Okay, so maybe it is sexy.
“Mr. Williams, your table is ready.” The host pulls his attention away from me and we follow her to the table.
I almost stop in my tracks when I see the table she’s taking us to. It’s an intimate booth — perfect for two people—in the shape of a U. A beautiful set of candles sits in the middle of the table, lit. I notice other tables around us have a single candle lit in the middle, but there are three on our table. A wine bottle is placed in a bucket of ice on the edge of the table. Wine glasses are ready and waiting.
As we get closer, I see a beautiful bouquet. My lips part when I recognize the arrangement. Delicate, blush pink roses are tucked away with off-white rabbit tail grass and a white silk ribbon.
I feel Rowan’s hand on my lower back as he guides me onto the caramel-colored leather booth. The glossy dark wood is smooth against the palm of my hands.
The host places our menus on the table and lets us know our server will be with us shortly to get our drink orders. I set my purse on the seat next to me and then grab my hair, letting it fall onto my back. Rowan sits close to me, maybe leaving an inch or two of space between us.
He clears his throat before saying, “I hope you don’t mind the flowers.”
I pick up the bouquet and inhale the soft scent of the flowers. The rabbit tail grass tickles the tip of my nose. I glide my thumb and forefinger on a rose petal and look at him. “Do you realize that this is the exact arrangement that my corsage was when we went to prom? It’s…” I shake my head in disbelief, feeling silly for remembering something from so long ago.
The corsage was so beautiful that I preserved it for as long as it would let me. I kept it alive for almost two months until the petals started to wither away and fall off its stem.
The corner of his mouth turns up, and his eyes sparkle under the candlelight. “That’s exactly what I was going for. I can’t believe you remembered.”
A smile tugs at my lips, and I half bury my face in the bouquet. “Of course I remember. I was obsessed with it and kept it alive for over a month.”
“You looked incredible that night,” he says in a low voice.
“You remember?” I ask suspiciously.
He tilts his head, giving me a smile like he’s challenging me. I put the bouquet down and twist my body toward him, smiling back.
“You wore a blush pink, strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline. The top part of the dress had swirls of flowers stitched into it. Your favorite part of the dress was when you would spin in it, and the bottom half would swirl around you,” he finishes.
My eyebrows raise in surprise. “How did you–”
“Ellie, you talked about it for months after you found it. You told me every detail down to the stitching. But the day I saw you in it for the first time.” He pauses, closing his eyes and shaking his head. His eyes find mine again, and the sound of his voice comes out in a husk when he says, “It was better than I had imagined it in my head for weeks. I was lucky to have Ellie Thompson, the most stunning girl in our school, as my date. It was the best night of my life.”
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. I just look at the man that I let go of all those years ago, wondering why I had made such a terrible mistake.
This is definitely a date.
twenty-seven
ROWAN
We lookat each other for what feels like hours. Neither of us is speaking. I feel like my mouth has gone dry after telling her that. Something that happened years ago, and I never told her how I felt that day. I was too stunned to speak when I saw her walking toward me on that warm, sunny day.
She opens her mouth slightly and says, “Rowan, I–”
“Hello, welcome to Zesty Ziti. I’m Justin and I’ll be your server for this evening. I see that you have a special menu that was put together just for you two tonight. Have you had a chance to look over it?”
Ellie turns to the server and smiles. “Hi, um, we haven’t had a chance to go over it yet. Sorry.”
The server smiles brightly at her. “No worries. I will let you two look over it, but in the meantime, would you like me to open your bottle of wine for you? It’s one of the owner's favorites.”
“Yes, please,” Ellie says happily.
I haven’t broken my gaze from her during the server’s oration. I want to tell him that he can go away and forget the damn wine. What was she going to say? I pull away from my thoughts and adjust myself to face the server. I put on a forced smile while I watch him pour the golden white wine.
After we give it a taste and are happy with it, our server leaves us for a moment to go over the menu. I can’t think about food anymore. I want to go back to what we were just talking about. Did I make her uncomfortable? There was this look in her eyes that I couldn’t quite figure out.
“So.” Ellie picks up the menu and looks over it. “This is a special menu? What’s the occasion for it to be special?”
