Having the decency to blush, knowing that she just got caught being as nosy as her grandma, Rosalie says, “Well, duty calls.” We both watch her walk off in long strides towards the kitchen.
The minute she’s out of earshot, I look at Hannah. “I figured they would be nosy, but I assumed they would also know better,” I start explaining. “I just know that this is the best restaurant in town, and it allows me some privacy from the general public.”
I shouldn’t have listened to Sadie, I should have taken my time and planned out an actual date.
“This is the cutest Italian restaurant I’ve ever been to. I’m happy you were comfortable bringing me here. Clearly this place is important to you, considering everyone who works here knows you.”
“You don’t have to say that, we can leave if you want,” I offer, knowing that Ro and Franscesca can be a little much, but before I can get too far, her hand darts out and lands on top of mine.
“Ian, I promise you I’m fine. More than fine. Plus it smells too good to leave.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, letting insecurity leak into the question.
Tilting her head with a small smile she says, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were nervous.”
Looking anywhere but at her, I let her comment hang in the air. Apparently, I’m not so good at hiding my nervousness from her. This date has barely started and it’s already going downhill. Sex I do, no problem, but dates are not my strong suit apparently. The one time I actually want to impress a woman I end up embarrassed.
“If it helps, I’m nervous too. I changed my outfit five times and Levi had to steal my phone so I didn’t text you to cancel. I haven’t been on a date in years . . .” She trails off and meets my eyes.
“I haven’t been on a date in years either,” I admit.
“I have the excuse of being married. How come you haven’t been on a date in years? You’re in your early twenties, and from what I’ve heard from the girls and Levi, you aren’t a stranger to women being all over you,” she asks.
I’m saved by the bell, or Rosalie, I should say, as she comes over with a bottle of wine. “I’ve been told to deliver this bottle of wine to you as an apology on behalf of Nonna and me. Please accept our apology and Tate will be your server tonight, not me,” she says in the most monotone voice and with a quick eye roll towards the kitchen, where I spy Carlos, Francesca’s husband,watching his granddaughter pour us each a glass of wine. She walks off as quickly as she walked up to our table, before I can accept her apology or even give her a hard time.
I don’t have to look at the bottle to know it’s a bottle of my favorite wine. Carlos won’t lead me astray tonight, unlike his female relatives.
“Don’t think I’m gonna let you off the hook because I was handed a glass of wine,” Hannah says with a smirk before taking a sip of wine.
Mesmerized by the tip of her tongue as it peaks out of between her lips to swipe the wine off her bottom lip, I don’t think as I say, “Alex. I have the excuse of Alex.”
I don’t know what it is about this girl, but she makes me want to spill all my secrets at her feet. She makes me want to be better. For God’s sake, the other day I saw a baby, and I thought about Hannah. She makes me think about babies, and having what my parents have. I’ve barely gotten to know her, and yet, I want it all with her. I thought I knew what wanting it all felt like when I was with Alex. But that pales in comparison. This consumes me. It makes me understand every time my dad has said, “Because it makes your mom smile.”
Before I can change my mind, I take a sip, more like gulp, of wine and start. “Alex is my ex-girlfriend, if you can call someone an ex three years after the breakup. Anyway, long story short, we started dating when we were thirteen. I thought she was the one. I thought that, like my parents, I was one of the lucky ones that met their person at a ridiculously young age. Turns out she didn’t see things that way.” Taking another sip, I continue. “Even though I got drafted by Calgary, I decided the summer before my first training camp to go to Montreal for the summer with a bunch of other first-round picks to work on some skills and get ready for the show. I asked her to come with me, but she said she’d rather stay. I didn’t think much of it, she was startinguniversity in the fall and stuff, but I should have questioned her more about it. We did the long-distance thing, I came back, and it seemed like nothing had changed, other than the fact that she seemed to be enjoying our change in social status more than I was expecting her to. Then October came around, and she told me she was pregnant. I was so excited.” Taking a breath I looked around not wanting to meet her eye. “I knew we were young, but my parents had done it with way less than what I had. It wasn’t until two weeks later, when we went to the first ultrasound appointment and the technician said that the baby looked perfect for twelve weeks . . .” Taking another sip of my wine, I let my eyes wander around the restaurant, unwilling to continue.
That is until I feel Hannah’s soft hand cover mine on the table as she concludes, “Twelve weeks wouldn’t make any sense.”
Repeating her, I say, “Twelve weeks made no sense, our baby couldn’t be more than six weeks. Turns out she had met someone else. She said that my being away for the summer showed her the life that she was setting herself up for with a professional athlete. That she didn’t want that for herself.”
Before I can continue Hannah butts in, “Wait. So this girl decided to tell you that she was pregnant with your baby, but when she saw that you knew the math made no sense, she decided to announce that she had cheated on you at an ultrasound appointment? Then proceeded to blame you for her cheating on you?” Shaking her head in disbelief. “And here I thought Lucas was a bitch.”
“Not my best moment in life,” I agree.
Not missing a beat she says, “If it makes you feel better, my husband did the same thing. I wasn’t, and still am not, ready to have a baby, so he found someone who was. Turns out his twenty-year-old assistant was ready to have a baby. He just didn’t have the decency to let me know before he decided to starttrying to have a baby with another woman. Or that he had gotten another woman pregnant. I made the mistake of congratulating her, to which her response was, ‘you should congratulate your husband as well.’”
“You’re kidding me? That’s not how you found out? I think that might be worse than the ultrasound,” I say.
Laughing, she concedes, “I don’t know, I think having the ultrasound technician be part of the big reveal takes the cake.” We just sit there and stare at each other before the both of us start laughing uncontrollably. After a few seconds, or what could be minutes, we finally get ourselves under control and Hannah says, “We definitely make quite the pair.”
Chapter 23
The morning after my date with Ian, Ellie texted me bright and early asking for a run down of how things went, which is how I found myself sitting out on a terrace recounting my date with Ian to Lacey and Ellie. We decided to leave the pool to JJ and the boys and make our way into the city for the afternoon, and so, of course, we had to stop for tacos before we did any shopping.
“We went bowling. I can’t remember the last time I went bowling. It was probably as a preteen for a friend’s birthday, but never as an adult. And clearly Ian hasn’t been bowling in a long time either, judging by the look of our score sheet,” I tell Ellie and Lacey, before taking a bite of my taco.
“He brought you bowling?” Lacey asks with her mouth half full.
“Yeah, after we had supper at a cute little family-owned Italian restaurant. He also got me some daisies. He remembered my favorite flowers. They’re the prettiest shade of light blue. I didn’t even know daisies could be that color.” How he remembered my favorite flower and color within weeks of knowing me, is mind-boggling to me. They really are the most gorgeous flowers I have ever seen.
