“Your food is here. I am going to sit it in front of you and the table will glow, letting you see where your food and drinks are.”
The server set everything in front of them and made sure they were able to locate it before he left them to some privacy again. Evan wanted to beg him to stay.
“So,” he started. “How was your day?”
“Well, I spent most of it getting ready for this date.” She sounded disgusted.
He wanted to ask her why she had agreed to even go on a date if all she was going to do was complain, but held it in. “I’m sure you look great.”
“For all you know I could be the ugliest person you ever met. Or you could be. This is nonsense.” She continued her complaining and Evan tried to decide how to tactfully tell her to lower her voice. “I can’t believe anyone would agree to come here.”
“It’s not for everyone,” he admitted. “If you’re uncomfortable, I wouldn’t be offended if you wanted to leave. I understand.”
“Oh, thank God. Let’s get out of here.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to mislead you. If you would like to leave, that’s okay. I am going to finish my salad before I do.” He probably wouldn’t eat any of it, but he wanted to let her down gently.
“Fine. We can play this game, and I’ll eat a salad here before we leave,” she huffed. He imagined she rolled her eyes at the same time.
He didn’t know for sure, had no way of knowing, but she seemed the type to cause a scene if he flat out told her he wasn’t interested. Instead, he took a bite of his salad and tried to make the best of the situation.
“It’s pretty good,” he told her.
“Sure.” She definitely rolled her eyes that time. “Whenever you’re ready, we can leave this place, maybe go to yours.”
Thankfully, he had already swallowed his food or he would have spit it at her in surprise. “Actually, I don’t think this is going to work.”
“Absolutely not!” She rose her voice and the entire restaurant went quiet. “I have spent the day getting ready for you, and I am not about to go home alone.”
“Excuse me, ma’am.” The server appeared. “I’m going to have to ask you to lower your voice.”
“This place is ridiculous. What am I supposed to do, whisper?” She was shouting now, and Evan imagined that had she been standing, she would have been stomping her feet.
“Ma’am, if you do not lower your voice, you will be asked to leave,” the server told her.
Evan would have to remember to ask Kayla who his server was and thank him personally later for handling this.
“Oh, so you all just want me to leave? Must be nice to have tons of money and be able to make your date walk out without even treating her to a decent night out!” She grabbed for something, he assumed her purse, and as she did, her drink fell over. “Whatever, maybe rich boy here can help you clean it up.”
This was worse than any scenario he could have made up. Absolutely terrible. She continued to yell about how horrible it was here even as her voice faded.
He waited for the server to return to the table before attempting to stand.
“I’m very sorry about that, sir,” he said, leading Evan out.
“You handled it better than I could have. Thank you for that.”
“Indeed, sir. Ms. Kayla would like to talk to you, if you have time.” He led Evan back into the waiting area, waiting with him as his eyes adjusted to the light.
“I’ll head up there in just a moment.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet, handing the server a hundred dollar bill. “I appreciate your assistance back there.”
“I can’t take that. We don’t work for tips here.”
Evan blinked at the man. “You know who I am, right?” He didn’t often say that to anyone.
The server nodded.
“Consider it a bonus then, for a job well done,” Evan pressed.