Page 46 of Cocky Counsel

Fifteen minutes later, we were seated in a booth of a quiet, upscale restaurant that I had never been to before. I assumed this was the type of place that required a reservation, yet the woman at the hostess station didn’t question Graham as she smiled and led us to our table. I was feeling overly anxious and desperate to know what was going on.

I shifted in the booth, sliding closer to the wall to put more space between Ethan and me. There was something about being here with him, in the dimly lit room, that felt overly romantic. I wasn’t sure if we were here as friends – especially since I didn’t know Graham or Soraya at all, or if we were supposed to be here for a business meeting of some sort, so I didn’t want to risk blurring the lines and letting on that anything had happened between us.

After the waitress took our order, I leaned back and tried to relax. It was nerve-wracking not knowing what was going on and why I was here. It felt like everyone else was in on some secret that I had yet to find out about. A few minutes later, the waiter returned with a bottle of wine and began filing our glasses. My fingers trembled slightly as I reached forward to grab mine at the same time that Ethan reached out to get it for me. I immediately felt the electricity the moment we touched and pulled my hand back. I heard him chuckle as he scooted the glass closer to me and shifted his position so that his leg was touching mine.

I started to pull away when I felt his hand reach down and touch my thigh, forcing me to freeze. What was he doing? Weren’t we supposed to be keeping things between us hidden? I looked up at him, my eyes searching his face for an answer. He smiled and winked before looking back at Graham and Soraya. I glanced over and found Graham leaning close to her ear, whispering something that made her giggle as she playfully swatted at him.

“They know about us,” Ethan whispered in my ear as he leaned into me. “Soraya was trying to give me advice earlier on how to fix things, and I guess she figured it would be best for us to get together and do a double date.”

“But we’re not dating,” I said quietly. “And how do they know about us?”

“Graham and I talked recently, he knew something was off with me. I told him that we were kind of dating but that it was complicated.”

I nodded my head, unsure of what to say.

“Complicated is an understatement,” I said with frustration. Between our conversation this morning and being blindsided with this impromptu dinner, I was more agitated than anything. “Besides, I thought you didn’t want to tell anyone about us?” I raised my eyebrows at him and gave him a pointed look.

“I hadn’t planned to tell anyone about us,” he sighed. “But for whatever reason, people who know me well seem to be able to figure it out pretty quickly.”

He looked across the restaurant and avoided my look before he added, “My mom and Garrett know about us too.”

“What?!” I said rather loudly, the shock of the news hindering my ability to keep quiet. A few people at the tables near us turned to look at what the commotion was before returning to their conversations.

“Everything okay?” Graham asked cautiously, pulling away from Soraya. All eyes were on me now, making me extremely uncomfortable.

“Yeah, just peachy.” I tried to bite back the anger that was trying to force its way out. “So, Soraya, what do you do for a living?” I asked, hoping to change the subject and steer the attention away from me.

“I work for Ask Ida,” she said, as she popped a piece of bread into her mouth that she had torn off the end of her breadstick. “It’s an advice column. Have you heard of it?”

I couldn’t tell if she was being genuine and trying to start an honest conversation or if I was just being skeptical and overreacting by feeling like this was some sort of intervention.

“I’ve heard of it, but I can’t say that I read it often, sorry,” I said with an awkward laugh. My palms were starting to sweat, I was feeling so stressed out.

“Don’t be, I feel like people either read it religiously or have never heard of it. There isn’t much of an in-between,” she laughed.

“So, am I here for some sort of intervention?” I blurted out, looking between the three of them. “Are Ethan and I here for some expert advice? Or am I missing something?” There was a shrillness in my voice, and I hated how insecure I sounded.

“No, nothing like that,” she assured me. She took a deep breath and then turned to Graham. “Hey, do you think you can go find the waiter and ask them to bring another bottle of wine?”

“You want me to go track down the waiter to request more wine when you still have a full glass?” He lifted a brow and stared at her with confusion written all over his face.

“Yup. And take Ethan with you please.”

“Because this is a two-man job?”

“Exactly.” She gave him a quick nod which was met with a head shake and a subtle eye roll before he scooted out of the booth. Ethan let out a very loud sigh and followed him.

After they were gone, she lifted her glass of wine and took a sip before turning to look at me.

“Whew, now that they’re gone, we can have real girl talk,” she said with a little giggle.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude earlier. Today has been an interesting day, to say the least, and I feel like this week has been a rollercoaster ride that I can’t get off of,” I explained.

“No worries, I can imagine that it’s been stressful.”

I stayed quiet, unsure of what exactly Ethan had told them. The last thing I wanted to do was go blabbering about our personal business and ruin a relationship he had with a client. I nodded and looked away.

“I know that you don’t know me and that this probably feels really weird to talk to a complete stranger. I get it. I guess I just felt like I could relate to what you’re going through when Ethan was telling Graham what had happened.” She paused for a minute and waited for my reaction, but I didn’t bother having one. “With Cora—is that her name?”

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