Nearly Broken (27 page)

As I scanned the menu
before me, I couldn’t help but notice that the wine section had
three times the pages than the dinner section. And sadly, I had no
idea what was up with the entrée choices. There were foods I
had never heard of before in food, like sea beans, dandelion greens
and Adirondack blue potatoes. And there were descriptions that
explained their preparation, but I honestly had no idea what to
expect if I ordered a meal that included words like reduction, au
jus, or fricassee. I finally cried uncle and told Nick to just order
my dinner for me. He teased me, but obliged my request. I don’t
know what he ordered and I didn’t ask, but when Tara, our
waitress, placed the unusual stack of colors and textures before me
in all its weird glory, maybe I should have. But he had never steered
me wrong in terms of food before, so I reluctantly forced a bite into
my mouth.

He actually chuckled
when my face went from cringing, expecting the most God-awful taste,
to blissful elation. Who knew all those funky colors slammed together
would be so yummy? I still didn’t know what it was, but after
reading that menu, I figured it was best not to ask if I was
swallowing pureed duck eggs with a chili hollandaise sauce or
whatever.

Ever determined to put
some weight on me like my mother, Nick ordered a chocolate soufflé
for dessert, saying we’d share it, but of which he hardly
touched. “Do you not like chocolate?” I asked, because
that soufflé was the best thing ever.

“I’ll eat
it, but I prefer my chocolate to have more of an espresso taste.”

Which totally
explained why he’d rather sip on his coffee than indulge in the
plate I was about ready to lick clean. “Ahh, thank God. Because
chocolate’s a deal breaker for me. Diss the chocolate and I’ll
diss you,” I threatened playfully, giving him a little wink.

“Don’t
worry. I’ll bake whatever you like. Just don’t expect me
to eat it with you every time.”

“You mean you’re
going to make me a special chocolate treat and then never try to
split it with me? You’re the best boyfriend ever,” I
mused.

“You can have
your chocolate. Just give me my coffee and we’re square.”

“Deal.”

I was just finishing
up the dessert when a new face entered the veranda, smiling and
making a beeline for us. “There’s a perky blonde heading
over.”

Smiling, he quietly
replied without turning to acknowledge her. “That’s
probably my boss, Anne. She’s the manager here.”

She was wearing a
sleek, dark gray, pencil skirt, a black sleeveless satin top with a
scooped neck, and had fancy jewelry draping around her neck and
dangling from her ears. Once she got to our table, her left hand
immediately went to rest on Nick’s shoulder as her blinged out
right hand extended to shake mine. “Hello, Megan. I’m
Anne. So nice to finally meet you.”

We couldn’t have
been more opposite. Where I had boring brown eyes, had my brown hair
pulled back in a sleek ponytail, and wore minimal makeup and jewelry,
Anne was a wavy blonde with blue eyes, long legs, a sprayed-on tan
and probably used every product ever made to paint her face. But
still, the whole package was extremely attractive. “Hi. Nice to
meet you, too.”

She leaned and dipped
her head just inches from Nick’s, confirming that there weren’t
any problems with the meal. Maybe Nick answered, but I was too busy
wondering why she was comfortable enough around him to be leaning
that closely to notice. Determined not to let her
attentiveness
get to me, I pretended to be enthralled by the assortment of potted
plants that grew along the glass. When Nick asked, “Right,
Megan?” I whipped my attention back their way. Guessing at what
he asked, I enthusiastically replied, “Dinner was delicious.
The chocolate soufflé was absolutely perfect.”

I guess I said the
right thing, because her smile lit up even more. And call me slightly
jealous, but her hand was not only still on his body, but had now
drifted closer to the back of his neck. Seriously, I wasn’t
sure how to react. Part of me thought normal girlfriend behavior
would be to get mad or territorial, but one, she was Nick’s
boss, and two, I really wasn’t that jealous. After everything
Nick went through to get me back, cheating on me with a girl that’s
been there while I wasn’t, just didn’t cause a whole lot
of worry on my part. I glanced into Nick’s eyes to ascertain
his opinion of Anne’s actions, and I caught his somewhat
annoyed expression and the infinitesimal head nod that asked me not
to say anything.

“Wonderful! I do
hope you come back again.”

“Oh, you can
count on it,” I replied cheerfully, trying to cover the
disdainful curiosity I felt for her at this moment.

“Great. Well,
you two have a good evening, and Nick, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night,
Anne,” he replied cordially.

Anne’s hand
finally let go, but only because her body progressed far enough back
it had to if it wanted to remain attached to her body. I planted my
elbows on the table and clasped my hands together beneath my chin,
sucking in the right side of my cheek. He loosely crossed his arms,
his lips forming a less than amused expression. “Is she gone
yet?” he asked quietly.

My eyes drifted to the
elevator. I kept a smile on my face until the door shut behind her.
“You know, when you said you got the executive position because
your boss loved you, I thought you meant that metaphorically. But
that is a woman with interest.” And a little cheeky too.

“I’m
sorry. I can’t believe she just did that. Sort of childish, in
fact.”

“What?” I
asked teasingly. “You really expect me to believe this was the
first time she’s been super friendly with you?”

Nick sighed. He
clearly didn’t want to have this discussion, but no way I could
let him off the hook now.

“She showed
interest when I first began working here and that was the same time I
showed my
dis
interest. I told her about you and why I had no
intentions of dating anyone else for a very long time.”

“You didn’t
date anyone while I was gone? Like ever?” Please say no.

“Are you kidding
me? No!” His arms uncrossed and hit the table as he leaned
forward. “I never… I couldn’t...” He closed
his eyes and groaned lightly. “There were a few people who
thought I should try dating someone. Anyone. They said it would help
me move on.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Dumbasses
didn’t know what they were talking about. It’s not
something you can just move on from. I did well just to get through
the day. If they couldn’t show me a body…then I wasn’t
giving up on you.”

Great. Now I felt like
crap. Was I seriously expecting a guy I didn’t even remember
seven weeks ago to never date anyone once I went missing? “I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. Even if you had dated
someone it’s not really my business. I was gone, and statistics
pretty much prove girls like me don’t come back, so I could
never be mad at you for trying to pick up the pieces and move on.”
Though I probably would’ve hated it if he had.

“Megan,”
he said gently, reaching his arms across the table. I dropped mine
and placed my hands within his firm grasp. “Had it been five to
ten years or so, yeah, I might’ve tried moving on. But not my
heart, my head or my soul was going to allow me to do that anytime
soon. Yeah, Anne flirted a lot, and I probably shouldn’t have
let her do it. I guess in a way the attention kept me from feeling
dead inside. I was never going to act on it, but I wasn’t
exactly pushing her away either. I swear she hasn’t done any of
that touching crap since we came back to Portland together, so I
don’t know why she did that tonight. Maybe she found you
threatening.”

Or maybe she thought
that by planting a seed of doubt, she could create a rift between us
and sour our relationship. Anne had probably spent God knows how long
laying the ground work, thinking I’d never come back and
eventually Nick would move on, straight into her arms. And now that I
was back, she probably did find me threatening, because I had so
easily what she had yet to obtain.

“But you’re
right to be annoyed,” he added, breaking my train of thought.
“I know I am. I’ll make sure she doesn’t do it
again.”

I nodded reluctantly.
In the span of like ninety seconds, our night fizzled like a sparkler
left out in the rain, so I guess Anne managed to knock us off our
high a little bit after all.

“Come here,”
he said, beckoning me with his arms. The other two tables had already
cleared for the night, so I had no problem sitting sideways on his
lap with his arms wrapped around me. His hand covered my cheek, his
thumb stroking it in a way that always made me close my eyes and moan
in comfort. “You know I love you, right?” I nodded, my
eyes still closed as I murmured my agreement. In my ear, the finest
of hairs tickled as his breath whispered, “Don’t ever
doubt that.”

I opened my eyes and
turned his way, my mouth immediately seeking his. We kissed under the
stars for a few minutes, until Tara came in to check on us one last
time and caught us. I’m not sure which of us girls blushed
more, and she excused herself with a huge grin on her face.

“What did I do
to deserve you, huh?” I asked, stroking his face. “You’ve
gone way beyond any and all expectations I could’ve ever had
for you.”

“Simple. You
make it easy to love you.”

Apparently his lips
weren’t quite sated either, and he kissed me one final time
before leading me back through the restaurant. Settling into the car
and pulling out into traffic, I said, “You know what? You still
owe me that memory of when we first met.”

A delicious smile
crossed his face. “That’s right. I did promise to tell
you that, didn’t I?”

I cocked my eyes
suggestively when he looked my way, then curled up in the seat to
listen to his version of our story.

Heels clacked
across the surface of the floor. Though the locker door blocked my
view, I could tell they were aimed for me.

“Hey, Nick,”
a soft voice cooed as I closed my locker and looked to the blonde
cheerleader that wore a hot pink bra under a white v-neck t-shirt.

“Hey, Nicole.
What’s up?”

“Just curious
if you’ve accepted any invitations to the dance yet.”

Shit. Not
another. I fucking hated Sadie Hawkins.

“Why?”
I teased, putting on the charm regardless. “Are you throwing
your name into the pool or are you asking for Melissa?”

“Melissa?”
she snapped, her nose crinkling like she smelled something foul. “She
asked you?”

Oops. Guess I
wasn’t supposed to mention that.

She was clearly
irked, but somehow managed to bury her fury long enough to smile and
sweetly say, “Yeah. I’m interested. Wanna go with me?”

“I honestly
don’t know if I’m even going yet, so let me get back to
you.”

“Alright.”
She tried to say it seductively, tracing her fingertips down my arm
as she pulled away. Ten bucks said she wanted me to reach out and
pull her back in a heat of passion. But I didn’t, and she
continued to clack her way down the hall, swishing her hips farther
than natural.

I sighed, my
attention then moving to the only other body in this part of the
hallway. Switching out books in a locker, a girl shook her head and
rolled her eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. I
had to admit though, she was cute and had curves in all the right
places, but she was most definitely not a senior.

Taking the steps to
close the gap, I casually leaned against the lockers next to her.
“What?”

At first, she
didn’t want to say anything, biting hard on her lower lip, but
she just couldn’t resist voicing that inner monologue of hers.
Dropping her bag to the floor, her hands went straight to her hips.
Somebody should tell her that’ll only give guys a legitimate
reason to check out that part of her body. Then again, maybe she
already knew that.

“Why don’t
you just tell them no? Why lead them on and make them think there’s
a chance when you know you’ll never take any of them?”

Sassy. I liked
that. “What makes you think I won’t take one of them?”

“Because if
even one of them caught your interest, you would’ve accepted on
the spot, before she asked someone else.”

Sassy and smart.
This was getting better and better. “So…if
you
were to ask me to the dance and I didn’t want to go with you,
you’d flat-out want me to reject you?”

She laughed
uncomfortably, looking to the floor and shaking her head. Scratching
her head, her eyes returned to mine. “Well, I’m not
asking you to the dance so it wouldn’t matter what you’d
say. But yes, a little honesty goes a long way.” Crossing her
arms and regaining her stance, she taunted, “Or are you too
afraid you’ll get knocked down a few branches in the popularity
tree?”

Was it wrong that I
found her cocked brown eyes and wicked half smile so damn attractive?
Spunky and hard to get was rare in this school and this chick was
oozing with both.

“So, you
wouldn’t go to the dance with me if I broke the rule and was
the one to ask you?”

Huffing, she boldly
replied, “And have a posse of Nick-rejectees ganging up on me
in the bathroom trying to stab me in the eyes with their stripper
heels? No, thank you.”

I smiled. She knew
my name.

“What’s
your name?” I asked, and it took her off guard.

Off guard, but not
stupid. “I’m not telling you my name.”

“Well, you’re
not a senior, so whose locker is this?”

Slowly, she
haughtily replied, “Maybe it’s my boyfriend’s.”