Page 18 of Banter & Blushes

“Luna! It’s been a while! Let me give you our best booth,” Natasha says.

She leads us to one of the four identical red leather booths in the back, and I wonder why this particular booth is dubbed the best.

“The menu board has our daily specials, as well as all the toppings you can order, if you need a refresher.” She points to the chalkboard sign above the register. “Decide what you want and you can place your order up front. Can I bring you some beverages?”

“I’ll have a root beer,” I say.

“What kind of beer do you have on tap?” Cade asks. He selects one of the kinds of beer that Natasha mentions, then she waltzes away. “I hope the pizza is as delicious as it smells,” Cade comments, giving me a knee-weakening smile.

“Trust me, it is. What toppings do you like?”

“Lady’s choice. I eat everything except for anchovies,” Cade says with a chuckle.

“How about pepperoni and jalapeño? That’s my favorite.”

He jumps up, motioning for me to stay put. “I’ll place our order and be right back.”

The man is an impressive male specimen, and several female heads turn to watch him as he makes his way over to the register. What went wrong with his date? Caroline sure blew it if she let a man like Cade get away.

Natasha brings the drinks over while Cade is still placing our order. Looks like Anders is manning the register now, sporting his usual grumpy scowl. “I heard he was good-looking, but that’s an understatement,” she says as she waggles her eyebrows at me. “Don’t let him slip through your fingers.”

Of course the town gossip chain has already filled her in on Cade Bainbridge. By now, everyone knows who he is.

“He’s only here for a couple of weeks.”

She rolls her eyes. “I bet you could convince him to extend his stay.”

Cade returns to the booth, cutting off the conversation. “Just give me a wave when you need refills. The pizza should be ready in about fifteen minutes,” Natasha says, then vanishes.

As soon as Cade’s butt hits the leather seat, I lean forward and say, “Tell me about the date with Caroline.”

He frowns and takes a long sip of his beer. “I think The Golden Anchor is jinxed. This date tied for the worst date of my life, along with the date with Gabrielle Moore.”

“Really?” I squeak. “Did she wear perfume you were allergic to?” Surely Althena made sure we didn’t have a repeat performance from Cade’s allergies.

“Thankfully no.”

“So what happened?”

Cade lets out a long-suffering sigh. “She took several phone calls and then cut the date short due to an emergency with a merger at her company.”

My eyes grow wide. “No kidding?”

“Between her being late and taking phone calls, we only had about five minutes of our date.” He takes another long draw from his beer, then plunks the glass back onto the table with enough force to indicate he’s still frustrated by the experience.

“I’m sorry, Cade.” How did this seemingly perfect match crash and burn? I’m starting to question my matchmaking skills even more.

“Let’s enjoy this pizza and not talk about my dating disasters any further,” Cade says. He stares at me with a teasing glint in his eyes. “Tell me about your day at Plot Twists and Perfect Matches. Surely your day went better than mine.”

Tapping my finger on my chin as if deep in thought, I say, “Well... I signed on a new local soy candle vendor. They create handmade candles customized with beachy sayings.”

“Such as?”

“The beach is calling . . . Good vibes happen on the tides . . . Salt water heals everything . . . Stuff like that.”

“I think I need one of those,” Cade says with a teasing grin.

I bite back a bark of surprise that he’s able to joke after his second horrible date. “I’ll set one aside for you as soon as they come in.”

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