He groaned. “Oh will you please forgive me for that?” Alicia had been so aggressive. He hadn’t so much dated her as submitted to her.
“I’m not sure I can.” A smile played on her lips. She was flirting with him.
He caressed her hand again. Her skin was so soft, so smooth. “Would it help you forgive me if you knew that I still have some of those Romeo and Juliet letters?”
An eyebrow went up. “Really?”
He nodded. “Really. I’ll try to find them so we can have a good laugh.”
She groaned. “I’m not sure I can bear it. They’re probably pretty embarrassing.”
He laughed. “I don’t think so. If I’m remembering them right, they are pretty funny. I think we were pretty clever back then.”
She gazed into his eyes, saying a thousand words without speaking.
“I’ve missed you so much, Sammy.”
“Speaking of Shakespeare ...” She leaned back a few inches, putting up a wall between them.
This was okay, though. He’d been expecting this. He had planned on having to tear down a few walls. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You haven’t finished the poem yet.” She looked around. “I was expecting it to be written on the tablecloth or something.”
He ran his hand over the tablecloth. Felt like linen. He didn’t want to have to pay for one of those. Should he make her wait? Nah. He reached into his coat pocket. “Well, I was going to wait till after the meal, and then I was going to kiss you, and it was going to be so amazing you were going to fall right into my arms, but since you’re impatient—”
“No, no, no,” she said with a startling urgency. “Stick to your plan, please.” Then, as he slowly slid the small bag back into his pocket, she added, “You’ve proven you’re pretty good at this.”
Her words made him feel like a million bucks. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d complimented him. “I owe you an apology, Sammy.”
Hurt flickered through her eyes.
“I don’t want to rain on our parade here, but I want to make sure you know how sorry I am about before. I have grown up a lot. I mean, I’m sure I’ve still got some growing to do, but I didn’t understand how hard it is to deal with what you’re dealing with. I should have been more patient, more understanding. I should have worked harder to help you, instead of just looking at how it affected me.” He squeezed her hand.
“It’s okay. I know that itdidaffect you. I’m sure it was very hard.”
“It was. But that’s still no excuse for taking off. And I’m sorry.”
Her smile fell off her face, and her eyes grew serious. “I’m not.”
“What?”
“I mean ...” She shook her head. “I’m sorry that I drank so much and that I didn’t put you first, but I’m not sorry that you left me.” She took a big breath. “I don’t know that I would have gone back to Jesus if you hadn’t left me. I don’t know that I’d be sober right now.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” She exhaled dramatically. “Wow, this is a lot, isn’t it?”
“It is, but it isn’t. I was so nervous, so unsure if I was doing the right thing, but now that I’m here with you, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.” He wanted to kiss her so bad he couldn’t stand it.
But the server approached and asked if they wanted any starters, and he ordered the shrimp.
“Shrimp?” Sammy cocked an eyebrow. “Since when?”
“It’s the only thing I could pronounce.”