Page 9 of Unsteady in Love

“I—”

The waitress, who only had eyes for him, interrupted him. I wasn’t sure if she even knew I was there until Holden motioned to me. His deep brown eyes filled with sorrow. He cleared his throat and nodded toward me. “Prue, you first.”

I’d barely completed my order when the waitress pressed her ample chest up against his arm. What the hell?

“I’m going to go use the restroom and give you two a moment.” I was unsure if I hid the jealousy that was running rampant through my veins, but in that moment I didn’t care. I needed to get away.

Briskly walking to the bathroom, I threw open the door and leaned against the sink. I had to remind myself that I didn’t care if women threw themselves at Holden or if he was interested in them. That ship had sailed a long time ago.

Splashing some cool water on my face made me feel slightly better and helped clear my mind of stupid thoughts about Holden. Still, I walked back to our table slowly, in no rush to have to sit across from the man I’d once loved or to see the waitress blatantly flirting with him.

“Are you okay?” he asked the moment I sat down across from him in our booth.

“Fine. Why do you ask?” I feigned ignorance of what he could possibly be talking about.

“You were gone…never mind. How’d the job interviews go today?”

“Ugh,” I blew out a frustrated breath. “The interviews were fine, but none of them are hiring. They said they’d put me on their list and call if there was an opening. I guess I’m going to have to expand my search to other towns around the area.”

“And you don’t want to do that?” His brows furrowed in confusion.

I didn’t want to explain to him why I didn’t want to get a job elsewhere.

“And don’t lie to me either,” he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Fine,” I huffed. “I can’t afford the gas to commute. I’ll probably have to sell the house to pay off some of the medical bills, so I guess it doesn’t matter where I find a job since I’ll have to move anyway.”

There was a part of me that wanted to move to get away from the memories of my dad. In every room, there were memories that felt as if I might buckle underneath the pain of missing him. But I was afraid if I left, I’d eventually forget him.

“Here you go.” The waitress set our food down in front of us. I swear she had undone a couple of buttons on her shirt to show off more cleavage. “If you needanythingelse don’t be shy to ask.”

I didn’t care how good the food was, I didn’t think I’d ever be coming back. I rolled my eyes and dipped one of the fried zucchini sticks into the marinara before taking a bite.

“Mmmm,” I groaned. It was amazing. The sauce was just the right amount of sweet and tangy and the zucchini was crispy. I wanted to gobble them all down before Holden could get his hands on them.

“Good?” he asked on a chuckle.

“So good. I was thinking I’d never come back, but damn I don’t think I could ever give these up. I don’t know how Alex brings Luke here. Maybe he goes incognito or something because I can’t imagine her enjoying herself if the waitresses all throw themselves at him.”

His brows knit. “Did you not want to come back because of the flirty waitress?”

“Flirting is an understatement. She acted like it’s her job to throw herself at good looking men.” I shook my head in disgust until I took another bite of zucchini goodness.

“Why would your neighbor's boyfriend need to come incognito?” he asked before he took a bite of the fried zucchini. “Damn, this is good.” He dunked his piece in the sauce again.

“I know, right! Don’t eat any more of them because I want them all for myself.” I laughed before pulling the plate closer to me and taking another bite.

“How about I get us another order?”

Oh, I was sure the waitress would love to come back and all but sit in his lap. Instead of saying that, I deflected. “If you want more, you probably should.”

“I definitely want more,” he said with so much conviction in his voice I was sure he couldn’t be talking about the food anymore.

Taking another bite, I chewed and chewed and chewed. I hated that I was jealous and still attracted to Holden. I needed to get a handle on my feelings. I didn’t want to get hurt again when he left in a few days.

“So, your neighbor's boyfriend?” he prompted.

“Luke, right. He’s on some super popular show on H@T and has done a few movies. We haven’t had cable in forever, and I can’t remember the last time I went to see a movie, so I didn’t know who he was until he introduced himself. I should have had Alex show me a picture. Not only is he famous, but he’s hot as hell. I don’t know how she handles all the women who throw themselves at him. Especially with the long distance.”

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