Page 34 of Ghosted By Texas

I stopped questioning things after that as he drove us to the highway and away from town. A smart woman would have inquired about our destination, but I’d already proven my lack of intelligence by getting in the car with the man. An hour later, we pulled up outside a quaint little restaurant two towns over.

“Are we having a top-secret lunch no one can know about?” It seemed weird to me that we would go so far away to eat together.

“Truthfully, I figured the chances of us running into people we know, who might ruin this for us, was less if we headed out of town.”

The only ‘people’ I could think of, who might try to ruin a lunch date, would be Jordan. “Are you hiding me from your girlfriend?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Okay, from your fuck buddy then.”

“Don’t have one of those either,” he grinned at me as he pulled my door open and helped me out.

“The woman who has been your best friend and you’ve had sex with?”

“She isn’t an issue, Becs. I promise that she knows what’s going on between us and won’t step in the way this time. I was more concerned with one of my brothers popping up out of the woodwork to create havoc.”

That made me laugh because Dallas certainly had done a number on all of us, Houston and Clea included. “Okay, fine. Let’s go eat lunch. I’m actually starved because I didn’t get a chance to grab breakfast before heading to school this morning.”

“How did I not know you wanted to be a teacher?”

I smiled warmly at Austin. “I wanted to be an artist, but I managed to throw teaching into the works because if the art thing didn’t work out, I wanted to encourage other people to try. Honestly, my original plan was to work with much older kids, but it’s hard to get those gigs. They’re almost always locked down by tenured teachers who busted their asses to keep their programs afloat every time someone tried to cut funding for the arts.”

“So, you’re both a noble and desperate teacher?” His eyes crinkled at the corners with the teasing laughter that followed as we were seated in the rustic space. The interior of the restaurant looked like a mountain cabin straight out of a ski lodge adventure.

“I suppose so,” I agreed before peeking at the menu. “I’ve never been here before.”

“Me either, let’s hope my internet search and the reviews didn’t lead us astray.”

“If the aroma in this place is anything to go by, my mouth is already watering.”

“Yeah, mine too,” Austin agreed as he stared at me. I ignored it and continued to look at the menu. It took a lot more focus than it should have to make a selection since I could feel his eyes on me practically the whole time.

“What can I get for you today?” Our waiter asked when he came back to the table to deliver the drinks we’d ordered.

I gave my order easily, but Austin’s ears pinked at the tips as he grinned at the man. “Can I be honest?” He asked him almost conspiratorially.

“Sure.”

“I was too distracted to look at the menu. Is there something that you would suggest?”

The waiter turned to look at me immediately before he bounced his gaze right back to Austin. “I get it, man. The Mountain Lion is my favorite meal. Steak however you want it, loaded baked potato, our house greens, and a side salad.”

That was the cutest thing about the menu. The names of the meals were that of animals that might be found in the area. The men agreed on what Austin would eat while I glanced around and took in the ambiance.

“This place is really cool,” I stated, truly impressed that Austin thought to bring me somewhere that was so unique as opposed to a chain place that didn’t have a lot of character. “You might want to do your brother a solid, and mention it to him, because Clea would fall all over herself to dine somewhere like this.”

“Maybe, whenever they decide to come back up for air. Those two have been inseparable ever since the launch party for the bar.”

“How are things going with the bar?”

“Well, we haven’t officially opened, since that was just a party that we were throwing to get the promotional materials that we needed out of the way. The phones have been ringing off the hook lately though.”

“That has to feel good.” His excitement was palpable, so it went without saying.

“It does. It’s been a long time coming. Houston and I have been talking about this for a long time.”

“And Dallas,” I added for him.

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