Page 42 of Small Town CEO Grump

We walked outside, and I reached out and grabbed her hand as we walked towards my car.

I had held her hand a few times before, but this time it felt much different. I liked it. Every time before it had been a protective gesture, or a supportive gesture, but never romantic. This time it was romantic.

Once we got to the car I opened her door for her. She smiled as she stepped inside, and I could see how excited she was. I closed her door, and as I walked around to my side, I tried to get my heart to calm down, but I knew it wouldn’t happen. I knew there was something very special about this night.

“I was thinking we could go to Antonios’s for dinner,” I said once I was settled in the driver’s seat.

“Oh!” she said, excitedly. “That’s a perfect place. I love it there.”

“Great!” I said, smiling in her enthusiasm. I liked the way that she didn’t hold back or try to be too cool for anything.

“I haven’t been there, yet,” I said. “But I looked it up and it seemed like it was really great. I love Italian food, and it just looks like a really cool place.”

“It is! And I love Italian food,” she responded. “And you will love it there. Antonio‘s parents moved from Italy when they were in their 20s, and they started the restaurant. Antonio grew up basically in the kitchen, and then he took over as soon as he was out of culinary school. He enhanced the menu, and it is absolutely fantastic. His children work there, too, so it has this great family feel.”

“So you go there a lot.” I said.

Jenna laughed. “Yes, I do. And I’m so excited to go there with you.”

“Okay, good,” I said. I was starting to worry that it wouldn’t be special for her since she went through all the time, but I could see that she was genuinely happy that we would be going there together.

We pulled up in front of the restaurant, and a few moments later we were inside. I instantly felt at home, and I could see right away why she went there so much. It was cozy and comfortable, and smelled heavenly.

I also realized that everyone in the restaurant knew Jenna. The host greeted her by name, several of the servers waved at her, and almost all of the diners acknowledged her in one way or another. I felt like I was with a celebrity.

I also couldn’t help but notice that they were all looking at me very suspiciously.

“So, do you know everybody in this restaurant?” I asked.

Jenna blushed, and she nodded. “Yes. I do.”

She looked around the room and started laughing. “Yes. I know every single person in here.”

“I noticed,” I said. “That’s awesome. And I can tell that all of them like you, and that all of them are very protective of you.”

Jenna laughed again. “You’re right, but how can you tell?”

“Because they are all staring at me. They have been watching me from the moment we walked through the door, and some of them don’t exactly seem happy about what they see.”

Jenna looked around and smiled.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “They’ll get over it.”

The server led us back to our booth, and I could feel all of the eyes following us as we went.

“A lot of these people know who I am,” I said, once we were seated. “I mean you wrote an entire article about me, and it was on the front page of the newspaper.”

Jenna shrugged her shoulders. “I know. But they aren’t used to seeing you and me in a setting like this, out on a date. Now they feel like they have to pay more attention to you and keep an eye on you.”

“So it seems,” I said.

She smiled at me, and I smiled back to let her know I wasn’t upset.

“I get it,” I said. “I would be doing the exact same thing if i were in their shoes.”

We looked at our menus and ordered our food, and I looked around the restaurant some more as we waited for the server to bring out our garlic bread and drinks.

“This really is a great place,” I said. “And, aside from the cold, hard stares that I keep getting, it’s actually a very warm and comforting place.”

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