Page 29 of Her Cowboy Christmas
“No, we need to be strategic about this.Okay, let’s see… appetizers.”
I give him a soft smile as he reads the menu options, weighing the pros and cons of each dish.
“You don’t like mint, so that’s out,” he states.
I blink.“How do you know so much about me?”
His eyes lock with mine.“I’ve been paying attention.”
I swallow and nod.
“Okay, so the stuffed mushrooms and bacon-wrapped scallops to start.Let’s see about soups and salads.”
We continue like that through the entire menu.As Cole reads it to me, I don’t feel dumb or broken like my family told me.He doesn’t make me feel self-conscious when he reads to me.He makes it fun, like a conversation.He makes me feel normal.
When the server comes over, I let Cole order for us.
“Wine?”he asks.
“Sure.”
I pass him my menu and listen as he places our order.His arm drapes over my shoulder, and he plays with the ends of my hair as he talks.I wonder if he’s even aware of the movement.
Once the server is gone, I try to move my chair back, but Cole stops me.He grabs the silverware from my place setting and passes me my napkin, then sets my silverware out just the way I always do.
“You really have been watching me.”
“Yep.”
“Stalker,” I whisper.
He grins.“Tell me more about yourself.”
“Like what?”
“Whatever you want to share with me.”
“I went to cotillion school.”
“Seriously?”
I take a deep breath.“It was awful.They drilled all of this stuff into us.”
“Is that where the napkin and silverware etiquette comes in?”he asks, nodding at my lap.
“Probably.My parents were concerned with social standing and optics.They wanted us to be perfectly polite people.”
“How boring,” he drawls.
I laugh.“It was.Everyone acts the same.And the small talk is pointless and says nothing at all.I hated every minute of it.And I was terrible at it.My sister?Gold stars across the board.Me?I constantly compared to her and lacked in every category.”
“Every useless category,” he mumbles.
“It didn’t feel like it then,” I whisper.
Cole squeezes my shoulder.“Growing up is funny like that, huh?The way it changes your perspective.”
“Yeah.It’s been a blessing the last couple of years to look back and realize that not being good at small talk or dancing wasn’t the end of the world, like it seemed back then.”
