, I’m Diana,” when the waiter finally headed in their direction. Except this turned out to be ill-fated too, for as she approached, one of the patrons danced into her path, which caused her to stumble and jostle the table…
Which sent Diana’s absolutely delicious strawberry peach lemonade tumbling over, a puddle of sticky sweetness quickly spreading. Diana pushed hastily to her feet, knocking over her chair, as she tried to avoid getting splashed. Cadence cried out in alarm.
But it was only the handsome man who had the presence of mind to scoop up the two baskets of food before they could get destroyed.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” Deborah exclaimed. “Oh gosh, oh gosh. Okay, let me get you some more drinks on the house. I’ll be right back!”
The patron who had started the domino effect of this chaos danced blithely on, too engaged in June’s performance to even notice the chaos he had wrought.
Diana turned and realized that she was now even closer to the newcomer. She felt her cheeks burning. Even though none of this had been her fault, she felt the hot frisson of embarrassment at looking so clumsy in front of such a handsome man.
Don’t be silly, Diana, she told herself.You’re not a teenager with a first crush. These things happen.
The man must have been able to detect her worries, since he gave her an encouraging smile.
“Did it get you?” he asked. “The drink, I mean.”
Diana checked. Her jeans were, thankfully, still dry. “All good.”
“Great.” He looked at the baskets in his hand, then put the right one on the table. “Wouldn’t want to mix these up again. Anyway, I’ll just be…”
He trailed off as he turned around. Diana followed his gaze and realized that the place where he’d been seated had, in the last few chaotic minutes, been snapped up by someone else.
“Oh,” he said.
“Come join us,” Cadence said at once. She had a gleam in her eye that Diana didn’t trust. “We have space.” She gestured to the chair next to Diana.
“Oh, um, if you’re sure?” the man looked at Diana, who made herself smile.
Obviously, offering him the seat was the decent thing to do. And she was a friendly, nice person! She wasnotsomeone who was bothered over a handsome man. Nope. Not her. Not at all.
“Of course,” she said. “Join us.”
“I’m Cadence Meadows,” Cadence said, giving him a wave that caused the light to glint off her wedding ring.
Subtle, Diana thought with an inward chuckle. So that was what this was. Her friend was trying to play matchmaker.
“I’m Anthony Whitaker,” the newcomer returned.
“Diana Madsen,” Diana added.
