Page 8 of A First Sight

“A salad isn't good enough?” Dale asked, his tone casual. “Does that mean it’s a good thing I canceled your wine?”

It took me a moment before I realized what he asked, and color flooded my cheeks. “No!” I immediately softened my voice. “No, of course not. It’s been a long day, and I need some protein, especially since we’re going to a club.”

“Oh. Good.” He reached across the table and took my hand, squeezing it. “For a minute, I was worried that you were pregnant and hiding it from me.”

I shook my head, desperately trying not to reveal how, a little over a month ago, I had thought exactly that. “No, I’m not. And I wouldn’t hide it if I was.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He let go of my hand and leaned back in his chair. “We don’t need that headache. Our life is perfect just the way it is.”

I smiled and nodded, taking a long drink of water to avoid having to respond. I didn’t think of children as a headache, and someday, we would have kids, but there were other things we both wanted before we started making room for a child. Besides, I wanted to be married before I wanted children, engaged at the very least. And Dale hadn’t said or done anything that even hinted he was thinking along those lines yet.

The waiter returned with our food, and we ate in silence for a few minutes before Dale turned to me. “My parents want us to come to dinner on the second.”

“Of course.” I was surprised they gave us a couple of weeks’ notice. Usually, when Mr. Leighton got it in his head that we needed to have dinner or lunch, he called a day or two in advance, and if we had any plans, they’d be canceled.

“They wanted us to come this Saturday, but I told them we had a concert that night. With all the new shit Irene is giving us, we both need to focus.”

I already knew my part, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“The second will be great,” I said. Now was a perfect time to remind Dale of my plans for the weekend. “This Sunday, I’d like to have lunch with Carson and London. If that’s okay.”

He shrugged. “Sure. I have a big campaign with the guys planned all day.”

And now I knew the real reason he didn’t want to go to his parents’ place on Saturday. Dale liked to be well-rested for his marathon gaming days.

“Will you be having dessert?” the waiter asked as he stopped by the table.

“Definitely not.” Dale gave me a meaningful look. “Wedon’t need it.”

Heat flooded my cheeks, and I busied myself with my silverware. He always said he liked me the way I was and didn’t want me to change. That’s all it was. He wasn’t purposefully trying to be mean with that comment. After all, I knew all too well what he sounded like when he was trying to be mean.

SEVEN

DRAKE

Uncle Benand Stellan had told me many times my way of remembering my anniversary with Belle was...unwise. Perhaps they were right, but I liked to remember and celebrate the beginning.

Every year––on our anniversary––I dine at the restaurant where we first met. I was visiting Uncle Ben in the US and after some sight-seeing, I felt hungry, so I went into the restaurant. She was sitting at this table, with Stellan sitting across from her.

She was beautiful, my Belle, but that wasn’t the first thing that drew me to her. No, it was her laugh. She was a slender woman, delicate-looking, but her laugh was loud and brash, drawing the attention of everyone around her.

I was twenty-three and confident of my appeal to the opposite sex, but my stomach was still in knots when I pondered how to approach her, especially when I wasn’t sure if the man was her boyfriend or husband. Then, I heard her tell him that being family didn’t mean he could tell her what to do. So I asked her out.

She was hesitant to get involved with someone who didn’t live in the US, but Stellan encouraged her to give me a chance. Eighteen months later, we married and lived in Scotland. Of course, like every other couple, we had our bumps in the few years we were together, but they were good years.

I rubbed my chest as if it would ease the ache I still carried in my heart. I had been without her so much longer than we were together, but the passage of time only reminded me of the life we would have had together. Our daughter would have been a teenager. There would have been more children. Holidays and birthdays. Trips. All the bright things our future could have held.

Instead, I had spent the last sixteen years working in a world that offered very little in the way of that kind of brightness.

With a sigh, I looked for my waiter. As I turned, something caught my eye. I followed it without really thinking about it and realized it was a woman standing up. My breath caught, and everything else went dim and silent.

Belle.

Hair the color of honey. A thin nose just shy of being too long. High cheekbones. Medium height. Slender build. And not a day older than the last time I saw her.

I stared as she walked past me, my heart pounding in my chest so loud that I thought everyone must have heard it. I waited for her to vanish, for the spell to break, but she didn’t disappear from my sight until she turned toward the corridor with the restrooms.

I had to be seeing things. I was thinking about Belle so much and so hard today it was no wonder I would see Belle in a random blonde. That was the only rational explanation. And I’d prove it to myself when she came back out. This time, I’d be prepared and let my mind see what was really there.

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