She was about to ask howoften when she noticed him staring down at his lap.“Is everything alright?”
Carson’s head snapped up, looking like a guilty schoolboy.“Great, so you work with Sandy?”he asked, though she noted his hands stayed under the table.He hadn’t bothered taking his jacket off either.
“Yes, well, not in the same department, but yes.”He wouldn’t care about the details of how she was an executive director and Sandy an investment banker.
“Uh huh.”There he was again, looking down at his lap.
“You know you’re not actually looking at me right now?”Call it good manners or common courtesy, but one should look at another person when talking to them.
Those brown eyes rose to meet hers.“Sorry, work stuff.”
“That can’t be put off for an hour so we can have a conversation and eat dinner?”she inquired with a raised eyebrow inchallenge, but managed to keep her tone neutral.She was proud of herself for that much.
She knew all about taking her work home with her, but even she could put it away for an hour to eat a meal.Why agree to go out with her if he couldn’t give her the time of day?
Carson didn’t say anything but lifted the phone from his lap and placed it on the table next to him.Allie could hear the phone buzzing several times as they stared at each other.A muscle under his eye twitched.She knew he wanted to look down at it, but he kept his gaze locked on hers.It was like they were having a staring contest.
“Mr.Townsend, always good to see you.Are you both ready to order?”a waiter asked, coming up to them.
“I’ll have my usual,” Carson replied, looking up at their waiter.
“And for you, madam?”
“I’ll have the sirloin medium rare with a baked potato and house salad, ranch on the side.”The waiter took her menu and left.
“Hey, I noticed you made eye contact with him.”Allie pointed her thumb in the direction of the retreating waiter.
Carson held his hands up in surrender.Allie hoped that meant he would give her just a smidge of his attention.
“Good choice on dinner,” Carson commented.
“What did you get?”
“The porterhouse with vegetables and mashed potatoes.”
“Sounds good.”She didn’t know anything about the different cuts of meat but was trying to make polite conversation.
“Mmm hmm.”His focus went back down to his phone, scrolling through it.
“How often do you come here?”Oh my god, that sounded like a pickup line.
He just shrugged.“Not all that often.Maybe once a month or so.”
“I’ve never heard of this place before.”She looked around, taking in the dark atmosphere.Dim lights, reclaimed wood wall paneling.Several couples laughed and conversed with each other.They were having a much better time than she was.
“What?”he asked, looking up at her again.
“I said—”
His phone lit up and started buzzing.He finally broke eye contact to look down at it and then back at her.“I’m really sorry, I need to take this.”
He answered as he slid out of the booth and stepped away before Allie could protest.Her mouth opened as she watched him walk away, the words still forming on her tongue.She snapped her head back forward to look back down at the table.
First, he was late, and now he was spending the first half of their date on his phone.Had he even listened to a word she’d said?She tried not to be too angry about it.Tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.She knew what it was like when work emergencies came up, but he was definitely not making a good first impression.
Allie sat there for several minutes waiting for Carson to return.The waiter came with her salad, which helped distract her.Carson returned when her salad was finished and pushed toward the edge of the table to be picked up.
“I’m really sorry Annie,”
