She talked most of the way there, telling him about her day and about the preschool story hour. The summer reading program would be starting soon and she was still trying to finalize the details for that. He liked when she talked about her work and found himself relaxing.
Until they pulled into the parking lot. It was obviously more upscale than the Trailside Diner, and he liked the diner. But he went around the car and helped Hailey out, like a gentleman. She took his arm to walk to the front door, which he held for her.
The romantic atmosphere set him on edge, as did the number of glasses and forks on the table where they were seated. While none of the women were as beautiful as Hailey, most of the men around them were wearing suits, or at least ties, and he felt conspicuous.
She leaned across the table, her eyes sparkling in the dim light accented by a flickering candle. “Isn’t this place gorgeous?”
“Mmm.” When she frowned at his noncommittal answer, he mustered up a smile. He owed her a good time. “It is.”
Then he was handed a wine list that amounted to a bunch of words that meant nothing to him. He scanned it and his first instinct was to just pick one, but he wasn’t sure how to pronounce anything on the list.
“I’d really prefer coffee,” he told the waiter. Then he handed the list to Hailey. “You can pick one for yourself, if you want.”
“I’ll have coffee, too. And water.” When the waiter left, she grinned at him. “I guess you don’t speak French?”
He knew she was teasing, but he was feeling a little out of his element and it threw him off. “Just a few words I picked up during a trip to Montreal my junior year of college. Probably nothing you’d want me to say in here.”
“Probably not. What are you going to eat?” She was looking at the menu, so he did the same.
“I’m guessing shepherd’s pie isn’t an option.”
She laughed. “Even if it was, it wouldn’t be as good as mine.”
“Since I like simple, home-cooked meals, I’m betting nothing on this menu will be as good.”
He heard her sigh even over the classical music being piped in through well-hidden speakers. He was disappointing her already. “They have steak, Matt. I know you like steak.”
Of course it wasn’t as simple as ordering a steak. They didn’t have mashed potatoes and he didn’t catch half of what the guy said, so he ended up going with a baked potato. And the vegetables couldn’t be plain. There were a number of options, none of which he was familiar with. He just said that one when he got bored.
Once the annoying guy with the snotty attitude went away, he tried to focus on Hailey. She looked so pretty, especially in the romantic lighting, and he tried to relax. It was a restaurant. With food. Who cared if he wasn’t wearing a tie?
“The music’s a little loud,” she said. “I feel like I need to yell at you across the table.”
“Could use a little more country and a little less of this, too. Whatever this is.”
“I think this particular one is Rachmaninoff.” She smiled at him. “Definitely not something I could dance to in my kitchen.”
Or in her living room. He’d gladly watch her dance to almost anything, he thought. “Happily, I don’t see a dance floor.”
“We can go dancing another time.”
And so it began. Dinner. Dancing. Before he knew it, she’d be dragging him to fancy functions and making apologies for him in embarrassed whispers. “We’ll see.”
The waiter brought a salad for each of them, along with a decanter of some oily substance that didn’t remotely resemble ranch dressing. And how many different kinds of lettuce could they find for one plate?
“Thanks,” he said brusquely when the man appeared to be waiting for a response from him.
“Your entrees should be out shortly.”
Hailey was watching him as he dumped some of the oily stuff on his bowl of lettuces, and her mouth quirked up in a grin. “I thought he was waiting to see if you knew which fork to use.”
Because everybody knew he wasn’t good enough to eat in a place like this. “Maybe I’ll exceed everybody’s expectations and eat with my hands.”
She set her fork down. “You know, this whole laughing with you, not at you thing would work better if you actually laughed.”
“I laugh when something’s funny.”
The look she gave him should have incinerated him on the spot, and it only went downhill from there.
He didn’t want to be there and she knew it. And the harder he tried to shake it off and the more guilty he felt, the worse he got. By the time they were done with their entrees, she wasn’t really speaking to him, and she didn’t even consider dessert.
Maybe, subconsciously, he’d been a jerk and taken offense to torpedo the evening deliberately. Her walking away from him now would suck, but maybe it wouldn’t be as painful as ending things with Ciara. But when he looked across the table after paying the bill, he didn’t see disapproval or embarrassment in Hailey’s eyes. He saw hurt.
He’d never been so happy to finish a meal in his entire life, but an hour was a long time to drive with a cold shoulder riding shotgun.