Page 35 of New Girl in Town
If this was a preview of my night, then I wanted off this ride.
I had anticipated a nice, romantic night with Ben, not front row seats to Grant and his old flame getting cozy. A woman from back home who had a history with him before he was a building super wearing flannel and thermals like his life depended on it.
It was hard not to notice that he was a different man with Sophia on his arm. In place of the soft flannel and dark denim he wore a light blue dress shirt rolled up to his sleeves and a grey vest that showed off the the generous width of his shoulders. I felt dizzy from the transformation from casual lumberjack to refined gentleman, which I hadn’t even noticed until that second. My eyes moved over his face, taking in the nice contrast of refined and rough mountain man that his cropped beard lent him. It was only when Ben nudged my shoulder with his that I noticed the server had come to take our orders.
I blinked and snapped back into the moment under the pressure of four pairs of eyes. I twisted the menu in my hands and ordered the first two things that caught my eye. “Gin and tonic, please. And, oh, the olive and antipasto platter.”
“Good choices.” Ben smiled at me and leaned a bit closer to so that his thigh brushed mine, thanks to our close quarters. I smiled at him because yes, I was still on a date with this man, no matter that Grant and his date had crashed it.
“What did you order?” I asked, touching his knee.
“Bourbon and tonight’s special plate. They don’t tell you what it is before it arrives, so we’ll just have to see,” Ben said, scooting his chair closer until our thighs lay flush against one another.
“A surprise? I like surprises,” I said in my best rendition of a flirtatious voice, and Ben’s eyes dropped to my mouth.
He opened his own to speak when Grant cut him off. “Good thing Sophia and I dropped in, then. What a surprise that is, isn’t it, Aurora?”
I glanced at him to see him staring at me with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. I cleared my throat and lifted a shoulder. “Well, it is certainly a surprise. I’ll say that,” I said, leaning back in my seat.
“So, museum work? How is it that you and Grant became acquainted with one another?” Sophia asked as our drinks arrived.
“Well, he’s my building super.”
“I have a building super and I’m not sitting at dinner with them,” Sophia replied, her eyes sharp in a way that made me grind my teeth. Ben hummed in agreement and I glanced his way, feeling uncomfortable at the question I saw in his eyes.
“It just sort of happened,” I said.
“I changed her flat tire,” Grant said, and Sophia laughed with a nod.
“Classic Grant,” she sighed, running a hand up his arm. When I raised a questioning eyebrow, Sophia leaned toward me with a sly smile. “Grant has a thing for rescuing a damsel in distress. If there’s a woman in trouble, he absolutely cannot help himself.”
“Hey, that isn’t really—” Grant began, but Sophia waved a hand at him.
“Oh, it is so, Grant St. John! The more of a mess the woman is, the more intrigued you are, and you know it.”
If I could have, I would have cartwheeled right out of the bar. Sophia’s next words sent me right over the edge I’d been getting closer and closer to through the course of the date. “Grant loves to be the knight in shining armor. I’ve never really understood his taste in women myself,” she said, and this time there was no mistaking the lingering look she sent my way. My cheeks flushed hot at her assessing gaze. I understood the meaning of her words. This wasn’t my first run-in with a woman who had her claws out.
I blew out a sigh. All I had wanted to do was go on a date with a man, and now here I was, on trial for how much of a mess I was. Of course, Sophia had no idea what I’d run from, the life I had fled or the circumstances I’d done it under, but that didn’t change the fact that her words cut me to the quick.
I glanced at Ben to see if he’d heard Sophia’s remark, but his focus was elsewhere. On Grant, which was odd. It made it hard to give the date my all when it looked like Ben’s new aim of the night was to befriend Grant.
With a strained smile I nodded at Sophia and speared an olive from the plate in front of me. It was going to be a long night.
* * *
This date was a nightmare,and it was halfway through my second gin and tonic and a third of my way through the antipasto platter that I realized I was unsure if Ben was trying to date me or Grant. The questions and the charm never ceased: where did he grow up? Who were his friends? Did he like racquetball? Favorite football team? Favorite vacation spot? What did he think of Aspen in comparison to the Alps?
I chewed on another olive and shot a sidelong look at Ben. What did Grant think of the Alps, eh? Grant didn’t strike me as the type of man who vacationed in Europe. The Appalachians, perhaps, but the Alps? Not a chance. Except I watched in shock as Grant answered Ben’s question with the authority of someone who had been many timesandhad a preference.
His gaze met mine to see me looking at him through narrowed eyes. Something wasn’t adding up. Sophia was no help at conversation, since she seemed to be hanging on every word that passed between Ben and Grant. I sighed and rolled my eyes while the other woman took every opportunity to press up against Grant. Sophia wasn’t a damsel in distress, not one bit. I reached for my glass with a frown.
There was nothing like drinking your sorrows away to really feel the romance. If I couldn’t have a nice date then I could at least get buzzed. I was mid-gulp and signaling to the server that I needed another when Grant broke through Ben’s barrage of questions to fix his attention on me.
“What do you think of Colorado, Aurora?” Grant said, taking a sip of his beer.
“Um...” I blinked, caught off guard from not having an active role in this so-called double date. “It’s nice,” I managed, and Sophia tittered.
“Just nice?” the other woman said.
