“All right.” As long as there was a next time on the table, I was happy.
Chapter Nine
Ridge
Memphis and I were going on our second date tonight. Even though I’d told him I loved diners and dives, his telling me that he was going to take me somewhere nicer on our last date had me second-guessing my clothing choices. And third-guessing, and fourth-guessing.
In the end, I called both Hal and Ernie on FaceTime, asking them to help me decide. They didn’t hide the fact that they thought I was being ridiculous but gave me the confidence to wear my comfy clothes over something more formal for our night out. They said, and I agreed, that my jeans hung on my hips just right and that my shirt was tight enough to be sexy, but not so tight that I looked like I was trying too hard. Despite the fact that I was trying too hard.
When Memphis texted to let me know that he was running a few minutes late from work, I told him I’d meet him there and was surprised when he agreed. He seemed the type to want to pick up and drop off his dates. I could’ve let him, but this bought us more time together, and I was all about that. I reached his office just as he was getting out. Perfect timing.
He gave me an all-too-quick hug that no one would describe as romantic, and yet it still managed to set my body afire. Imagine what he could do if he was trying to turn me on. I’d probably come right there on the spot.
“Where are we going?”
“Well, you said that you like diners and dives best. And there is a, quote, ‘dive’ restaurant across town that was recently featured on one of those travel shows, and it looked good.”
I was impressed. He not only listened to my words, but he believed them.
In the past, I’d had dates who always assumed bigger and better was best. It didn’t matter that I told them what I wanted, they were going to try and impress me. It was better now that most people didn’t look at me and see my family and the money they had, instead of my face. I half wondered if knowing where my family came from had people thinking my idea of a low-key night out was different than it actually was, more than them not listening.
Memphis drove, and he navigated the rush-hour traffic like it was no big deal—something I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do. The congestion was far too intense for me. Because it was Friday night, we did have to park a few blocks from the restaurant, but that was nice. It gave us an opportunity to talk a little bit about our day on our way to grab something to eat.
What neither of us had considered was the fact that being on the travel show meant that more people than us thought it was a good idea to come down and check it out. And being a little hole-in-the-wall, there weren’t a lot of tables, and there weren’t options for reservations. We gave them our name, and they told us it would be about an hour.
“Let’s check out the river walk,” Memphis said, taking my hand. Then he asked, “Is this okay?”
“Yeah, more than.”
It was a nice, clear night, and even though we were in the city, we could see quite a few stars. Nothing like if we were a few miles out of the city limits, but they were beautiful nonetheless.
Daddy played one of my favorite games with me, connecting the dots in the sky to form different pictures. They weren’t necessarily constellations, just random ones we liked.
And he wasn’t my daddy, I knew this, and I also knew it was a dangerous game to think of him as such. But I couldn’t help where my brain fell, and I was just going to have to accept that it might sting later. No, not might. It was going to. As I walkedhand in hand with him along the river, I decided that no matter how much it hurt on the other side, it was worth it.
We got back to the restaurant at the perfect time and were shuffled into a tiny booth. The server apologized for the wait and gave us some menus. I wasn’t too worried about the wait; it meant the food was going to be hot. There was no time for anything to be sitting under a heat lamp.
“I haven’t seen this episode. What’s the must-try thing from this?” I asked.
He pointed out some chili dogs that were supposed to be the best in the United States, a meat-loaf burger, and a deep-fried grilled cheese, which sounded all sorts of wrong to me but, at the same time, was a bit tempting. I decided to go for the meat-loaf burger because I’d never heard of one before. He went for the chili dogs, and the two of us shared the fried grilled cheese as an appetizer.
“What do you think?” he asked when I’d tried the grilled cheese.
I bit off my second bite. “I think I’m glad we ordered it as a snack and not for our meal. I don’t regret trying it, though.”
He put the piece down. “Agreed.”
Even though it wasn’t what I’d call good, we both kept going back to it, and it was completely gone by the time our main dishes arrived. We did halfsies with those as well. I got a chili dog and half a meat-loaf burger, and he did as well. We were so full, we didn’t even have room for the pie.
On the way out, he offered, “Should we bring some home?”
“Honestly, I can’t even think about a time when I might want pie right now. But it was so good. Zero regrets.”
Neither of us was ready to go home, so we went for another walk, this time around the neighborhood, checking out the shops, most of which were already closed, holding hands the entire way. Then Mother Nature decided it was time to thwartour date. The beautiful weather turned less beautiful, and it started drizzling on us. I ignored it at first, but all too quickly, it became abundantly clear that we weren’t going to be able to ignore it for long.
“Best get you home.” He picked up our joined hands. I thought he was going to kiss them, but instead, he held my hand up to his cheek. It was the sweetest gesture, one of a thousand sweet things he’d done through the night, from automatically adding more ketchup to my plate without me asking to taking the wrapper off the straw for my lemonade.
I gave him my address, and, by some miracle, he found a parking spot less than half a block from my building.
