“Do you normally fly wearing all that? I’m usually in the most comfortable things I own.”
“Uh… Not normally, no,” Drew replied, sounding strange.
“Why today, then?”
“Just felt like it,” Drew replied and pulled open the door to the restaurant. “After you.”
Selma had been hoping for a quiet meal with Drew over a small table with maybe one of those little tealights in a red holder and paper placemats or something equally cheesy, but when they walked in, she knew she was about to get anything but that. The place was packed, and not just with regular customers. It was packed with snowboarders and skiers. She’d made a big mistake taking Drew to the restaurant next to their hotel.
“How many?” the hostess asked.
“Um… Two,” Selma replied.
“I can seat you at the bar right now, or it’ll be about forty-five minutes.”
“They can just join us.”
Selma turned her head to see three of Drew’s teammates in their team jackets sitting at a big round table.
“We’ve got room,” Andy Weinman said.
“Oh, hey,” Drew greeted and walked over toward the table.
“I guess we’re sitting over there,” Selma said to the hostess, who didn’t seem to care.
“Hey, Selma,” Andy greeted when Selma sat down on Andy’s other side.
At the table, there were six seats, and just as they’d been about to sit down, someone had come back from the bathroom and had taken the one free seat that wasn’t next to Andy, so Drew had sat on Andy’s one side, and Selma had been forced to sit on the other.
“Hey. How have you been?”
“Good. You?”
“Good, yeah,” Selma replied.
“So, you and Drew are no longer throwing eye daggers at each other, huh?” Andy asked but turned to Drew for the answer.
“We never did that,” Drew replied.
“Sure, you didn’t,” Andy said.
Selma sat quietly as the waiter walked around the room and took everyone’s order.
“Um… Andy, can I maybe switch seats with you?” Drew requested. “Selma and I were going to share a pizza. Easier to do that if we’re next to each other.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Andy stood up, and Selma smiled internally as Drew sat down next to her.
“Sorry about this,” Drew whispered in Selma’s ear as she leaned over. “We can go somewhere else if you want.”
“No, it’s okay. We’re already here,” she replied, even though she very much wanted to go someplace else. “And I thought you wanted a whole pizza to yourself.”
“Oh, I’m getting a large.” She winked at Selma. “But you can share it with me.”
“It better not have pineapple on it, Drew,” Selma said.
“Extra pineapple. Got it.”