They were sitting out on the patio of a restaurant neither had ever been to, looking at menus.
“Beckett.”
“Sam?” she answered, trying to mimic his teacher voice but failing miserably, so she giggled.
“What are you having?” He smirked at her from over his menu.
“Something good.” She didn’t really answer his question since she hadn’t decided yet.
“Are you nervous?” He closed his menu and put all his attention on her.
“Yes. What if I order wrong, and it’s not very good?” She tried to break the tension between them and was rewarded with a laugh from him.
“I don’t know if you have to worry too much,” he said just as the waiter came back to the table and took their orders.
Watching the waiter leave, Natalie said, “Maybe I was nervous for no reason.”
“Thank you, Natalie Beckett.” He took her hand.
What was he talking about? “What for?”
“For letting me be a part of this.”
“Right now, I can’t imagine anyone else I would rather have with me. You seem to bring out some kind of bravery in me.”
“You’ve always had that bravery in you. You’re just learning how to let it out,” he said.
“So you say.” She couldn’t tear her eyes from his. This was how she wanted to spend the rest of the day—just looking in his eyes and feeling special.
“So, this morning, my mom gave me this. She said you needed a ring if we were pretending to be married.” Looking down, she saw he had a gold band he was slipping on to her finger.
It was a plain gold band, and it fit her perfectly. “Sam, I can’t take your mom’s wedding ring.”
“It’s not hers. It was her mother’s.” Holding her hand so she couldn’t take it off, she just stared at it shining in the afternoon sun.
“Even worse, it’s your grandma’s ring!” She hated pretending being in a relationship, and she hated to bring a cherished family heirloom into her lies.
“No, she’ll be happy you’re wearing it. My grandfather was not in the picture long, so it’ll be nice to give the ring another chance to be seen.” He slid his thumb over the jewelry. A perfect fit.
“I don’t know if I should feel honored that you’re letting me use it or sad that this is all fake.” She looked at the ring and his finger caressing it.
“Honored, Natalie. Just feel honored. Maybe one day you’ll meet her. She would be so excited for our adventure.” He picked up her hand and kissed the ring.
Feeling his lips on her finger, she wished she was really married to this man. Or even dating him. That would be enough for now.
“Thank you, Sam. It’s beautiful,” she whispered as the waiter came with their meals.
Sam let go of her hand so the man could put their plates down in front of them. In silence, they ate their meals, both concentrating on the food in front of them for a while. Natalie couldn’t help but glance at the ring on her finger; it felt familiar, like she had been wearing it all her life. She should have thought about rings before she left him. Her dad’s would have matched this one perfectly, and Sam could have worn that. Patrick hadn’t worn it for years now, and if he did happen to remarry, he wouldn’t wear it then either.
Her own engagement ring had been left at the church because it was with the best man for the ceremony. Which was for the best since she still didn’t want to talk to Jason. At this point, she didn’t know if she ever would.
“Do you like being a librarian?” he asked as he finished his burger.
“It’s okay. I like when the school kids come in, and I like the quiet. Sometimes nobody comes in for hours, and I can just sit and read.”
“Did you always want to be a librarian?” He pushed his plate away from him.
“No, I wanted to coach but not teach. I hadn’t figured the whole thing out yet when the accident happened. That changed it all. Once I was a little better, I got my GED, and then I couldn’t go to a lot of classes at that time. I could do the library science degree online, so I did that. I know Dad wanted me to get a degree. It worked better to get that degree, and I was able to get a job in Landstad right away.”