Page 20 of Forfeits

“Have you had a look at our spirits and wine menu?”

Aiden and I glanced at each other.

“Not yet. What would you recommend in the way of wine?” I asked.

I could do this. And a glass of wine was exactly what I needed.

David listed off a number of Australian and Chilean wines, and Aiden deferred to me to choose. I picked a Chilean red that was pricey enough to guarantee its taste but not kill my bank account. When David brought it to our table, he had me sample it.

“Oh, that’s wonderful.”

He filled our glasses then took our food order. Aiden requested the mussels, and I chose the gnocchi in a rosé sauce.

As I took another sip of wine, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. When I focused on it, it became an orange and black spider that was making its way along the wall toward me.

“Fuck!” The metal feet of my chair scraped the concrete floor with a loud screech as I stood. Expensive red wine sloshed over the edge of my glass, but I put it down before there was a major disaster.

The look on Aiden’s face was almost comical. If I’d been in the right mood, I would have laughed, but there was nothing funny about being this close to an arachnid on the loose.

I pointed at the offending insect.

“Sp— Spider.”

Aiden was astonishingly calm. He glanced at the spider then looked at me, and his smile lit up his face.

“Oh, Fletcher. You’re scared of spiders?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head and trying to stand straighter. I glanced up to see more than a few people staring in our direction. “I’m not scared of them. They just gross me out.”

Aiden pushed his chair back, slowly and carefully, so it wouldn’t make noise, and came around to my side of the table. As he passed me, he gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

“What are you doing?” I said, unable to look away from the small creature, which was still making its merry way toward my chair.

“I’m going to take care of it,” he said.

“Thank you.” I cleared my throat, and tried to look at ease, even though I wasn’t. “Lucy usually…usually kills them for me.”

“Oh, I’m not going to kill it.”

“What?” I said, the breath leaving my chest as I took a step back. “Why not?”

“Because, Fletcher, as much as I want to please you on our first date, I’m not going to commit murder.”

He wanted to please me?

“I have to set some boundaries,” he asserted.

I watched in horror as Aiden herded the spider into the palm of his hand. Then he closed his fingers around it and took a step to get by me.

“Oh, holy fuck. No, no. Stay away from me,” I said as I backed into the corner, invading the personal space of the man at the neighboring table.

“Easy, man. Relax,” the stranger said, moving his chair back.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I said, watching Aiden with wide eyes as he carried the trapped—hopefully!—spider past me and took it around and presumably out of the front doors.

I was torn between relief that he’d taken care of the problem, and irritation that he hadn’t dispatched it quietly and not humiliated me in front of everyone. But that wasn’t fair, because I’d embarrassed myself before he’d said anything.

This date was off to a fantastic start.

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