The Stubborn Suitor, Book 2 (The Stubborn Suitor #2)(8)

“What?” Drew replied, surprised. “No! Why?”

“This is awkward, and we both seem miserable,” she stated.

Drew took a large sip of his own wine, practically finishing off the glass, before he replied.

“Look…I’m sorry. We got off to a bad start. But I like you a lot and I want this to work.”

“It doesn’t seem that way right now. Why did you even ask me out? We’re just sitting here in silence.”

“I asked you out because I like you…a lot. And then the stuff with Claudia made it all awkward and weird. I’m sorry…let’s start over. I like you. I like you a lot.”

There were a lot of confusing things about that statement, so Cami decided to take them one at a time.

“Why?” she asked.

“Why?” Drew repeated, obviously confused.

“Why do you like me?” Cami clarified. “Because sometimes, it seems like you like me, but other times, you seem pretty apathetic. You’re hot and cold. It’s confusing. So I want to know why you think you like me.”

“I don’t just think I like you. I know I do,” Drew assured her while finishing off his second glass of wine. He topped them off before continuing. “Listen, I don’t really date often. No…that’s not true. I never date. Not anymore. In fact, I haven’t dated anyone since my divorce.”

“You were married?” Cami asked. This was news to her.

“Yeah. It’s been about four years now, since the divorce.”

“Why didn’t you say anything, when I was talking about my ex?”

“I didn’t want to impose on your problems. And…I just don’t like talking about it.”

“Why? What happened?”

Drew winced and finished off his third glass of wine. The server was hovering in the corner, waiting to take their order, so Cami ushered him over in order to give Drew a moment to organize his thoughts. Drew also ordered another bottle of wine, which Cami was totally okay with. They were going to be there a while—they’d have plenty of time to sober up. Drew was so much more open when he was buzzed.

“So…” Cami prompted once the server was gone.

“I really did think we were in love,” Drew admitted, staring down at his napkin. “We began dating right after my company started making money. That should have been the first clue. She said she wanted kids—that she wanted to start a family with me. But after we were married, it became apparent that she really only wanted to spend my money. She didn’t even like children, as it turned out. And children were something I couldn’t imagine my life without. We started arguing and, eventually, we split up. It was pretty ugly there at the end. It was so weird. You think you know someone—love someone—then they just become this whole other person.”

“Sometimes, I think they were always that person,” Cami said, “and we were just too blinded by love to see it.”

“Yeah,” he said with a sad smile. “You’re right. I mean, take Claudia, for example…the hostess.”

“You know the hostess?” Cami asked, confused again.

“Yeah…she’s my ex’s best friend. She was really rude to me before you came in. She purposefully “lost” my reservation and sat us back here in the corner out of spite. And I don’t even know why… Gwen—my ex—came out on top in our divorce. I thought Claudia and I were friends. Who knows what Gwen has said about me? I really don’t see any of our old friends anymore.”

Cami thought about the altercation with the hostess in a new light now, grimacing at the way she seemed to have stuck up for the woman that was treating Drew poorly. Reaching out, she squeezed Drew’s hand.

“I don’t really talk to anyone from my old life with Ken,” she admitted. “But I’m okay with that. I’ve made new friends. I didn’t really get any money in the divorce, which was okay—I got Madison. But our mutual friends didn’t really have much to do with me after I was no longer on their income level.”

Now it was Drew who was squeezing her hand.

“That, to answer your question, is the reason why I like you. One of them, anyhow.”

“What is?” Cami asked.

“That you don’t care about money. I don’t get the sense that you’re only after me for my money. I mean, I haven’t really talked about my business with you, and you haven’t asked. I’m sure you know a little bit from Maggie, but you haven’t been trying to impress me or anything. You’re never anything but completely yourself and I really appreciate that about you.”

Cami felt the smile spread across her face at those words. She still had some doubts—this didn’t explain his erratic, hot-and-cold personality—but he definitely seemed sincere in the moment.

The food arrived before they could say much more, and they ate in comfortable silence.

“So,” Drew said after a while, “how did the meeting go yesterday?”

All of the calm and contentment Cami had evaporated at once as her mind went back to the distressing reality of her life. She let out a little sigh.

“Awful,” she replied after a moment. “Just awful.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Drew said, voice soft and gentle. “Do you want to talk about it?”