Page 144 of A Matter of Time

“C’mon, let’s go.” He smiled at me, hand on my back. “I know the perfect place.”

I had ducked into the bathroom when we got to the restaurant, leaving Nick alone to wait for the table. When I got out, he was standing beside the wall farthest from the door, and I stopped a minute and looked at him. Easy to see why I had been drawn to him; the thick dark brown hair and dark green eyes were very appealing. He was tall, with the long muscles of a swimmer and broad shoulders, and he carried himself with unmistakable confidence. Not sexy and dangerous like Sam, more arrogant, but kind at the same time, with that boy-next-door quality.

“Hey.” I smiled up at him.

“The table’s ready. C’mon.”

I followed him to the hostess stand and then through the restaurant. It was nice to be warm on a cold, slushy morning with nothing to do but sit around. When we got to the booth, I slid in first after hanging my coat on the hook. He didn’t pick another but instead hung his over mine. Funny.

“You know why I brought you here?” he asked me, smiling into my eyes.

“I have no idea.”

“Because you like crepes, and they have the best. Get whatever you want; it’s on me.”

“Or we can just split the check like normal people.”

“No,” he insisted. “I invited you. I’m dying to do something for you to… Please, J.”

I closed my menu and put it down on the table. “Why do you need to do anything for me? We’re fine.”

He searched my eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“If we’re fine, why are you sitting so far away?”

“I’m not. I’m right here.”

“Why don’t you slide over closer to me?”

I shook my head. “I’m good here.”

“Come a little closer.”

“Nick,” I said, starting to feel that flicker of irritation that I didn’t want.

“Jory,” he said gently, sliding over close to me. “I am so sorry for how I acted the night I was with my family, and then at the club with my friends. I just… I was completely out of line, and the only excuse I can make is that I have never felt like this before and I’m not handling it well at all. I mean…” He smiled faintly and gave me the slightest shrug. “I’m usually the person being chased. I’ve never been on the other side before.” He sighed, putting an arm around the back of the booth. “I gotta say, it kinda stinks.”

“Does it?”

“Yeah.” He nodded as the waiter put two large glasses of ice water down in front of us.

He ordered, and then me, and when I looked back at him, he was scowling.

“What?”

“You have nothing to say?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Yes, you do. I want you to say I can see you.”

But that couldn’t happen, at least not how he wanted. We could be friends, nothing more.

“I’m so sorry I embarrassed you,” he said.

“It’s okay. I deserved it.”