I finished off my hot chocolate, chewing the chocolate-soaked marshmallows last, as usual, and told them I had to go check on the shop and see how the guys were doing. My dad wasn’t going in until later today, but my work never seemed to stop there during the week. I guess I did have this date to look forward to after work, assuming that the snow didn’t cripple those plans and make me wait even longer to see her again.
I gave my mom a kiss on the cheek and headed out the door to my car before brushing off the windows with my sleeve and getting inside to start it. She purred like a kitten, and I pulled out of their driveway and towards the shop, where I was sure it was going to be a little empty. I was wrong in that assumption.
“How many cars today?” I asked as I walked inside.
“We’re still full, like always,” Gary said.
I went out into the shop and rolled up my sleeves before starting work on repairing a broken flex pipe that we needed to solder together again with a new piece so that we could save our clients some money. Not only that, but it was a much shorter job for us, and our profit was still through the roof percentage-wise.
We liked doing that—giving our customers cheaper options if something didn’t need to be replaced. I thought that was why we get so much business, because we did things in a quality way that lasted without making people take out loans or cash in their retirement accounts. I thought that was a strong part of owning a successful business these days. With money still tight after the recession, people wanted to make sure what they were getting was quality, and we provided that.
I looked out the window on my lunch break, seeing that the snow stopped, before I wiped off my greasy hands and took out my phone to text Anna and see what she wanted to do tonight.
She said she didn’t care, she just wanted to see me, so I picked a sports bar restaurant that I’d been to a few times before. I figured it was still a date and dinner, but it was also a fun atmosphere and nothing too serious. We could have fun without having to worry about being all formal and everything.
I told her I’d pick her up, and then went back to my lunch, some chili, that someone had brought in. Now to hope that something didn’t happen between now and then.
Chapter Ten
Anna
“He’s coming here? To our apartment?” Nina asked.
“Yup, he said he’s coming to pick me up for our date. I don’t think he’s coming inside, though,” I said.
“He’s not coming to the door?” Maggie asked.
“I don’t know, I didn’t ask. Who knows what he’ll do,” I said.
“My dad said to never trust a guy who won’t come to the door to pick you up,” Nina said.
“Your dad has also been divorced twice,” Maggie said.
“Shut up,” Nina said with a pissy tone.
“Okay, you two. I won’t be here to stop you from murdering each other tonight, so just calm yourselves,” I said before walking back to the bathroom and rolling my eyes in the process.
“I hope he comes inside. I want to see what he’s looking like these days,” Maggie said.
“Pretty much the same as high school, except a little older, with tattoos and longer hair,” I said.
“He’s such a bad boy,” Maggie said.
“The only bad boy you can get is one who uses cheat codes in video games,” Nina said, to which Maggie gave her a stink face.
I turned on my straightener and heated it up before spraying some heat protectant in my hair and starting the long and arduous process of doing my hair.
“What are you wearing tonight?” Nina asked.
“This,” I said.
“On a date?” she asked.
“We’re going to a sports bar, not to the Ritz,” I said.
“You haven’t been seeing each other enough to wear something so casual. Come on, spice it up a bit!” Nina said.
“I’m not changing anything. I know he’s going to be dressed casual, and I think I look nice. It’s not like I’m in sweats or anything,” I said.
“I guess it’s your dating life, not mine,” Nina said, sitting on the edge of the tub.
Steam came off of my hair as I grabbed new chunks and slowly sent my straightener down. I was glad to be getting out tonight, and not because I’d get to spend time with Bentley. These girls were too much sometimes.
Wearing dark wash jeans and a cute black top with shiny silver sequins on the shoulders, I walked downstairs and put on some black flats, much to the chagrin of our resident stylist, Nina. I told her I didn’t care, and looked at my phone to see a five-minute-old text from Bentley saying he was on his way over. Nervous, I grabbed my purse and made sure I had everything before setting it down next to my coat at the front door.
Another few minutes passed before I heard him pull up. It wasn’t hard to hear it, his car thundering like a hellhound let loose from the depths below, before it turned off and suddenly I felt a few butterflies. Moments later the doorbell rang, and as I got up and cleared my throat, I walked over to the door with a smile and opened it to see him standing out there, steam coming from his mouth with every breath.
“Hey,” I said, smiling.
“How are you?” he asked.
“Good, I’m good. Let me just get my coat on and we can go,” I said.
“Hold on, aren’t you going to introduce us?” Maggie asked.
Trying not to sigh too loudly, I stood back up with my coat and put on a happy face as I introduced Bentley to Nina and Maggie, who couldn’t have been happier to see him. He obviously had no idea who they were, but boy, oh boy did they know him.
“I’m Bentley, it’s nice to meet you both. Anna has told me a lot of good things,” he said.
“And we’ve heard lots about you,” Nina said.
“All good, I hope,” he said.
“Not all,” she said.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, grabbing my purse.
“You two don’t stay out too late! Don’t keep us up worried!” Maggie said while Nina giggled before closing the door.
“Sorry about them,” I said as we walked to the car.
“It’s quite all right,” he said, laughing a little.
He opened the passenger-side door for me like a gentleman as I got inside and felt the residual warmth left over from his ride here. He got in, turning on the car and putting the heat on high as I wiggled my toes while the newly warm air came out on top of them.
“You look very pretty tonight, by the way,” he said as we pulled out of the spot.
“Thank you. You look very handsome,” I said, smiling.
The drive, while not overly stimulating with conversation, was nice as we talked a little bit and just enjoyed each other’s company. Bentley really wasn’t the type of man to sit here and gab with you like Nina and Maggie, and I guess for good reason. I suppose none of my boyfriends had been overly chatty, but I thought he took the cake for the least amount of it.
We pulled up to the sports bar, where the parking lot was about three-quarters full. I’d never been here before, but I’d seen it many times on my way to school offering wings for a quarter on Fridays.
“Welcome to Manny’s, how many?” the hostess asked from behind the counter.
“Two, please,” Bentley said.
“Right this way,” she said, grabbing two menus and walking into the dining area.
We followed her to a table, where some kind of game was playing on about twenty TVs that surrounded the room. It was a bit loud, not quite the type of place you go to have a conversation.
“I didn’t know it would be this loud,” he said as he opened his menu.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” I said, trying to play it cool even though it was a bit annoying.
The food looked like typical bar food, with burgers, fried things, and lots of different types of sauces for wings. It wasn’t exactly like our last dinner together, but I guess not every meal could be like that.
Our waitress, Jonna, looked tired and overworked like the rest of the staff as she came around and took our orders. We ordered mozzarella sticks and two beers, mine the smaller size, before she went away and we continued to look at entree selections.
“What’s looking good?” he asked.
“I think I’ll just get a bacon burger,” I said.
“I love that,” he said, smiling.
“What?” I asked.
“That you’ll do something like that on a date. Like I said before, not many girls do. It turns me on,” he said.
“It turns you on to see me eat?” I asked, laughing.
“It turns me on to see you with something in your mouth,” he said, just before Jonna brought our beers over.
I took a few huge gulps of mine, my stomach a flurry of butterflies and emotions, as I felt my body get warm and my desire for him growing.
“So actually, I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said.
“Okay, about what?” I asked nervously, as I knew that asking to talk to you was never a good sign.
“Maybe it should just wait until later,” he said.
“No, you can tell me. It’s fine,” I said.
I might’ve been playing it cool on the outside, but on the inside I was freaking out. I’d been dumped once before on a date, before it started, actually, as we were waiting for a table at a place not too different from this. Bentley didn’t seem like the type of guy to do that, though. He was different; at least I thought so.