Heartbreaker(27)

Nine.


The restaurant is on a pretty stretch of coastline, set above the cliffs with an amazing view of the ocean. It’s fancy, I realize, the minute a waiter rushes to open the door for us. White linen tablecloths, with heavy silverware on every table beside fresh-cut roses, and chandeliers glittering overhead announce its glamor. This is a far cry from the crab shacks we used to haunt, eating fresh catch from a paper cone with butter dripping down our fingers and napkins stuffed down the neck of our shirts.

Now, Finn murmurs his name to the hostess, and we’re whisked across the room to the best table in the house, set in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out across the bay.

“I should have dressed up,” I whisper, as I slide into my seat.

“What are you talking about?” Finn looks puzzled. “You look beautiful. You always do.”

I blush, but it still doesn’t help the nerves in my stomach to be surrounded by polished women in expensive jewelry. The hostess even brings a stool for my purse, and carefully sets the Target bag down on it beside me like it’s made of designer leather.

“The ma?tre d will be right over.” She smiles, then discreetly slips away.

I unfold the heavy cloth napkin in my lap, and try to think of something to say.

Finn catches my eye across the table, and leans in with a wicked smile. “What do you think?” he whispers, nodding his head to the table beside us. “Girlfriend or daughter?”

I ease my head around and take a look. A balding man is tearing into a steak while the bored-looking girl at the table scrolls through her phone, ignoring her plate of food.

“She has to be his daughter,” I whisper back. “She can’t be a day over eighteen!”

“Want to bet?” Finn grins at me. “Ten bucks says you’re wrong.”

“Ewww!” I laugh. The man looks over at the noise, and I quickly try to cover it with a fake coughing fit.

Finn hands me a glass of water. “You okay there, baby?” he says at normal volume.

“Mmmhmm.” I gulp it down, trying to stop my laughter. The couple turns back to their meal, and the guy reaches over and takes the girl’s hand. He says something, and she gives a fake little laugh, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

And then the mouth.

‘Ten bucks’, Finn mouths to me again, and I kick him under the table. Just like that, the tension is broken. We may be miles from where we started, but some things haven’t changed. The thought is comforting, and makes my heart lift. This doesn’t have to be labored or painful. Maybe I can just choose to have fun tonight, and forget that the embarrassing scene in the car ever happened.

I open my menu. “Since you’re the big rock star, does this mean we’re getting lobster tonight?”

Finn chuckles. “It means we’re getting anything you want.”

“Good.” I smile at him. “Lobster it is. And champagne.”

“’As you wish.’” He quotes from one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride, and I laugh. “But I seem to remember you being a lightweight when it comes to your booze.”

“Hey!” I protest. “Since when?”

“Since you had two beers and passed out in my backseat on the way back from that gig in Wilmington,” Finn teases.

“First of all, I didn’t pass out, I fell asleep,” I say, pointing a breadstick at him.

“Same difference.”

“Uh huh. And second, did you ever think that maybe that was my way of getting you back there, too?” I arch an eyebrow, and Finn slowly whistles.

“There I was, thinking you were so sweet and innocent, when all along, you were the one who led me astray.”

“I tried,” I grin. “But let’s face it, you didn’t need much leading.”

“No,” he says slowly, a smile spreading across his face and lighting up the entire room. “Not when it came to you.”

There’s a pause, electricity ricocheting between us until the waiter arrives to talk us through the specials.

I sip my water fast, trying to cool down.

Easy girl. His backseat is only a few paces away, and part of me wants to skip this whole meal and drag him back there right now.

“Do you know what you want?” I snap my head up. Finn smiles. “Your order,” he explains.

“Oh. Right. Yes.”

I quickly tell the waiter, and hand my menu back. But food is the last thing on my mind. With the romantic setting and the lights glittering off the ocean, it’s hard not to get swept up and feel like we’re on a real date. It’s been forever since a guy took me out like this. Not the fancy restaurant, but any kind of dinner, just the two of us.

“So, Eva Carmichael, back in Oak Harbor.” Finn takes a sip of champagne, his eyes meeting mine over the candlelight. “That’s a story I’d like to hear.”

I shrug, careful now. “No story. It turned out the big wide world was a little too big for me. I tried drama school in New York, but it didn’t work out. And then Lottie, with Kit…” I trail off, wondering what he thinks of me. He went out and achieved his dreams, traveled all over the place. I must seem so small-town to him, still walking the same streets I did as a kid.

“No plans to get back out there?” he asks, studying me. “You always wanted to try living in different cities. You had that list.”