Finn offers me his arm with a smile. “Shall we?” he asks, as he hands over the keys for his car to a valet.
I nod, taking his arm, feeling a thrill in my chest as he pulls me in closer to him. I’m so glad I’m here with him of all people. He somehow makes me feel at ease. Maybe it’s the fact that he leapt to my defense yesterday. After all, there aren’t many people in the world I could say have ever demonstrated they would stand up for me like that.
A waiter in a black suit leads us across the restaurant floor, all the way to the back of the room, where he pulls aside a curtain to a private booth. My jaw almost hits the floor. I don’t want to ask if there is a cover charge for this table – there must be, surely. And I don’t want to know how much it costs.
The waiter pulls out our chairs for us, and we seat ourselves before he even steps forward to lay napkins across our knees and finally lay a beautifully embossed menu in front of each of us. I don’t say a word the whole time, and neither does Finn – aside from thanking the waiter. It’s only when he’s gone that we look up and smile at each other, and even though I still feel a little shy, I know I’m right where I want to be.
“I thought it might be nicer to have a little privacy,” Finn says, I guess by way of explanation, gesturing at the booth. “We don’t want anyone gawking at us on our first date, right?”
“Right,” I say, though a flare of doubt immediately erupts inside me. What does he mean by that? Does he mean that he couldn’t possibly want to be seen with me? That he’s embarrassed to be seen on a date with someone who looks like me?
“You look like a million bucks, by the way,” he says, smiling warmly as he reaches out to touch my hand across the table. “I didn’t say it before. Mostly because I was trying to put my eyes back into my head after they hit the floor at the sight of you.”
I chuckle at the image, my cheeks heating up. How did he know exactly the right thing to say? How did he manage to say in such a way that I actually… believe it?
When people give me compliments, usually I don’t believe them at all. I think they’re just trying to be nice or to flatter me in order to get something out of me. I don’t take them at face value. But when Finn says it, I find something blossoming inside of me, a self-confidence I don’t often feel. He’s right. I do look great in this dress.
And isn’t that something?
I pick up my menu, murmuring a thank you because I don’t trust my voice to say anything more, and then it’s my turn for my eyes to almost fall out of my head. This time, at the sight of the prices on the menu.
Every single dish… I trail my eyes down the price column, trying to spot something that won’t make me feel like I’m committing robbery on Finn’s wallet. Every single thing is so expensive, I would normally balk and run a mile. What can I say? He must have paid for us to be here in the first place, and I don’t know if I can do this in good conscience.
“Candy,” he says, the sound of my name on his lips making me look up and feel heat running through my belly. “It’s my treat.”
“I know,” I start, but he interrupts me.
“I can see you looking at the prices and feeling nervous,” he says. “Don’t worry. I can afford it. I want you to have a good time, not to think about money. When I was a student, I would have been the same, but it’s fine.”
“How long ago was that, exactly?” I ask, not quite sure I believe how cheeky I’m being by asking. “When you were a student.”
Finn gives me a wry smile. “Alright, here we go… I’m forty years old.”
“Forty?” I boggle my eyes at him. He’s twenty years my senior – literally double my age. I knew he was older, but I never really thought about an actual number.
“Is that too much?” Finn asks. There are gentle laughter lines around his mouth, almost imperceptible, but I can also see the worry in his eyes. He must have been thinking about this coming up, wondering whether I would accept him.
“No,” I say, surprising even myself. “No, it’s not.”
And I find that it really isn’t. Not when he’s staring into my eyes like that, making me feel like no one else in the world exists. Right now, nothing matters at all.