Page 54 of Ocotillo Kisses
She gave a short laugh as she reached for the wine list. “I understand that all too well.”
He considered the menu, not particularly hungry. Not particularly wanting to talk about work, either. Not wanting to think about filling his father’s boots.
Yeah, he was feeling a little maudlin. The start of the day hadn’t helped, but he wanted to elevate his mood, for Britt’s sake. God knew they wouldn’t have much more time together.
He closed his menu, pushed his shoulders back and looked at her. She looked sideways at him from her menu and gave him a little smile.
“What?” she asked.
“What what?”
“What does that look mean?”
“I was just thinking that when we were dating before, this would have been the height of sophistication for us.”
She considered him a moment before answering. “It’s still pretty fancy for a lunch on an errand day.”
“Yeah, but you were talking about some of the places you go in Houston. This is pretty low-end.” Again showing she didn’t belong here.
She sat back in her chair. “Con, why are you doing this?”
“What am I doing?” He was interrupted when the waitress came over to take their order. He’d decided but Britt hadn’t, except for her wine, so she ordered that and the waitress left.
“You keep comparing our lives,” Britt went on without missing a beat.
Busted. “What? I don’t.” Why was he lying about it? And she knew he was, because she angled her head just a bit and narrowed her eyes.
“You do. You seem to think I judge everything here because of what I’ve been doing in Houston.”
He was doing that, only because he was trying to picture her coming back here to stay. To stay with him. He already knew that wasn’t a possibility so why was he torturing himself?
“Maybe it’s because I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a city like Houston, especially after living here all your life.”
“Well, you know.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and turned the page of the menu. “It was an adjustment, but you know me. It didn’t take me long to go exploring.”
He did know that about her. That trait was part of what had drawn him to her then.
“But you’re the one doing the comparisons, not me,” she pointed out.
“You can’t tell me you don’t think about how different your life would be if you’d stayed.”
She lifted her glass of water, set it down again. “But I was never going to stay. I was always going to go.”
The difference was, he was supposed to go with her.
“We decided not to linger on the past, right? To get to know each other, who we are now.” She opened her menu again. “Can we stick with that agreement?”
He met her gaze. Like when they were young, her energy still drew him, and yes, he wanted to know who she was, wanted her to know who he became. He gave a short nod, and got a smile in return before she gave her attention to the menu.
“What was it you needed to pick up?” she asked once they had placed their orders.
“What?”
“You said you had something to get in town. I was just wondering where we were heading after this.”
“Oh, ah.” He’d completely forgotten he’d said that. “It’s no big deal. We can head home after this.”
She leveled a look at him. “You just didn’t want me to drive.”
