This is it, I think as I suck in another deep breath. Why am I so nervous? I don’t even know if we’re going anywhere tonight. It could be that the whole thing fell through and I’m just going to be sitting here alone in the apartment for the rest of the evening.
“All set to go?” he asks as he comes into the room. He looks even more handsome than normal, with blue jeans, a black T-shirt, a black leather jacket on, and his hair even styled a bit in that messy look that totally suits him. I immediately want to throw myself into his arms. He looks me up and down, sees the dark jeans and white blouse I’m wearing, and nods. “You look great.”
I know he’s just being nice. I don’t really have any great date outfits, so I’m wearing the best I’ve got. But I smile anyway. “Thank you.”
“But you know what?” he says, a sly look on his face. “I feel like you would lookamazingin this…”
He steps back out of sight, and when he comes back, he’s holding a pair of black heels and a beautiful, sleek, not-too-formal, black dress.
I audibly gasp. “Lyle! Where did you…”
“I picked it out on my lunch break.” He smiles, coming over to me. “Do you like it?”
“Like it?” I ask, examining it. “I…can you read minds? It’ssome!”
Lyle laughs and hands it to me. “Come on, go change. Let’s get going or we’ll be late.”
I want to ask him how we could possibly be late in such a tiny town as Tangerine Forks, or where we’re going, or what he ended up doing with Delilah, but I know better than to ruin this moment.
So I go into the bathroom and quickly change out of my boring date outfit and into his incredibly perfect black dress that I just love myself in, and come quickly back.
“Yeah, you look incredible. Just incredible.” He smiles when he sees me. I don’t think I’ve ever had a man look at me the way he’s looking at me now.
He comes over, takes me by the hand, and leads me downstairs to the car like he’s escorting royalty. The whole time I pretend like I know how to walk in heels without falling, and I manage to do a pretty good job of it too. He opens the car door for me, helps me in, and then we’re off – driving, but in the other direction of town.
“Where are we going, Lyle?”
“A few towns over,” he replies. “It’s not far. I’ll explain when we get to the restaurant. Don’t worry, you’ll like it. It’s really nice.”
“Nottoonice, I hope,” I laugh. “I’m notthatfancy of a girl.”
Lyle chuckles. “Hey, I’m a mechanic. I’m not that fancy either. I do a good job pretending, though.”
It’s hard to look at him right now and not think about those thick, callused, mechanic hands peeling this dress off me. Hard not to think about that missed kiss we almost shared last night. Hard not to think about how badly I want him right now. With just how busy it was at work, I’ve only had a handful of French fries to eat all day, so I should be hungry. But my desire for Lyle is completely canceling that out right now. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get anything at dinner into my mouth.
Lyle wasn’t lying when he said the drive to the restaurant wasn’t far, which is good, because I’m so nervous I can barely make small talk on the way there. He parks, and I quickly open my door and let myself out, not waiting for him to come around and help me. I want to get inside and get seated as soon as possible so we can alleviate all this awkwardness.
I think Lyle must notice, because he’s smirking as I walk up to the door with him. He’s made a reservation, and we’re seated immediately in a nice little table out of the way in a corner all by ourselves. I take a deep breath and pick up my menu, but before I can even start reading, Lyle pushes my hand down against the table.
“I broke up with Delilah.”
His words hit me with the biggest punch of sweltering relief I’ve ever felt in my life. The one thought I didn’t even dare think to myself, and Lyle has vocalized it.
“Y-you did?” I’m so hot inside I can barely even speak. He’s never looked sexier than the way he’s looking at me now. No wonder Delilah was in such a foul mood today and screaming at everyone. “Aren’t you worried about Clint? About what he’ll do to you?”
He nods. “He won’t be happy, and I guess before you came to Tangerine Forks, I didn’t see any hope of escape. But now,” he squeezes my hand. “Now I see that I want more, and I’m not going to let that son of a bitch threaten me any longer.”
I feel my eyes starting to well up with tears, but I do everything I can to push them back. This is the last moment in the world I need to be crying. Nothing has even happened between us yet. But hearing a man talk about me like that, a man like Lyle…I just can’t help it.
So I pretend I have to scratch my nose. “Excuse me,” I say awkwardly with a smile. “That’s really sweet, Lyle. I should have known something was up when I saw Delilah at work today.”
“Was she upset?”
“To say the least,” I laugh, leaning over the table to be closer to him. “I barely got out of there with my life!”
Lyle laughs as the waitress comes over to take our drink orders. We order dinner too, and Lyle asks her if she could ask the kitchen to put a rush on our order because we have to hurry back to the house as we only have a sitter for our kids for the next hour.
“Sitter for our kids?” I hiss, laughing once she’s gone. “What was that?”