Her eyes bug out and again her entire face lights up. I’m 90% positive that she might just cry, but that just means that my grand gesture has touched her within.
“Bagels,” she says. There are spreads too, but the bagels are more significant.
“Dinner rolls are not for us, baby, and I’ve taken the knife away from you too,” I tease her then hold out my glass to her for a toast.
She meets me in the middle. “To Oliver, for throwing on the charm and setting unrealistic expectations for every date going forward.”
I chuckle and then we toast. Sipping my wine, I revel in the view. She nearly blushes, even when her fingers play with the stem of the glass that she looks into, and a beat of silence stretches.
“You okay there?”
Her eyes flick up to lock with mine. “It’s just… nobody has done something like this for me. I’m wondering if I need to pinch myself to see if it’s real.”
Resting my forearms on the table, I’m conflicted because I wish someone had treated her like a gift, but then I’m happy they didn’t because I want to be the first and set the standard. One that will never be as special as this.
My stomach dips because I’m well aware that I’m so infatuated with her now that I have her in some way.
“It’s real.”
She cracks a smile and her head lolls to the side. “Well, some of it.” Her eyes narrow on my finger. “You’re wearing the ring.”
“And if I were to tuck my fingers into your shirt then I would find yours too.” My voice is steady because this isn’t us volleying back and forth. She silently gasps a breath because she knows it too.
“Look at us going on our first real date and already married.”
Now we both have ridiculous grins on our faces.
I give us a few more moments then break us from our daze. “Hungry?”
She shifts on her chair and takes another sip. “I nearly forgot about the food, but I’m absolutely starving.”
“They are garlic and onion bagels, with butter and hummus options. We have a salad with figs and goat cheese on a bed of some vegetable that I have no clue the name.”
Her fingers are already ripping off a piece of bagel, and she shakes her head. “I’m not going to be able to focus tomorrow. This whole set-up is out of this world.”
“Mind-blowing probably when I tell you that we also have chocolate mousse and strawberries.”
Hailey points her bagel at me, still unable to contain her smile. “Now that’s just a little cheesy.”
I spread some hummus on my bagel and finally relax now that my date idea seems to be a success.
“I have to say that you are a wild card. I never would have guessed this is on your romance list. It’s interesting seeing you in this light.”
“How so?”
She rolls a shoulder back. “I’ve had ideas in my head of what you might be like when you are with a woman. I just couldn’tfigure out what way you would be.” She bites her bottom lip for a second. “Or rather, I don’t think I wanted to know. It kind of stung that it wasn’t me who would be sitting on the opposite side of the table as you.”
My eyes widen. “Whoa, we are not doing the whole past relationship convo this evening.”
She cracks a laugh. “No, that’s not what I mean. It’s more like it was safer for me to block out the options of what you could be.”
“And? Now that you know?”
“I’m happy I didn’t know. It would have made life a little miserable every time I ran into you.”
I wasn’t expecting her to explain it like that, but it makes sense, and it just confirms that I was in her head as much as she occupied my own.
“We’re totally doing everything the wrong way.” I make the statement in a monotone.
