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I leaned against the wall with the silent vibrating square in my hand, waiting for it to light up and announce a table was available. I glanced at the gorgeous brunette sitting on the bench, her calico eyes scanning the crowd like she expected an assassin to jump out. I leaned close to her ear.
“I promise, you’re safe tonight.”
Valerie met my gaze and offered a tight smile.
“I promise.”
The second time seemed to ease her mind a little and the stress in her shoulders relaxed.
“How’d you convince him to let us go out alone?”
Her lips stretched into a smile. “I told him it was his turn to man up. You stood watch last night and deserved some down time. When he argued about you having enough downtime, I said I wanted dinner and you had offered.”
“So you basically told him he had no choice.”
“That sounds about right.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t happy,” I said and focused on the crowd again. The unit in my hand buzzed and I showed her. “Our table,” I added and waited for her to stand and gather her coat and purse before approaching the hostess.
When we were seated, Valerie sighed. “I don’t want to be your rebound.”
The softness in her voice tore at my chest. I damned well didn’t want that and instead of agreeing, I focused on the wood grains in the table, questioning my intentions. This was all conveniently placed in my lap at a time when I needed something to lift me up out of the hurt and anger.
Was I using her to get back on my feet?
After all, that’s the definition of rebound. I met her gaze and blew out my breath.
“Then maybe we should just start as friends,” I said.
She stared at me, her lips pouting as she turned over my response. “What if we are incapable of just being friends?”
“By we, you mean me?” I pointed at my chest and raised my eyebrows.
She shrugged a single shoulder and her gaze shifted as the waitress set two glasses of water on the table and I rattled off an order for two steaks, medium rare, Caesar salads and a blooming onion and boneless buffalo wings as appetizers.
“Do you want anything to drink?” I asked after I finished ordering for us.
“This is fine for now.” She picked up her water and took a sip, waiting until the waitress was out of range. “I’m capable of ordering for myself,” she said.
“I know, but I figured it would save time. Unless you were going to change your mind again?”
She smirked and shook her head. “The fact that’s what I was going to order is neither here, nor there.”
“Okay. From now on, I’ll let you order for yourself.”
“Thank you,” she dipped her head in acknowledgement.
“Now, back to the original conversation. You think I can’t keep my hands off you?” I leaned back in the seat and crossed my arms. The smirk was back and then she slowly shook her head. Well, okay, maybe she was right, but I’d play this game out. I leaned my elbows on the table.
“Game on, baby,” I said and smiled.
The smirk morphed into a grin and that gleam returned to her eyes. I could tell this was going to be a hell of a difficult game to win, but I vowed any time I got the urge to jump her, I’d double-check the underlying reasons, and if Sandy entered my mind in any way, I’d back off.
“So, you were muttering about being behind in your schoolwork last night. What’s involved in becoming a doctor, beyond gross anatomy?”
I swear that statement opened Pandora’s box. She perked up and started enlightening me on her classes, her challenges, the gross things she’s experienced and while I could almost picture each instance she told me about, the memories didn’t do them justice the way she described things. Dinner came and went and when the check was placed on the table, I ignored it, enjoying really laughing again.
I didn’t realize how long it had been since I’d laughed with someone instead of laughing out of necessity or sarcasm. It was refreshing as hell.