Page 5 of Pretend to be Mine
Savannah
He’s coming over! I can’t believe he’s coming over! Once I’m no longer in eyesight, I rush inside and straight to the bathroom where I spray some perfume and apply some mascara and a layer of lip gloss. I take my hair out of the messy bun and fluff it up. It looks better but I’m also afraid he’s going to think I’m trying to look good for him, so I pull it back and clip it how it was. I hear him knocking on the door just as I’m stepping out of the bathroom.
I pull the door open, and there is Ben in all his wonderful glory. He’s tall, standing at least a foot and a half above me. His hair is styled perfectly, and his jaw is smooth—I assume he shaved for work this morning but can’t be sure. He’s smiling and his blue eyes are sparkling as he holds out a bottle of cheap wine. “Sorry, I wasn’t prepared for a dinner gift.”
I laugh as I reach out and take the wine. “This is great, thanks. Please, come in.” I back up and lead the way to the kitchen.
The table is already set with a big bowl of spaghetti, a basket full of garlic bread, and a wooden bowl of salad. I didn’t want to count my chickens before they hatched, so the table is only set for one. As he walks in, I grab a plate from the cabinet for him. “Make yourself at home,” I say, setting the other side of the table.
I finally have everything I need, and I take the seat across from him. He looks around the kitchen and nods. “Your kitchen is a lot nicer than mine. I thought all these cookie-cutter houses were the same.”
I start serving the food. “I put a lot of work into mine when I moved in. I love to cook so I wanted to spruce it up a bit. I hired a contracting company, and they gutted the whole room and rebuilt it from scratch.”
“Looks like it was worth every penny. My kitchen looks a little outdated.”
“I’m sure you’ll get it all fixed up the way you like with time.” I serve the food and take a sip of wine. “I’m really sorry if I creeped you out earlier.” A nervous giggle slips out. “I just thought this would be a good way to get to know one another.”
His nervous laugh fills the room. “No, I wasn’t creeped out. I just didn’t want any mixed signals. This is great, thank you.”
“Any time,” I reply, winding some spaghetti around my fork. “So, did you move alone, or do you have kids or wife or anything?”
He pops a cherry tomato from the salad into his mouth. “No, it’s just me. I…uh…I was engaged a while back, but she passed away.”
I gasp. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry.”
He nods. “Thank you. It was unexpected. A car crash.”
“That’s horrible.”
He nods and takes a bite of spaghetti. “What about you? It doesn’t seem like you have kids. You have a boyfriend I have to worry about walking in here and thinking this is something it’s not?” His smile brings one out in me as well.
“No, no boyfriend. Not for a while now.”
“How come?”
I shrug as I mix my salad. “Uh…well…the last one didn’t work out so well. We were together a couple of years. I thought we were on track to get engaged and married, to live happily ever after.” I roll my eye dreamingly. “But then I came home from work one day to find him with another woman. So, that was the end of that.”
“Wow,” he says, sipping his wine. “I guess we’re both in the same boat then, huh?”
I tilt my head to the side. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “We’ve both been burned. I don’t know about you, but I’m not shopping around for a girlfriend.”
I laugh and nod. “Yeah, I guess we are both in the same boat. I just—” I shake my head. “I don’t feel like I’m ready to trust again.”
There’s a moment of silence as we both eat before he says, “So, what’s there to do in this town? I’m from Houston, so I’m used to a busy city full of stuff to do.”
I bite my bottom lip as I think it over. “Well, in the summer there’s lots to do. We have a local college team, if you like baseball.”
“I love baseball.”
“Me too!”
“Who’s your favorite team?”
“I’m still a Rockies fan, but now that I’ve been living in Georgia, I root for the Bulldogs, too. What’s yours?”
“I’m from Texas, so the Rangers.”
