I rushed around finishing up the rest of my shift and all the while Jameson stayed put.
From my vantage point at the back of the restaurant, I could see that his dinner partner — the well-groomed Ken doll he'd called Parker — was starting to lose patience. They'd been sitting in the restaurant for nearly four hours now and Jameson showed no signs of moving.
I should have done the moving for him. It was part of my job and all, and hell we needed the table.
But maybe I liked having him here. Maybe I liked that his eyes followed me around the room like I was a prize he needed to keep his eye on. Maybe I liked that he thought I was his lucky charm. And yeah, maybe I also liked that he was clearly waiting for my answer and maybe I liked keeping him waiting even more.
"What are you grinning about?" Gina asked slyly as she passed me on her way back to table four.
I clapped my lips together. "I'm not grinning."
"Now you're blushing!" she crowed. "Does it have anything to do with table four?" She lowered her voice, keeping a watchful eye out for Finn. "Look, whatever he asked you to do, do it. Because if you don't, I will."
I clenched my fist. "He asked me to be his lucky charm," I said incredulously. "I mean, what the hell does that mean?"
Gina's eyes went wide. "I have no idea, but girl you had better find out, because it sounds like something you sure as hell want to be."
"How the hell do I find out?"
She looked like she was going to self-combust out of sheer frustration. "Um, I don't know, maybe ask him?" she exploded. "If you don't I will."
"I'll have you fired, Gina," I threatened weakly.
"No you won't," she crowed, taking a step forward. "I'm going over there!”
"Stop it! Okay, okay I'll ask him."
As soon as I said the words, my whole body broke out into goosebumps. I took a step forward as Gina dashed off to bring out the plates to table four, but when she returned and saw that I had made no further progress, she pointed a threatening finger at me. "You have ten seconds."
"You're fired," I grumbled, making her laugh. Defeated, I heaved myself over to Jameson's table, feeling like my legs were made of lead.
I stood at the edge of their table and waited for the words to come but they didn't.
Jameson raised an expectant eyebrow at Parker, who seemed to stiffen and recoil. "Yes, I just have to take this phone call," he said, looking down at his phone that was obviously not ringing. "It might be a few minutes."
"Take your time," Jameson said calmly, and I tried not to go slack jawed at how quickly the other man leaped to do what he wanted. Jameson had power quite unlike the loud, swaggering machismo of the farm guys I'd grown up with. He didn't boast about it.
He clearly didn't need to.
"Hi again," he said, once Parker had disappeared. "You decided you wanted to play?"
I swallowed and forced myself not to ask why me of all people? Instead I said. "What exactly are you asking me to do as your lucky charm?"
He grinned. "Your presence is all I require. Lucky charms don't work if you don't have them with you."
"You mean a date?" I asked, and then wanted to smack myself in the face.
He chuckled a little. "It can be a date if you'd like."
"No thank you," I interrupted quickly. "I don't date."
"That's too bad," he said and stretched his arms out in front of him. His crisp button down shirt pasted itself against his skin showed every rippling muscle underneath. I tore my eyes away before they bugged out of my head. "So then it's not a date," he continued. "It's just two people going out to the casino...”
"To the casino?" I asked eagerly, before catching myself.
"You sound excited. "What, is my lucky charm a little bit of a gambler?" he teased.
"No," I said. "But I haven't been up there to see it yet. I hear it is really beautiful."
"That's good, because I'm looking to have a partial stake in it."
I closed my mouth before it could fall open in awe. Just how fucking rich was this guy? And why the hell was he interested in townie trash like me?
He fixed me with his gaze, his mocking blue eyes suddenly serious. "I will be in town for the next thirteen hours, Charlie."
"That's it?" I asked.
"I'm leaving tomorrow," he said with a flick of his hand. "So after tonight, you're under no obligation to ever even see me again."
"Boy, you sure know how to make a girl feel special," I joked, feeling wild and off-balance.
"You are special," he said with a grin. Were his eyes twinkling? Holy shit, I'd never met anyone whose eyes actually twinkled before. "You're my lucky charm. And I need my lucky charm to be sitting next to me tonight." He leaned forward. "I hear these guys are hardcore gamblers and I don't want to lose my shirt.”
The thought of him shirtless made my mouth go dry for a moment. I swallowed thickly.
There was no possible good thing that could come out of this. This wasn't me. Not anymore, anyway. Not since I became a mother. I hadn't been out in the evening for any reason — much less a date — for the past twenty-two months. Hell, probably it'd been even longer than that since I got sick of the dirty looks I got sitting at the bar and sipping my soda with my big belly on display.
Just a night with no consequences. With a gorgeous guy who seemed hell bent on showing me a good time.
Hell, maybe I should hit rich guys with my car more often.
"Well," I hedged. "I guess I could call the sitter."
"There you go," he said encouragingly.
"I mean," I realized. "It's kind of weird I even have a sitter tonight. Usually my son is with my mom and I have to hurry home to take over..."
His grin spread wider. "But..."
"But tonight he's with a sitter and I didn't tell her a time I'd be back..."
"See?" he said. "You're your own lucky charm too."
I felt myself smiling back at him. Normally with guys this handsome, there was a coldness to their smiles, but Jameson's grin was pure joyful mischief.
"Oh God, though, I'll have to pay Maisie an arm and a leg..."
"I'll pay her," he jumped in. "Whatever she costs."
I blinked. "Seriously?"
"Worth it," he said. "To have my lucky charm by my side."
My head was spinning. I looked at him, suddenly wary. "You know I have a kid, right?" I reminded him.
He cocked his head to the side. "I kind of noticed when you hit me with your car. And even if I'd somehow missed that, I didn't think you'd hired a sitter just for the hell of it."
I felt my cheeks heat up. "You're not weirded out by that?"
A flicker of confusion rippled over his face. "That you have a kid? That depends. Is he a lucky charm too?"
I lifted my chin. "He's my lucky charm."
Jameson nodded. "I'd like to meet the little booger. You know, sometime when he's not bleeding on the side of the road"
"Too bad you're leaving tomorrow," I deadpanned.
"Yeah." He went oddly quiet for a moment. Then his smile brightened again. "So that means we make tonight count."
For nearly three years I'd kept my head down, so I hadn't felt it. That familiar feeling flooding my nervous system and flashing through my veins like silvery little minnows.
Possibility.
Optimism was my downfall. Hoping for the best was my Achilles heel. It's what led me to cross my fingers instead of doing something when the condom broke. It's what made me blithely announce that I was keeping the baby, even when I had no resources to care for one. Because I was always on the lookout for the possibility, that one moment that would change my life for the better, forever.
I hadn't felt it in years. I'd forgotten how addicting it was.
"Yeah," I said slowly. "Let's make it count." He grinned and grabbed my hand and the shock that went through my body settled into my core where it swirled and mingling with the fizzing joy of possibility that popped like champagne bubbles under my skin. "Can you meet me outside in about twenty minutes?"