Page 60 of Inked Temptation
“I’m trying. I’m not the best at it. Because I’m nervous too, I don’t date anymore.”
“I’m going to go with what Penny said and name this our third date.”
Archer’s brows rose. “And why is that?”
“Because I haven’t been on a first date since Danielle, and that made me a little ill.”
Archer gave me a small nod in understanding. It didn’t say that he was upset by me mentioning my late wife. That wasn’t who Archer was. He wanted to talk about my family. He wanted to know more. And I had to let him.
Then again, Danielle and my daughter weren’t the only ghosts between us. A pretty large one had sent a wedding invitation to Archer. So I would have to live with that as well. But maybe that’d be okay. Maybe it would give me something to worry about that wasn’t my own problem.
“I made a reservation, so we should be fine.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Archer led the way, and though we didn’t hold hands, we did brush up against one another.
My heart stuttered slightly at that, trying to get used to this again.
“I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whispered as we walked up to the hostess stand.
“I’ll help you figure it out.”
The hostess led us to our table as everyone milled around, lost in their own dates and lives.
It was nice, the idea that we could be out in public, but not the center of attention. These days, when I was with others, I felt like they all knew my past and what issues I had.
I didn’t like feeling as if I were the center of their attention, so this was better.
Not being stranded alone and wondering what people were thinking about when they saw me.
The hostess sat us down and handed us our menus, and I looked over at Archer.
“Nice place. I’m kind of glad that we aren’t the only ones wearing jeans.”
Archer smiled. “It’s good food, not overly priced, but also not mom-and-pop diner priced.”
“That’s what I was just thinking.” I let out a breath. “I did check out the menu online beforehand. I was nervous.” There. I said it.
“Oh, good. Great. I did the same thing. I almost texted you to see what you were wearing, and then I realized that I was making too much of it.”
“I assumed if we were going to a place where I had to wear a suit jacket, you would’ve let me know.”
Archer just smiled. “Of course. I’m not going to lead you into a situation where both of us are out of our depth without advance notice.”
“Good. I trust you.”
I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but it was the truth. And with the way that Archer’s smile widened and his shoulders relaxed marginally, I realized it was the right thing to say.
I may have been a jerk to Archer at first to explain to him that he wasn’t the only one hurting, but I hadn’t paid attention enough to the fact that he was hurting. That fucker of an ex-husband had done a number on him. Well, I would have to be better than that. And remember that whatever Marc had done to Archer, Archer was coming out of it. And it was my job not to let him go back into it.
“Hello, I’m Trevor, and I’ll be your server for the day.” A young man with bright purple hair, wearing a white collared shirt, black tie, and one of those long server’s aprons came up to us.
He had an eyebrow ring and a nice smile. And with the way that he was looking at both Archer and me, it seemed that I wasn’t the only one admiring the way Archer looked.
I didn’t feel any jealousy, though, not with the way that Archer was smiling at me.
However, I did feel slightly old.
