I hold up one hand, gesturing at the gray-haired woman with my mouth hanging open.
“My mom.” Chuck wipes his mouth with his napkin, tossing it on the table with an air of finality. “She drove me here.” He slides out of the booth.
“What?” My mouth is hanging open again. My eyes snap to Marlow in the kitchen right as she scrambles away from the pass-through.
“It was ... fun getting to know you, Stevie.” He holds out a hand to shake.
I take his hand, pumping it up and down numbly. “Uh, tell your mom thanks for the hamburger.”
What is happening? I could’ve paid for my food. I’m making Bigfoot T-shirt money now. But before I can offer, Chuck leaves with his mom, and I’m left in the red pleather booth, staring at our empty plates with my mouth agape.
My brain is short-circuiting.
Marlow plops into the booth across from me. “Stevie,” she says, her tone full of censure.
I gulp the last of my ice water. “Where did you find Chuck?” Cape Georgeana is a small town, and I thought I’d met everyone after living here my whole life.
“He lives in York and came in the other day. He was nice.” She frowns. “You, on the other hand ...” Marlow raises her eyebrows.
“What?”
“This is why we set this up here.” She gestures around the diner. She’s on the verge of laughter but still shaking her head. “So I could observe and analyze. And it’s even worse than I thought.”
I hold my palms up. “You’re right. Chuck didn’t checkanyof the boxes.”
But why does she seem annoyed with me?
“All you talked about was sasquatch.” Marlow raises an eyebrow.
“That is untrue.” It might be true. What can I say? It’s a huge part of my life right now. I mean,I saw one.
“Did you talk with food in your mouth?”
Maybe. “I plead the Fifth.”
“Did you correct every minor factual error he made?” Now Marlow is really worked up.
Absolutely. But seriously? “Chuck thinks dinosaurs livedthousandsof years ago, Marlow. Come on. How can you expect me to spend the rest of my life with a guy who thinks the T-rex was alive at the same time as Julius Caesar?”
It’s easy for her to be open-minded. She has the perfect boyfriend who knows the basic history of planet Earth.
“I don’t expect you to spend the rest of your life with him—”
“Then what’s the point of all this?” I motion to my made-up face and my cute outfit. “I already have friends. I don’t need some guy hanging around being wrong all the time.”
My phone pings in my purse. It’s been blowing up all night, and like a good date, I’ve ignored it even though it’s probably my brothers. They were supposed to listen to the podcast and get back to me. All three of them are busy guys, so I’ve tried not to pressure them this week. And now I have a bunch of unopened texts. See? I made an effort to be all in on this date.
“Let me guess.” Marlow smirks, folding her arms on the tabletop. “You made a mental list of reasons Chuck was a no-go.”
“Marlow. His mom drove him to our date,” I say with a wilted look, letting the truth of it hang in the air like skunk spray.
She cringes. “She did?”
I nod.
“Oof.” She releases a long breath, blowing her blonde hair away from her eyes.
While we listen to the chatter and noise of the full diner around us, I consider Marlow’s observations. She might have a point. While I didn’t check my phone on my date, I might’ve been a little ... uncouth. I mean, I shoved a pickle–French fry burrito into my mouth and corrected his use of the wordliterally. It’s something to think about.
