But shewaswearing a decidedly date-like outfit. This was gratifying too. She had her hair pinned back in an elegant updo, and she was wearing a simple blue dress in a color that brought out the brightness of her eyes. Her jewelry was simple too, just a matching silver chain necklace and bracelet, with some small silver hoops in her ears. The overall effect was extremely elegant.
“Thanks,” she said, flushing and looking a little shy at the compliment. “You look really nice too.”
He grimaced. “I didn’t pack enough fancy clothes,” he admitted. “And I am only thinking right this minute that I should have gone to Diana’s store and bought something new, but, whoops, too late.”
“Absolutely not,” she said, lifting her chin stubbornly, but in a playful sort of way. “I think you look wonderful, and I won’t be argued with, sir.”
Her eyes glimmered with mirth and Shane wondered how anyone in this town had ever thought Winnie was an ice queen. She might take a minute to open up to people, sure. He’d seen that tendency in her. But beneath the reserved surface was just so much lively feeling that he couldn’t imagine thinking her cold.
“No arguments,” he agreed, miming locking his lips and throwing away the key. She laughed, and he noticed that she looked at least twice as pretty when she laughed.
“Shall we?” he offered, holding out his arm. She accepted, and he led her down to the car. “I made a reservation at Captain’s Crest. I know everyone in this town has eaten everywhere, so you’ve probably been there before, but I figured it was out of the usual pattern of daily haunts, at least.”
“I love Captain’s Crest,” she reassured him. “And while Ihavebeen there before, it’s been an age. So I’m very excited to go again.”
“I’ll take that,” he said cheerfully.
The drive was short and felt even shorter, as it was filled with the easy, cheerful chatter that he and Winnie always seemed to fall into so easily. He found a parking spot easily enough, another perk of Magnolia Shore that would have been a fantasy beyond his wildest dreams in San Francisco. There was something new to enjoy about this little town every day, and that was even before he counted the wonderful woman currently sitting beside him.
“Oh, dear,” Winnie said, a little furrow appearing between her brows. “What’s going on here?”
Shane followed her gaze over to Captain’s Crest, where several people were exiting the front door. He looked a littlecloser and realized that they were all wearing the uniforms that marked them as waitstaff.
He and Winnie got out of the car and approached.
“Excuse me,” he said as someone turned to lock the door. “Is everything okay? It’s just, I had a reservation for tonight.”
The man, who wore a nametag that marked him as the manager, gave an apologetic grin.
“Oh, sir, I’m so sorry,” he said sincerely. “Our computer system went down today, so we can’t process any orders. But our reservations werealsoin the computer, so we couldn’t even access records to let people know. We’re going to be closed down for the evening.”
Shane felt a pang of dismay that was probably not commensurate with the level of inconvenience. He’d just wanted everything to be perfect tonight. That way, if it did turn out to be a date, it would have been a wonderful one.
Silly, perhaps, but there it was.
But the poor manager looked so intensely dismayed that Shane knew it would be desperately unkind to do anything but reassure him.
“I completely understand,” he said kindly. Then he paused. “Actually, I work in tech. If you wanted, I could come by first thing tomorrow morning and look at your system.”
The manager’s eyes went wide. “Oh, would you? This is a family business; my dad is the official owner, but these days I’m the one handling most of the day-to-day. So, I can tell you without a doubt that neither of us is particularly technically minded.”
“Yeah, absolutely!” Shane said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Let me just get your information and give you mine…”
He quickly swapped phone numbers with the manager, whose name was MJ.
“For ‘Michael Junior,’” he explained with a rueful chuckle. “Michael Senior is my dad. Perils of being a legacy in a small town.”
Even though his words reflected the kind of thing Shane would have been worried about, growing up in a town like this, his tone was cheerful enough to make it clear that he didn’t much mind.
They arranged a time for the next day, then said their goodbyes, MJ looking considerably less anxious than he had moments before.
“Sorry about that,” he said to Winnie, who had been waiting patiently while Shane made his plans. “I didn’t mean to get sidetracked by work stuff while we’re on a—while we’re out to dinner,” he amended hastily.
She smiled easily, and if she noticed his slip, she didn’t let on.
“No trouble at all,” she said. “Goodness knows that I’ve dragged you into my work things often enough these past few weeks. Although, at this rate, you’re going to be stuck in Magnolia Shore forever. You keep getting new clients!”
Was Shane fooling himself by thinking that she sounded optimistic about the idea?
