His shirt was a little wrinkled, his hair just a touch disheveled as he pulled out my chair. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.” I placed my purse on an empty chair and sat down. “You look very nice yourself.”
Simon took his seat across from me and immediately, I felt on the spot. His eyes searched every inch of me and as a sly smile fell into place, I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear nervously.
I’m only overthinking everything because this is my first real date in forever. Breathe.
“I’m surprised you came tonight, if I’m being honest. I wasn’t sure what happened, but I haven’t really been able to get ahold of you since the night at the diner.”
I blushed, embarrassed at being called out. I couldn’t tell him that I had been blatantly ignoring him. “I was assigned a few different projects that have been keeping me pretty busy. Have you been here before?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“Ah, once or twice. I don’t take a lot of people out to dinner, so I don’t have a reason to come here. But I’d love to come here more often.”
I pretended to not pick up on his innuendo and scanned the menu, twirling my ring around my finger.
“Good evening. My name is Jennifer and I’ll be your server tonight,” said the pretty brunette waitress that arrived, a notepad in hand. “Can I start you off with something to drink?”
I went the safe route. “Water for me, please.”
“Same here.”
“Great. I’ll go get that and be right back.”
“What do you suggest?” I glanced at Simon over the top of my menu. “Everything sounds delicious.”
He studied the information in front of him. “If you like fish, the mahi-mahi is really good here. I’ve had the sirloin before and it was great.”
“Sounds good to me.” I sat my menu down on the table as Jennifer came back with our drinks.
“Do you know what you would like or should I come back?”
Simon glanced at me. “I’ll have the mahi-mahi.”
“Make that two.”
“Very good. I’ll be back shortly,” she said, picking up our menus and walking away.
“So,” Simon began, folding his hands on the table. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been good. How have things been going for you?”
“Really good, actually. I have a lot of balls in the air, so that’s been keeping me busy.”
“Better to be too busy than bored,” I shrugged.
An unsettling silence descended between us and I fidgeted in my seat. I didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t know him well enough to even be able to start a conversation. That, coupled with the fact that I felt like I was under a microscope, made me feel hesitant to say anything.
“True, although I would like a little more time to relax and go to dinner. What have you been up to outside of work?” He watched me closely and I couldn’t tell what he was fishing for, although it was pretty clear he was searching for something.
“Just working and hanging out with Kari. I’m getting ready to look for an apartment, things like that.”
“I thought maybe you were seeing Cane Alexander.” I swallowed a lump in my throat as he said his name. “He seemed a little strange when we met him the other day, even for Cane.” He chuckled, never taking his eyes off of me.
I swallowed hard, my ring spinning like a top. “No, I’m not seeing Cane.” I smiled as innocently as possible. “His friend is dating my sister, so we run into each other a lot.”
“I see. How has he been?”
“I have no idea. I wasn’t aware that you knew Cane.”
“Oh, it’s a small world.”
“He didn’t say anything about knowing you.”
Simon bit his bottom lip, scrutinizing my face. “We really don’t know each other. We’ve just ran into each other a few times. No big deal.”
“I see.” I had the incredible urge to grab my purse and bolt for the door.
Simon rearranged his silverware on the table before looking at me again. “Do you see him a lot?”
“No,” I said, becoming increasingly annoyed. “What does it matter?”
Simon laughed, leaning back in his chair stiffly. “It doesn’t. I am sorry for pressing. It’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s really not.”
The air between us was tense as Simon looked everywhere but at me. I grabbed an advertisement off of the table and pretended to be immersed in the upcoming events at the restaurant.
Why am I even here?
I felt stupid. I only agreed to this because I was pissed at Cane. Now I was paying the price for it. I didn’t want to be there and it didn’t seem like Simon cared that I was there either. It was like being with Decker but with no bond at all, nothing to even pretend to talk about.