Page 37 of New Girl in Town
“Chit? What is this, a period drama?”
“Funny you should mention drama,” I retorted, glancing away toward the bar. Ben leaned against the counter, talking to the bartender while he waited for the next round of drinks. Beyond him, Sophia moved into my line of sight, all long legs and swinging auburn hair as she walked toward the table.
“Love and war, Aurora.” Grant placed his hand over mine, and I jerked in response. “I told you before.”
“You brought her here to make me jealous, didn’t you?” I jerked my chin toward Sophia.
Grant winced but nodded. “I did.”
“Real mature. This is why—”
“Why what?” Grant asked, taking my hand. “Why you won’t date me? You won’t even admit that you have feelings for me because of my age.”
“That’s not the only reason,” I replied, voice cracking. I dropped my eyes to where Grant held my hand and shook my head. “There are other reasons.”
“Like what?” He interlaced our hands together, and I wished I didn’t notice how good that felt. Ishouldn’thave noticed how good it felt. Not when I was here on a date with another man. “Tell me, because I really want to know, Aurora. Don’t think I don’t know why Ben is here.”
“And why is he here?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.
“Because he’s older than me. A nice, age-appropriate, boring choice for you to make. Real mature, Aurora.”
“So what? I want to make a choice, and I’ll settle for boring if I get to do that,” I said. Grant’s fingers tightened on mine.
“Oh, sweetheart…” he sighed, but I shrugged.
“You think I don’t like you?” I asked, giving his hand a jerk. “I do. Liking you is easy. I like you a whole hell of a lot, but that doesn’t mean this is easy for me. I left a man I was with for a decade, Grant. A decade. I’m learning who I am without him again, and it’s hard, and then you show up the day I get to Colorado, and it’s not fair.”
“Why isn’t it fair?”
“Because you’re perfect,” I whispered my voice cracking.
“Aurora, baby.” His hand dropped to touch my knee, but I moved back in the small space we had.
“Our dates are coming back.”
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
I avoided his eyes. “Ben’s here with the drinks.”
“Gin and tonic.” As if by magic, Ben appeared, and he placed a glass down in front of me.
“Thank you,” I murmured with a smile, which I was sure Ben didn’t notice was strained. He slid a beer toward Grant, who I saw make no secret about trying to catch my eye.
I had to get out of here. There was no way I was going to survive another minute at this table with what I’d blurted out to Grant running through my head.
Liking you is easy.
I snatched up my drink and took a deep gulp, keeping my eyes down on the table. If I didn’t look up, then I didn’t run the risk of giving anything more away.
“So what did we miss?” Ben asked with a little too much cheer for all the angst running rampant in my mind.
“Oh, probably just more talk about that partnership,” Sophia said, taking a sip from her cocktail with a flippant wave of her hand.
When Grant didn’t answer, Ben looked my way. “Aurora?” he asked, eyes moving over me for what felt like the first time all night. “Are you alright?”
I nodded but didn’t bother to stop drinking my cocktail. I was in the middle of another deep pull when Ben cleared his throat and gave me a confused smile when he saw my glass was now half-empty.
“Sooo….” He settled down next to me, but I didn’t answer. I was done with chitchat. I intended to swallow as much of this drink as I could on the count of three and then bolt. Any longer here and I might embarrass myself more than I already had.
