“If you change your mind, just holler. I’ll be right back with more decaf.”
The coleslaw was as good as promised, the fries were freshly cut, and he could tell Gavin had breaded fresh fish himself rather than relying on frozen. As much as he’d regret not having feasts like this at the diner, he really hoped the kid made good on his culinary dreams.
Neither of them had seconds, but he asked Nola if she’d like dessert or more decaf.
“I don’t think so. Not tonight.”
She sounded a little odd, and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to have to worry about her good-night kiss body language. “Okay.”
“I...I like you, Max. You’re funny and sweet and I like spending time with you. But...”
But. Max knew what that meant. He waited for some sign of distress or disappointment or something in himself, but all he felt was relief. He liked Nola, but he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with her. It was all too...polite. He’d finally figured out Tori’s reaction to the word nice.
“I don’t think there’s any spark between us,” she continued. “Not a romantic spark. I genuinely would like us to be friends, though.”
“I’d like that, too.” When she started to pull her wallet out of her purse, he waved it away. “I’m still paying.”
She kissed his cheek on her way out, and Max sighed. She really was a nice person.
He still had half a cup of decaf, so he decided to stay and finish it. Ava had already cleared the other dishes, so he was surprised when she slid into the booth across from him.
“That was painful to watch,” she said.
“It was mutual. More or less.”
“I don’t mean the leaving. I mean the date. You two have less chemistry than two two-by-fours.”
He laughed. “I should probably be insulted by that.”
“Not talking about your personalities. There’s no chemistry between the two of you. Don’t even try to pretend you spent the entire dinner trying to figure out how to get her naked.”
His fingers tightened around his coffee cup and he stared at the liquid lazily swirling inside. There was no possible way for him to respond to that statement.
“I’ve known Nola her entire life and she is the sweetest thing. Love her to death. But she needs a rowdy, loud man to shake her up and turn her neat, orderly life upside down. And you need the same in a woman.”
“Does the advice come with the fish fry, or do you charge extra for that?”
“Oh, you do have teeth, Max Crawford. I was beginning to wonder.” She leaned forward and grinned. “You can show your appreciation in your tip. And speaking of tips, here’s one for you—stop *footing around and smash your way through that wall Tori built up around herself.”
“I...” If he squeezed the coffee cup any tighter, it was going to shatter in his hands. “I...don’t know what to say to that.”
“I know she’s younger than you and probably the last woman on earth you’d think is your type, but trust me. That girl is exactly your type.”
“I think I’ll have a slice of Boston cream pie.”
She laughed, the kind of big and booming laugh that made everybody in the diner look. “Don’t want to talk about her, huh? That says a lot.”
He took his time eating the pie and had two more cups of decaf. He shouldn’t, but he wasn’t in any particular rush to get home. Now that he was back to square one, he wasn’t in the mood for the quiet. Sometimes silence was comforting, but sometimes it was isolating.
After all the food and coffee he’d consumed, he decided he’d take a walk around the square before heading home. He could work off some calories and soothe his soul at the same time.
When Ava brought him his change, she couldn’t resist one last shot. “You need shaking up, kiddo. And so does Tori. If you’re a smart man, you’ll be the one doing the shaking.”
He only gave her a polite smile, because he had no intentions of discussing how he felt about Tori with a woman who had a voice like a megaphone and no tact, but he tipped her thirty percent.
*
Tori ignored the kitchen timer telling her it was time to get up and move around until she couldn’t take the sound anymore. Then she twisted it to the off position and tossed it back on the desk.
Then she went back to the sci-fi cover she was working on. Screw a break. She needed to work. It was the only thing that could distract her from the fact Max was out on a second date with Nola Kendrick.
Even without looking at the clock, she knew it was getting late. They’d be done with dinner by now and maybe they’d gone for a romantic walk around the square. Maybe the date had gone so well she had invited him back to her house for a drink, or vice versa.
Maybe, right that minute, Max was making love to Nola.