“So have dinner with me tomorrow night,” I blurt out. It’s not a spur of the moment thing. I knew the second I kissed Callie earlier today I was going to take her to dinner tomorrow night, but I had planned on asking her a much better way.
“You’re meant to be on the closing shift at the restaurant,” she says.
“I’ll get out of it.” I shrug. “I’ll make something up.” I won’t make anything up. I’ll just tell Marco I won’t be in. It’s not like he can fire me for missing a shift.
“Okay…” Callie smiles. “It’s a date.” She blushes furiously as she realizes what she’s just said. “I mean—”
“It is a date,” I cut her off. I know I’m doing what I swore I wouldn’t do. I’m letting Callie get under my skin, letting her distract me from what I’m meant to be doing. But she’s worth it. I’ll find a way to still do what I have to do and get the girl.
She smiles at me, a warm, happy smile that makes my heart skip a beat. I want to tell her the truth, tell her everything. But I can’t. Not yet. I just have to hope that when I do, she can find it in her heart to forgive me for not telling her sooner.
Chapter Twelve
Callie
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to hold out on confronting Matt.” Chloe laughs. She takes a long drink of her beer and holds it in the air to sigh dramatically. “Ahhh, the sweet taste of victory.”
“Okay, okay, you got me!” I laugh. “But I did last a good few hours.”
“Yeah, but you spent those hours avoiding him Callie. How long did you last after speaking to him?”
“About four minutes.” I cringe.
Chloe laughs and shakes her head. “Look it all worked out for the best, didn’t it? He’s not married, and he’s clearly into you. Why can’t you just relax and enjoy it?”
Why can’t I? Last night couldn’t have gone better. Matt isn’t married, we’d had the best sex of my life and I will be going on a date with him tonight after a quick drink with Chloe. What more could I possibly ask for? “It’s just… I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. But I feel like he’s hiding something from me. Something big. He told me he wasn’t married and I believe him, but he still didn’t tell me who was on the phone that night.”
“Maybe he thinks he doesn’t have to explain himself to someone he hasn’t even been on a date with yet,” Chloe suggests, somewhat unhelpfully.
“Gee thanks for that Captain Obvious.” I laugh.
“All I’m saying is give him a chance. You haven’t told him about the skeletons in your closet, so why do you expect him to tell you every detail of his life?”
“I don’t have skeletons in my closet,” I point out.
“Really? So Matt knows Marco is a dick to you because you turned him down, does he?”
“Well no, but that’s hardly a skeleton is it? I haven’t told Matt because there’s nothing to tell, and I really don’t want to even think about Marco when I’m with Matt.”
“Exactly. And maybe he has something similar that’s not really going to affect your relationship, but it’s just messy and something he doesn’t feel the need to tell you.”
“Maybe,” I relent.
Truth be told, I kind of tuned out after Chloe said the word relationship. Are Matt and I in a relationship? It’s too soon to think that way. We had one great night, but that doesn’t mean anything does it? I don’t want to get ahead of myself and come across as some psycho that starts signing my name as Mrs Callie… Mrs Callie who? It occurs to me suddenly that I don’t even know Matt’s last name.
“Where’s he taking you anyway?” Chloe asks, interrupting my thoughts.
“I’m not sure… I just know we’re going for dinner, and he’s picking me up at seven.”
“Seven?” Chloe says. “You realize it’s six thirty now right?”
“What? No. Shit,” I curse, checking my watch and seeing she’s right. I planned on going home to get changed, but that’s out of the window now. It’ll take me until after seven to get back to my dorm room. I look down at my outfit. A pink dress that sits on my mid-thigh. It’s cute, but it’s not really restaurant cute. I shrug. It’ll have to do. “I’ll text him for the address of the place.”
I type out a quick text to Matt explaining that I’m running a little late and ask for the address of the restaurant so I can meet him there. My phone rings almost the instant I send the message.
It’s Matt.
“I won’t be a minute,” I say to Chloe, hurrying out of the bar and into the street. I take Matt’s call. “Hello?”
“Hey. Where are you? I’ll swing by and get you,” he says.
I consider it, but the last thing I need is Chloe blurting out something embarrassing to Matt. “It’s fine. I’ll just catch a cab.” I hope the place isn’t too far away. I could really do without wasting my money on a cab.
“Well, if you’re sure…” Matt says.
I tell him I’m sure, and he gives me the address. I go back into the bar and ask Chloe if she's heard of the street.
She nods. “It’s not far from here actually. It’s only a five minute walk. Just go to the end of the block, turn right and keep going. What’s the place called?”
“The Herb Garden,” I say.
Chloe lets out a low whistle.
“What?”
“Well, let’s just say that if you had any
