Page 12 of Zero Pucks Given
“What are the two most expensive items on the menu?” Josie asked.
“That would be the butcher’s cut ribeye, and the boar shank special.”
“I’ll take one of each,” Josie said cheerfully.
“Any salads or appetizers?”
“The caesar salad, please,” she replied. “And as for appetizers… You know what? Bring out one of each. We’ll share.”
“Very good, ma’am.”
After placing my order, I raised an eyebrow at Josie. “Getting your money’s worth, huh?”
“This is the part of the date I’m actually looking forward to, yes.” She sniffed the wine, then finished the whole glass in three gulps.
“Now I’m certain Bob put you up to this. Very funny. He got me.” I looked around. “Is the real date waiting somewhere else?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, pal.” Josie refilled her glass, noticed the dust on her fingers from the bottle, then wiped them on a napkin. “I won that contest. Now I just want to get it over with, all right?”
“Get it over with?”I frowned at her. “You cannot be serious.”
“I assure you I am.” She smacked her lips. “This wine is pretty good. How much did it cost?”
“Seven thousand dollars.”
A smile slid onto her lips. “Oh, yeah. Say it again, but slower this time.”
I chuckled. She was hotandfunny? Rare combination.
But then she returned her focus to her phone, outright ignoring me. I stared at the beautiful woman across the table. She wasn’t joking. This wasn’t a bit. She legitimately didn’t want to be here.
“This is real?” I asked. “You didn’t want to win the contest, so you’re just here wasting my time?”
“It’s a waste of my time too, buddy.”
“Yeah, but like…” I spread my hands. Was she going to make me say it? “If we’re comparing your time versus my time, one is significantly more valuable.”
She scoffed at me. “Whatever you want to tell yourself. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to close my eyes and savor the wine until our food comes.”
I gritted my teeth and bit back an angry response.
Thiswas the date I was forced to go on?
For fuck’s sake.
7
Josie
For fuck’s sake. This guy was more self-involved than I expected. Acting like his time was more valuable than mine.
I mean, sure, itwasmore valuable than mine. But it was a dick move to actually say so out loud.
We sat there in silence, drinking our unspeakably-expensive wine. The bottle was empty by the time the appetizers arrived, so I ordered another.
“Unfortunately, that was the last of that vintage from our cellar,” the server explained. “It was a limited release, you see. Quite rare.”
“Oh, I do see,” I said in a fake-haughty tone. “You did a good job selecting this bottle. Pick out another one for us?”
