I glanced at the clock. “He’s still got four minutes.” To some people, being punctual meant neither early nor late. I had a feeling Noble would show up right on time.
Clay scooted closer, and I gave him the side eye. With a bench seat and no console in the middle, my truck was perfect for getting nice and cozy, but now was not the time or place, and we were definitely not the right people. I was not imagining otherwise. Okay, I was banishing that thought immediately. Well, I was working on banishing it.
I put my palms down on the seat between us before he could move in closer and glared at him. “What are you doing?”
“We should have code words for when this date goes south.” He whispered it like we were spies and the truck might be bugged.
“Ifthis date goes south,” I corrected.
“Semantics.” Clay placed his palms over mine, sending all sorts of signals to my brain. I liked the way it felt, but he couldn’t know that. Ever. We’d become the combative friends we were always meant to be. Anything more was a dangerous fantasy on my part.
I cleared my throat. “So, when I’m right and Denise barely remembers you, I’ll say, ‘She’s just as beautiful as you said, Clay.’”
“And when Noble shows up late after he asked you to be punctual, I’ll say, ‘Time is money. Let’s go in.’”
“What if we’re both wrong?” I looked down at our hands, willing him to lift his first, because if I did, it would draw attention to the fact that I was affected by his touch.
“If you’re wrong about Denise, I’ll need a real code. Something that means ‘help me.’ So, when I say, ‘I could really go for some artichoke dip,’ you have to get us out of there. For reals, Lauren.”
He was serious, and it made me want to laugh. He was totally terrified of his date. She must have been scary in high school, poor girl.
“Promise me.”
“Fine, I promise. But then we’re even forever and I don’t owe you any more favors.”
He lifted his hands and put up a pinkie. I linked mine with his. And we swore on emergency plans and never owing favors.
A knock sounded on the passenger window, startling us. It was Noble, right on time. Surprise, surprise. I’d described my truck to him, and he knew what I looked like because Melissa had shared a picture of me.
I jumped out the driver door and walked around to say hello. Noble gave me the firmest handshake I’d ever received, and that was saying something, considering I worked with mechanics and construction guys.
Then he shook Clay’s hand, and between the two of them, it was practically an arm wrestling match. Just what we needed here, an unspoken rivalry within three seconds of meeting each other.
“Where’s your date?” Noble asked Clay, looking around.
“She should be here soon.”
“Call her and let her know she can join us inside. I made a reservation, but I’d hate for them to give our table away.” Noble gestured for me to go ahead of him, then fell in step beside me towards the entrance. He was holding a buzzer from the restaurant, so I wasn’t sure what his concern was. Obviously, he’d already gone inside and informed them we were here.
“Time is money,” Clay said cheerfully from behind us.
I glanced back and rolled my eyes at him. Clay had not pulled out his phone to call his date as Noble directed, and I doubted it was just because he didn’t like taking orders from a bossy stranger. I had a feeling Clay didn’t care whether his date showed up or not. He seemed perfectly happy to remain the third wheel, even making polite conversation with Noble while we all stood together in the foyer. Well, an outsider would consider the conversation polite. I knew what Clay was really doing—asking Noble open-ended questions in hopes he would further reveal his forceful personality. I wish I could say it wasn’t working.
I tried to cut in when Noble took a breath between comments about his political volunteer work, but Noble actually put his pointer finger up in front of my face and continued on for another three minutes before waving out his hand as if giving me permission to proceed.
“What were you going to ask?” he prompted.
I shook my head. “I don’t remember.” The stupid buzzer in his hand was lifeless. What was the point of a reservation if we had to wait just as long as the rest of the people packed in here like sardines?
Noble said he picked the place because it wasn’t loud, and if we were comparing it to a joint with peanuts on the floor and line-dancing waiters, that would be true.
A large group came through the double doors. Clay moved closer to us to make room for them, his chest brushing against mine and our fingers touching briefly before he moved sideways past me to the wall. Noble had done something similar minutes ago, and the effect it had on me was night-and-day different.
Chemistry was a funny thing. I truly believed you could create chemistry with a person if you both wanted it. You could choose love. You could build it. None of this falling out of love business. But I didn’t particularly like Noble so far, and so had no desire to create anything with him except a lot of distance after this date.
And speaking of wanting to create distance, I knew the moment Denise Perkins walked in because Clay hunkered down against the wall until I was completely blocking him. It didn’t matter. She ran straight for him and wrapped him in a hug.
“Clay, I can’t even tell you how much fate had a hand in this. I’ve been thinking about tracking you down for years. And now here we are.” Her large, liquid eyes sparkled with a fervor that probably would have scared me even without Clay’s warnings.
