Page 23 of Sunflower

I nodded quickly. “I’m certain. Again, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was being so loud.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded stiffly. “All right. I’ll check in with our chef to see how your meals are coming along.”

The underlying threat of not causing any more trouble was clear, as was the implied rush on our stay. He clearly wanted us gone but was too professional to say it out loud.

This fine dining thing was going swimmingly.

I gulped and thanked him, but he had already turned his back on us and was walking away, pausing at a couple of the tables near us to talk to other guests, including the woman on her phone. Thoroughly embarrassed after what had just happened, I tried to make myself as small as possible in my seat, feeling my shoulders bunch up around my ears.

It wasn’t until I heard Callum chuckling that I lifted my eyes from the top of the table.

Even though I was staring daggers at him, I withered in my seat just a little more.

“Come on, admit it. That was funny,” said Callum, still snickering.

I winced. “I’m sure I’ll find it funny later. Much,muchlater. Right now, I’m trying very hard not to be mortified.”

He waved his hand in the air. “Eh, don’t worry about it. It’ll be something to tell our grandkids about.”

My eyes widened again. At this rate, they were going to pop out of their sockets. “We’re going to have grandkids?!” I hissed at him, trying desperately to keep my voice low, my eyes darting from side to side to make sure I didn’t upset our neighbors again.

Callum burst out laughing. “It’s just an expression, Joey.”

Even as a wisp of disappointment flickered through me in response to his words, I heaved a sigh of what might have been relief, scraping my fingernails through my hair, and scratching my scalp. “Right. Sure. Okay. Just an expression.”

“Although…”

“Nope.” I held my hand up as hope plunged through me again. Fuck. My emotions were definitely on some kind of extreme rollercoaster ride right now. “Don’t want to hear it.”

He tilted his head to the side and grinned at me cheekily. “Are you sure? You were so eager to hear what I saw earlier.”

I felt my teeth grind as I narrowed my gaze at him, before gritting out, “I’ve. Changed. My. Mind.”

Still smiling his Cheshire wide grin, he shrugged like it was no big deal. “Okay.”

Thankfully, our server decided that was the perfect moment to drop off our food. It felt way too quick of a turnaround on our orders, which made me doubly sure he was trying to get us to leave as soon as possible. His service was still impeccable, but there was an underlying tightness to his movements that hadn’t been there earlier.

As soon as he left us alone, Callum picked up his cutlery and dug in.

I sat there and stared at him, somewhat astonished that he wasn’t taking a photo of the beautifully displayed meal to post on social media.

He paused once he realized I hadn’t moved, his fork halfway to his lips. “What?”

Laughing to myself, I shook my head and picked up my own cutlery. “Nothing. I’m just used to having to wait for photos to be taken of the food.”

A look of understanding graced his face. “Ah.”

Determined not to think about my ex-girlfriend, I steered the conversation into much safer waters. “So… what have you been up to since our parents’ wedding?” I cut into my meal, lifted the fork to my mouth, and looked at him with a raised eyebrow before I put the forkful into my mouth. Then I closed my eyesand moaned as my tastebuds were assaulted with the most exquisite mixture of flavors I’d ever tasted. “Damn.”

Callum grinned after he swallowed the mouthful he’d already chewed. “Good, huh?”

“Holy shit, Callum.”

“Thought you’d like it.”

“You thought right.” I quickly shoved another bite into my salivating mouth before looking at him expectantly.

A look of utter satisfaction briefly overcame his face before he realized I’d asked him a question, and he coughed as some color filled his pale cheeks. “Promise you won’t tell Mam?”

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