Page 22 of Rich Girl
“Deal.” After all, I got nothing to lose.
The waitress shows up with my beer and Hayden’s water, which she presents with a flourish.
“Glass bottle.”
Hayden has this bewildered look on her face, like she doesn’t understand why the waitress is making a big deal out of. I have to look away and make a conscious effort not to laugh.
“What was that about?” she mumbles my way as soon as it’s just the two of us again.
I debate whether I should tell her or not. In the end, I figure why the hell not. I’m not going to see her again after tonight anyway.
“I’ve never heard of anyone ordering a bottle of water like you did. Very…” I think of a good word to use. “Snob-like.”
She lets out the cutest little snort. “Snob-like?”
“And you ordered the salad in the same way,” I point at her. “Greensalad.”
This time, she laughs in earnest. I am surprised how much more beautiful she looks when she does it. It makes her regular smile look practiced and everything she seems to hate. Plastic.
“Well, excuse me for wanting to make sure I get all my nutrients for the day.”
I shake my head at her. “Not as many nutrients as I’ll be getting from my steak.”
After that, things are much more enjoyable. We actually talk and laugh throughout the entire meal. At the end of it, I am shocked to admit that I genuinely like her.
That’s a problem.
SEVEN
I haven’t had sucha great evening in a very long time, if ever. Ray Parker is incredibly funny once he lets loose. And he is also a lot smarter than I’d given him credit for when I first sat down.
Disappointment is a hard pill to swallow. And after all the trouble I went through to get here, I couldn’t believe how little I actually liked him. He seemed judgmental of me, and he didn’t even try to hide it.
Now, it is two hours later. I don’t want the night to end, and I’m not sure how to tell him that. When the waitress brings us the bill, that is bound to happen.
He might appreciate my direct approach overall, but there is just one teensy tiny problem. He thinks I live here in the city. And after I talked about it all night, I can’t confess that I was lying. I don’t want to see the disappointment on his face when I do it.
“I got it,” he smiles at me when I make a move to grab the bill. He looks at it and lets out a long whistle. “Geez, girl, fifteen dollars for agreensalad. I don’t know how I’m gonna recover financially.”
“Shut up.” I throw a paper napkin at him.
“Wait.” He starts laughing, and he won’t stop. “The bottle of water cost more than the salad. This is great!”
I cover my mouth with both hands in an attempt to cover the smile on my face. Ray is laughing so hard, it’s making me laugh, too. And when he puts it that way, I guess it is a bit ridiculous that the price of the bottle of water I ordered is higher than the meal I had.
“You are terrible,” I mumble around my hands as my eyes go around, making sure no one is watching.
He drops some cash on the table, making sure to leave a good tip. I pay attention to see how much, and I have to admit that I am impressed. For one, none of my previous dates ever paid with cash. And for two, none of them left more than a fifteen percent tip. If I counted the bills correctly, I’m pretty certain Ray is leaving double that.
All this also brings my attention to his hands. I noticed earlier that his fingers were dirty. I was taken aback by it and was a bit turned off by him not making more of an effort and at least wash his hands before coming to meet with me.
Now, I as watch his hands, I realize that they are not soft looking and with perfectly manicured nails. They are the hands of someone who does a lot of physical work.
“Ready to go?”
I am startled by his voice when he addresses me again. My daydreaming about his hands made me forget that our date is over.
With a now forced smile on my face, I stand up and grab my purse off the table. Ray comes to stand next to me, putting a protective hand in the small of my back when he walks me to the door. The touch burns me through my dress, it is intimate, and it makes me forget that I was initially turned off by his hands. All I can do now is wonder how they would feel on my bare skin.
