Page 11 of Cade

Chapter Five

April

April sat in the waiting room of the updated and newly reopened Blind Date restaurant, waiting for Cade to show up so they could be seated. She checked her watch again and note that it was already ten past the hours. The Cade she remembered was never late to anything.

“Are you still waiting?” Kayla stopped next to her.

April nodded. Even if she didn’t want to have Cade’s friends think poorly of him because of her, there was no way out of this one. He wasn’t here.

“Maybe he got the time wrong,” April offered.

“Unlikely from this person. It’d be more likely that something happened,” Kayla, distracted, waved that thought off. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

April was glad that she wasn’t the only one worried about him. She’d been pushing her worry to frustration, reminding herself that Cade had stood her up before with the intention of it being forever. Now that Kayla also seemed concerned, April let herself slip back into worry.

“Ma’am,” the host tapped her shoulder. “We’re ready to seat you now.”

“Oh, umm, okay.” She stood and dusted off her skirt.

The man led her back through the dark heavy curtains where another man waited. She knew the concept behind the restaurant, but being here was completely different.

The new man spoke, telling her to put her hand on his shoulder while he led her through the darkness to her seat. It wasn’t as dark as she thought it would be, a soft glow illuminated tables which, if you gave your eyes time to adjust, would be enough to navigate.

“Miss, your table is to your right and your date is already seated.”

She took her hand off the man’s shoulder and slid into a booth’s bench. It was weird not to be able to see anything, and she was thirsty, but scared to reach for her cup for fear she’d knock it over.

“I’ll be back in a moment with waters and your dishes,” the man left them there.

April looked across from her, trying to make out Cade across from her. “Umm, hi,” she said.

Cade grunted. “This shouldn’t take too long. I think if we stay too long, it won’t be as easy for them to believe that we didn’t work out.”

Taken aback, April had to clear her throat before she could speak. “Sure. Makes sense.” She was the fool for thinking they could have any kind of normal conversation. He had suggested nothing like that. She was the fool here for expecting anything else.

Silence hung over her head like a rain cloud, leaving what was already an awkward situation even worse. It was suffocating to sit completely quietly and not even have the body language of the person across from you to go off because you can’t see them. Well, she had an outline, but that was barely visible.

Their salads were delivered, and the silence continued. It wasn’t until she took her first bite that Cade finally broke the silence.

“Sorry, I was running behind. I had some family stuff to take care of.” His words were plain, but his tone showed his anger and frustration.

“With your father?” April asked, not expecting an answer.

“Always,” Cade confirmed.

Well, it explained the bad mood even if there was nothing she could do about it. It wasn’t like they would be seeing each other again. She was the one that hyped this night up in her head, thinking that they could act normally to each other, like an actual date.

She should have known better than to think anything would ever be different with Cade than the man that had left her. Instead of dwelling on what she’d done wrong, because it had to be something, she pushed her salad around on her glowing plate and waited for the right amount of time to pass before she could leave.

“How is your food?” Cade asked.

April shrugged and immediately felt her face redden. He couldn’t see her. “It’s okay. I’ve eaten food from here before, so good as normal. I mean, it’s not bad at all. I like the food here. I just don’t think I’m hungry tonight.”

She rambled when she was nervous. Normally, it was something she could work through to control. However, not with Cade. She barely managed a breath between her words, so of course she’d be looking like an idiot in front of him.

Cade’s chuckle had her face on fire. It was bad enough that she knew she’d rambled, but he could have kept his laughter to himself.

“You haven’t changed at all,” Cade said.

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