Page 32 of Road to a Cowboy

Annoyed—and a little amused—Austin did as ordered.

“Spill,” Ben demanded. “Tell me why you’re sad.”

Sad. Yes, Austin was sad. And disappointed. Angry too, because honestly—could he have botched last night any more than he had?

Maybe if he’d hired a band to serenade Cal during dinner, which he thankfully hadn’t thought of before this moment.

“It’s...” Blowing out a breath, Austin gave in to the inevitable. He sank onto Ben’s bed and said, “Cal and I went on a date last night.”

“A double date? I didn’t realize either of you were seeing anyone.”

“No, Ben. Not a double date.”

It took a second, but when Ben finally got it, his jaw dropped so low that Austin couldn’t help but laugh, despite everything.

“You went on a date... with each other? Shit.” Ben bit his lip, clearly having an internal debate, then seemed to decide to say it anyway. “I’m guessing it didn’t go well? Seeing as he’s not at brunch and you look like you haven’t slept in a week?”

Austin set the tablet on the bed and pulled his legs up, sitting cross-legged. He tried not to replay the events of last night in his head—every time he did, he somehow catastrophized it and made it worse than it was.

Or maybe it had really been that bad.

Fuck.

“It was... just...” Elbow on his knee, Austin dropped his forehead into his palm and scrubbed hard. “It was like having dinner with a stranger.”

Ben winced. “Ouch. Can I ask what you did on your date?”

“I picked him up, we had dinner at Ce Soir, and then we took a walk through the square.”

“What’s Ce Soir?”

“Fancy French restaurant in town. It opened a couple of years ago.”

Ben hummed, and there was a lot of subtext in that hum. “So you got gussied up, went somewhere fancy, and took a romantic walk. Got it. What would you have done together on any other typical Saturday night?”

“Watched a movie at my place, ordered takeout, and eaten too many Twizzlers.”

“Right. That’s what I thought.” Ben took a deep breath. “Okay, don’t hate me for saying this, but... is it possible you were trying too hard to make the date something it didn’t have to be?”

Austin pinched the bridge of his nose. “But I didn’t want our date to be the same old, same old. I wanted to do something special. Because he’s special.”

Ben’s expression went very aw at that, but he rallied quickly. “I get that. But there’s a happy medium between fancy French restaurant and watching a movie in your sweatpants. I mean, does Cal give you fancy French restaurant vibes?”

Austin hated to admit it, but... “No.”

“Try something a little simpler next time,” Ben went on.

Austin tried not to think about whether there’d actually be a next time.

“Okay,” Austin said on a sigh. Maybe Ben had a point. “What’s my happy medium, then?”

“Cook him dinner. Stick some wildflowers in a vase in the middle of the table for ambiance. Eat outside on your patio under the stars, with the fairy lights lit. Then take a walk down the street. Maybe even walk him home.” Ben paused for a second. “Assuming he’s sleeping at his own home that night.” He pumped his eyebrows.

Austin chuckled. How was it that things didn’t seem so dire when Ben laid it out like that? “I can’t believe I’m taking dating advice from a twenty-year-old.”

“Twenty-three, thank you very much.” Ben pretended to buff his nails on his shoulder.

Austin rolled his eyes. “Do you want to see that poster or not?”

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