Page 37 of Shaded Amethysts
The bewildered look the other woman gave me when I emerged from the stall let me know that she fully believed I had been talking to myself, or perhaps the toilet. I was too keyed up to pause to explain to her, so I washed my hands, accepted the warm towel she offered, left a generous tip, and scurried out of there.
I shoved my main course around my plate, certain it was probably one of the most delicious meals I’d ever been served, but unable to taste it. The dessert course of our meal was quickly approaching, and it was sure to be life-changing––hopefully in a good way.
When the waiter came to take our plates, Gage asked for the check. I quickly jumped in and asked in a squeaky tone, “What about dessert?”
“You barely touched your meal,” the waiter admonished me.
It was tempting to kick the rude man for the barely-concealed judgment in his words, but I gave him a fake smile and said, “That’s because I was saving room for dessert.”
“How about if we get dessert later?” Gage suggested.
I shook my head a little too frantically and said, “We’re already here, and I’m sure their desserts are delicious.”
“I’m too full to even think about eating anything right now,” Gage said.
I narrowed my eyes at him because the man had barely eaten any more of his meal than I had.
After giving the waiter an overexaggerated wink, I said, “I think it’s time for thebig finish.”
The formal man looked down at me as if I’d grown a second head. He obviously didn’t have any idea what I was talking about.Had Molly failed to call the restaurant to make the proper arrangements or had the restaurant’s management not gotten the word out to our waiter?
Either way, it was a frustrating snafu, but I was determined to see this through. I would just have to go forward without the planned string quartet serenading us in the background.
After clearing my throat, I said, “Gage, I have something important to––“
“Let’s go!” the love of my life interjected in the middle of my big planned speech.
I blinked blankly at him, unable to believe how horribly wrong this was going.
“But I wanted to ask you something,” I hinted, not bothering to hide my hurt feelings in my tone.
Gage placed some crisp bills on the table to cover the bill before suggesting, “Ask me later.”
I glared up at him as he stood, put on his coat, and said, “It’s getting late. Let’s get out of here.”
My gaze darted to the window. It wasn’t even starting to get dark yet. Sounding as perplexed as I felt, I asked, “Late?”
Rather than answering me, Gage took my hand and led me outside to his truck. While he was rounding the back of his vehicle after closing me inside, I said to the empty cab, “Well, that couldn’t have gone much worse.”
Silence permeated the truck as Gage drove us back toward the town limits of Brunswick Bay Harbor. I considered demanding him to pull over to the side of the road, so I could ask him without any distractions, but something about this entire evening felt off.
Had he realized what I was about to do and cut me off on purpose?That was the only explanation I could come up with for his behavior that made any sense, but that also meant that he didn’t want me to ask. The most logical conclusion to draw from that was that he didn’t want to marry me and was trying to save me the embarrassment of being turned down.
I was so distracted by my fuming that I didn’t notice at first when he turned the wrong way. We were a good distance down the narrow, winding lane that led almost nowhere when I said, “This isn’t the road to my parents’ house or your apartment.”
“I know,” he said simply. When I huffed out a frustrated breath, he added, “I thought we could go for a little drive.”
The last thing I wanted to do was spend more time cooped up in this awkwardly-silent vehicle with the man who apparently didn’t want to marry me. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared out the window as we drove down the narrow road that cut through the thick, green forest.
When Gage pulled the truck to a stop near my favorite lookout bluff, I spared a glance in his direction. It was surprising that he’d found this little tucked away gem on his own, but I hadn’t yet shown it to him.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he suggested.
Once I climbed down from his vehicle, I found myself unable to deny Gage’s outstretched hand. Even when I was mad at him, the blasted man was still completely irresistible.
He led me down a path along the river toward a clearing near the bluff. I was surprised to see a huge boulder that could easily serve as a bench seat that hadn’t been there the last time I was here. Admittedly, it had been years since I had hiked this path, but I couldn’t imagine how anyone had moved this behemoth of a rock.
“Close your eyes,” Gage said as I gasped and moved toward the bench.
