“I added my name to the list earlier, it should be under Garrett McCoy,” I tell the young girl.
“Perfect, I’ll mark you are here. It shouldn’t be more than five or so minutes, as you’re at the top of the list. This pager will buzz when we’re ready to seat you,” she instructs.
Lacey takes the pager from her. “Thank you,” she tells the teenager.
“Of course,” she replies, and we step aside to make room for other people to walk in and out.
“You’re sure this is going to be okay?” I ask once we’re standing against the wall.
“Perfect. I don’t need anything fancy. I’m a simple girl, I promise,” she says, and I have to take her at her word. “Looks like it’s our turn,” she says, and holds up the pager buzzing in her hand.
We walk back over to the hostess stand and Lacey hands the pager back. “Right this way,” another young girl tells us. She shows us to our table and leaves us with two menus. We each slide onto one of the benches of the booth, facing one another.
“Did you want to split an appetizer?” I ask. “I’m good either way,” I tell her.
“If you want, I can probably be talked into something. It isn’t often I get to go out without two little kids who only ever want mozzarella sticks. Not that there’s anything wrong with some fried cheese, but sometimes Momma wants a little variety in her life.”
“We can definitely avoid the fried cheese, if that’s your preference.” I chuckle and look at the other options.
“Good evening, I’m Sam, and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start the two of you off with something to drink?”
“I’m good with a glass of ice water, for now,” Lacey tells her.
“I’ll have a glass of sweet tea,” I say.
“Got it. Any appetizers or did you need another minute or two to look over things?”
“If you can give us a minute, that’d be great,” I tell her before she walks away. “What sounds good on the appetizers list?” I ask, looking back over it again.
“What about the sampler? Then we get a little bit of everything?” she suggests.
“Sounds good to me,” I tell her as I start looking over the rest of the menu while she does the same.
Sam returns with our drinks. “Have you decided on anything?”
“We’d like to start with the sampler platter,” I tell her, and she jots down our order. We go ahead and give her the rest of our order before she turns to leave the table.
“Are your kids into any sports?”
“They both tried soccer last fall and enjoyed it. Ben wants to try little league, so I’ll probably sign him up for that whenever that season happens.”
“It’s usually a spring and summer sport,” I tell her. “I played from about five years old until college.”
“Wow, you must have been good.”
“Yeah, I enjoyed it, but knew that I wasn’t going to take it anywhere after college. But it helped pay for some of my college expenses and I made a lot of friends, thanks to the sport.”
“That’s really cool. I didn’t play any sports growing up. I don’t have an athletic bone in my body, so this is all so foreign to me.”
“Did you enjoy watching your kids play soccer?”
“Of course, they were so cute out there chasing after the ball. Most of them didn’t know what they were doing, so they fit right in with all the other kids.”
“I can only imagine.” I chuckle.
“I’ve got an appetizer platter here for you. Can I get you guys anything else, right now?” a server says as he sets the plate down.
“I’m good, do you need anything?” I ask Lacey.