Owen watched as Izzy’s long slender fingers unwrapped the napkin roll of silverware and carefully placed the implements on the table. Her nails were painted a pale pink color, perfectly manicured, no chips on the polish. He noticed she fidgeted a bit with the silverware.
“So, your boys. How old are they?” He figured people always liked to talk about their kids, right? That’s what he’d heard anyway.
“Jeremy is ten, Timmy is seven.”
“They’re cute boys.” They were, with their curly brown hair. Too bad they didn’t get their mother’s shiny red hair, though maybe a boy wouldn’t like the red hair as much as a woman. Who knew? He knew little to nothing about boys. Or kids in general.
“They are cute, but they’re a handful. Sometimes I want to throw up my hands and say that they win.” She grinned at him. “But, of course, I’m just nuts about them. I can’t imagine my life without them. They bring me so much joy.”
Owen thought that parents were a strange breed of humans. He couldn’t understand their private society, didn’t know the secret handshake. But he could see how much the boys meant to Izzy by the sound of her voice and the light in her eyes when she talked about them.
“You have any kids?” Izzy’s question caught him off guard.
“No, no kids.” He doubted he ever would either. He never really found much time for dating women. The few he had dated got tired of the limited time he had with them, or his constant trips away. To be honest, none of them had really captured his attention. He sounded shallow, even to his own ears.
Though, in some strange way, Izzy had caught his eye in just a few short days. It was new to him to not only be attracted physically to Izzy, and he couldn’t deny he was, but he wanted to know all about her, too.
Becky Lee brought over their dinner and they carried on a comfortable conversation over their meal. Izzy was easy to talk to, and quick to laugh. Her smiles popped up on her face and made her eyes sparkle with warmth.
“So, how long have you known Becky Lee?” Owen asked yet another question. He couldn’t seem to know enough about the woman sitting across from him.
“Oh, most of my life. She’s great. I don’t know what I’d do without her. And Jenny. That’s our other friend. The three of us, well let’s just say they keep me sane.”
They finished up their meal, but Owen was loathe to see Izzy go. Becky Lee brought the checks to the table way too quickly for his liking. He reached out and took both checks. “This is on me.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“No, I want to. It was nice to not eat alone for a change.”
“Do you eat alone a lot?”
“Most of the time.” Either out grabbing a quick bite to eat, or alone at his condo. Yes, most of his meals were alone.
“Mine are mostly filled with constant chatter and spilled milk.” Izzy grinned at him again.
He had no idea what it would be like to have family with you for most of your meals. He hadn’t even had that growing up. His parents had sent him to boarding school. When he had been home, his parents went out to eat often, leaving him at home with a nanny, a tutor, or the housekeeper, depending on his age. His parents had traveled often, too. On their rare visits home they would question him about grades, goals scored, and honors achieved.
Izzy’s boys must have quite a different childhood than he’d had. A mother who cared and actually sat down to eat with them. Who took them to the park to play soccer with their friends.
“Well, thank you for dinner then.” Izzy’s words poked through his thoughts.
“You’re welcome.” What else could he say to keep her here?
Izzy stood up. He reluctantly pushed away from the table and stood up, too. He went up and paid their bills, with a generous tip to Becky Lee. After all, she was the one who’d introduced Izzy to him.
“Bye, Bec. See you soon.” Izzy waved to Becky Lee.
Owen held the door open for Izzy, and she slipped deliciously close to him and out the door into the cool night air. They stood in the lamplight, Izzy so close to him that he could smell the faint scent of ginger or orange or something near that. He heard her sigh. It sounded like a contented sigh. A good meal and nice night kind of sigh. He hoped.
“I should go.” Izzy turned to him.
“Yes, I should too.” But he didn’t want to. “May I drive you home?”
“No, I’m just a quick walk away. Thanks, though.”
She turned and left him, the light from the street light casting highlights in her red hair as she walked down the sidewalk.
He climbed into his car, and headed to the Sweet Tea.