Page 12 of Giddy-Up
Good job, Riley.Are you going to steal his wallet next?
She was starting to wonder whether this date could get any worse.Fifteen minutes later, she realized it could.
When they’d pulled up to the restaurant, Riley could see full tables through the floor to ceiling windows.But she got out of the car anyway.There was always a chance they’d be led to another room.Wasn’t there?
Apparently not.The perky teenage waitress led them right to a table in the centre of the crowded room.She was in literal hell.The place was every anxious person’s worst nightmare.And she was slap bang in the middle of all the chaos.So close to the table next to them that within five minutes of being seated, she already knew the name of the woman’s cat, when her mother was visiting next and why her brother-in-law wanted to quit law school.
Riley’s thumb was on her wrist, rubbing ferociously, but the calm she normally got wasn’t coming.
“You okay?”Wade asked, his elbows hitting the table as he leaned forward.
Her head shook and her heart raced.She was fucking this up so badly.She could even see the disappointment on Wade’s handsome face.
I need to get out of here.
If she stayed, things would just get worse.
“Can you take me home?”Riley’s voice was shaking almost as much as her hands.
More disappointment staring back at her.She couldn’t stand it.
“Can I ask why?”
She didn’t want to lie again.She’d already run out on him once with a lame excuse.But she also couldn’t have the honest conversation she needed to have while her ears were pounding, and she was close to throwing up her chips and dip.
“I-I don’t feel comfortable.”It was the truth.A short version of it.And all she could manage.
Luckily, Wade didn’t ask for more, he simply nodded once before rising from his seat.
“I’ll pay for the drinks, do you want to meet me out front?”There was a coldness to his words.If she wasn’t already shivering, she was certain the side of chill she just got served would have hit harder.
Nevertheless, he’d given her an out.One she was taking.Her nod was maybe a bit too enthusiastic as she got up and got out.
The drive back was tense.Riley wanted to apologise, explain, beg for another chance, but the anxiety attack she’d been fending off had found her.So instead of talking, Riley spent the next twenty minutes in Wade’s truck with her eyes closed.Battling for control.
When they finally arrived back at her trailer, her attack had subsided.Just in time for the mortification to set in.Talk about the worst date ever.She couldn’t get out of the truck faster.As soon as the vehicle came to a stop, she was thanking him and saying goodnight before running to her door.Yes.Running.
How the hell she was going to face him tomorrow, she didn’t know.
That’s a problem for future Riley.
