Page 43 of A Twist of Fate

She nodded her head at me. “Of course there is, because when I stop being selfish, I know that I wouldn’t want him to feel this misery that follows me like a shadow for the rest of his life. I’d want something special for him. Someone special.”

“You don’t think you deserve that same opportunity?”

“I just don’t know if I’m ready for it.”

“Well, you just made it through a whole lunch date,” I teased to try to lighten the mood.

“Do you really consider this a date? You didn’t even ask me, you just kind of showed up and took over my lunch break.”

I grinned at Gretchen then. “And just so we’re clear, I’m going to do it all over again tomorrow, sweetheart.” The pink blush burned brightly against her pale skin once more.

“Why?” The question was hesitant and damn near a whisper as she asked it.

“Because I enjoy spending time with you?” My answer came out as more of a question because I wasn’t sure what she was trying to ask.

“Why me?”

“Because I see you.”

“Come on G. We’ve gone to lunch together every day this week. What is it going to hurt to come to dinner with me?”

I watched as she chewed the side of her nail, a nervous habit she never had before everything went down. “I don’t know.” Her little nose scrunched up on her face as her brows pulled in. It was obvious she was deep in thought, and worried over how it would look.

“You should say yes to him,” Ever teased her on the way by.

“Seriously?” Gretchen asked, and the tone of her voice stopped Ever dead in her tracks. She turned to look at the smaller woman who was still chewing on her nail, and I watched as Ever’s eyes softened on the little pixie of a woman.

“You deserve to be happy, honey. My brother would think so too. You’ve enjoyed your lunch dates, right?” Gretchen nodded her head in agreement. “Then what would it hurt to go to dinner with the big oaf?”

“Hey now!” I warned Ever playfully as Gretchen’s worry seemed to melt away just a bit.

“Fine,” she finally agreed. “I’ll meet you there though.”

Well, that sucked. I had planned on getting her on the back of my bike, but I’d take what I could get. For now. “If that’s how it has to be,” I agreed.

Gretchen nodded once more and then went back to work, turning her focus completely on the task at hand. I had a spectacular date to plan out, so I left her to it and went to clean up my area to prep for my next client.

Later that evening, just as the sun started going down, Gretchen followed me to a Hibachi grille downtown. It wasn’t a secret that Gretchen enjoyed her seafood and I thought their selection of sushi would be just up her alley.

“Oh my God!” She hissed out as she got out of her car. “I can’t believe this is where you’re taking me. I love this place, but I haven’t been here in so long.”

I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as she gushed about my restaurant selection. “Thank fuck!” I didn’t even try to say the words under my breath. She turned to me and giggled.

“Aw, you know I would have liked any place you took me.”

“Yeah, but that reaction makes this choice even better.”

She grabbed hold of my arm and started bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “I haven’t had sushi in forever. My sister hates it so I don’t get to go with her, and raw fish weirded Toby out, so we never went either.”

I held my breath momentarily waiting to see if she would shut down over the mention of T-Bone. When she didn’t I just smiled at her. “Let’s get you inside so you can order then!”

Once we were seated, Gretchen giggled like a school girl as she took the menu in hand and practically started drooling over it. It took her a few minutes to realize I wasn’t reading my own menu and was instead just watching her.

“What?” She asked shyly.

“Just enjoying seeing your eyes sparkle like that.” I left off ‘again’ because I didn’t want to pull her out of the happy place she was in.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done something just for fun.”

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