Suddenly her head snapped up, though she still avoided meeting his gaze. “You’re going? You weren’t invited either. And what do you plan on doing, getting on a red-eye and hightailing it back here once you hit the ground at JFK airport?”
She shifted in her seat. Now he could see her. Both her eyes and mouth blew open. “You’re still here?! Well, you might regret that. What if I don’t go tomorrow?” There was a pause. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
Shaking her head, she shifted the phone away from her mouth, mumbling so softly he almost didn’t catch it. “I’m not a little kid anymore, I don’t need you to protect me. I can handle rejection. Lord knows I’ve had enough practice.”
Jutting her jaw, she blinked, shifting the phone back. “You did not just hear that.”
This was followed by a long pause. She stopped a passing waiter and ordered a bourbon.
“What? Yes, I’m still here.”
Another pause.
“Yes, he’s here with me.”
He watched a blush bloom on her cheeks.
“No, I will not tell him that.”
So Aunt Delilah can make Ceci Rivers blush.
She looked up at the ceiling, whether to seek guidance or a means of escape, he couldn’t tell.
“Maybe. That’s all you get for now. I have to go.”
Her entire body seemed to heave up and down from the force of those words, and she ended the call.
“I’m sorry. It was my aunt. She was supposed to be flying back to New York tonight, so I thought maybe there was a problem. She says hi, by the way.”
The waiter came with a glass of bourbon and set it on the table. Before he could leave, she told him to bring her another. Clarke frowned. “You haven’t even taken a sip of that one.”
“I don’t sip,” she snapped. She took a large swallow and set the glass down. “There. Satisfied?”
“Maybe you should wait until you’ve had some food.”
Her eyes were blazing. “What are you? My fath—” She stopped abruptly.
Just then, another waiter approached with the menus, but when he tried to hand one to Ceci, she waved him off. “Thank you, we don’t need menus. I know what we want.”
Listening to her order, Clarke expected to see an entire cow on his plate.
“Do they serve any vegetables here?” Clarke asked after the waiter had left them.
“You’ll get some with your ribs. A baked potato and some creamed corn.”
“What about spinach? Do they have spinach?”
“Yes, but it’ll come creamed.”
“Why didn’t you let me look at the menu? There must be something reasonable on it.”
“My date. My choice.”
“Even what we eat?”
“That’s right.”
“And what if I was a vegetarian?”
