11
Two nights later, Mia went out with Jeff again. She enjoyed hanging out with him and could see herself falling in love with him in time, but at the moment, the spark wasn’t there. He smiled and she didn’t feel butterflies. She knew her heart only belonged to Jackson.
They were at Antonio’s again, enjoying pasta despite Jackson making her nervous about getting sauce on herself. It hadn’t been an issue the first night. Plus, she wasn’t trying to impress Jeff.
Jeff picked up his glass of wine and swirled it around the glass before taking a sip. “I love this wine. Do you like it?”
She picked up her glass and took a small sip. It was good, but wasn’t her drink of choice. She preferred beer. “It’s good.”
He tilted his head, studying her. “Are you doing okay?”
“Yes. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“Jackson?”
Mia almost answered, but noticed Jeff wasn’t looking at her. He was looking past her. She turned around in her seat to follow his gaze, only to find Jackson staring at her from the front of the restaurant, a woman clutching his hand.
Mia’s heart squeezed painfully. She had seen Jackson dating other women before, but now that her heart was finally on the line, this felt like a blow. She could feel Jeff’s eyes on her, so she turned back around and tried to smile.
Mia didn’t have to turn around again to feel Jackson’s presence behind her. Jeff looked up at him from where they sat.
“Hey, Jackson. Fancy seeing you here,” Jeff said.
“I know. How crazy that we chose the same restaurant,” Jackson said. “But since we’re here, mind if we join you?”
Without waiting for a response, Jackson dragged the nearest table over and butted it up against theirs before taking a seat beside Mia and having his date sit across from him next to Jeff.
Mia widened her eyes at Jackson, hoping to convey the “What the fuck?” message to him. He only smiled brightly in response. Mia cleared her throat, trying to gesture at his date with her eyes, but Jackson clearly wasn’t getting it, so Mia turned toward her.
“Hi, I’m Mia.”
“Natasha,” she said. She was gorgeous with her long blonde hair in a fishtail braid. Her makeup was minimal, bringing out her natural beauty, and she wore a green dress with a denim jacket.
Jeff introduced himself next. “Are you from around here?”
Mia didn’t listen to Natasha’s answer. Instead, she turned toward Jackson and lowered her voice to a whisper. “What are you doing here?”
Jackson tried to look innocent. “I’m on a date.”
“I can see that, but why are you onmydate?”
“Oh, come on, Mia. It’s not like I followed you here. This was purely coincidental. But once I saw you, I thought a double date would be fun.”
Mia stared at him, flabbergasted. “Typical couples plan that ahead of time. They don’t crash a date in progress.”
“I’m not crashing. We’re all friends here.”
“You two okay over there?” Jeff asked.
Mia and Jackson turned toward their dates.
“Great,” Mia said, not very enthusiastically, while Jackson said it at the same time with a huge grin on his face.
“Jackson, how about we get our own table, so they can continue their date and we can get to know each other?” Natasha said.
“Nah,” Jackson said. “I think a double date sounds fun.”
Mia looked at Jackson, who seemed to be having the time of his life. Then at Natasha, who was clearly miserable and wondering what she had gotten herself into. And last at Jeff, who had amusement written on his face, outlined by disappointment.
