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She dressed deliberately, not wanting to look like she was trying too hard, but also not wanting to look sloppy, either. She chose a long-sleeved, cream colored T-shirt with a whimsical drawing of a daisy on the front and paired it with khaki green, wide-legged cargo pants. Her hair, which had been straightened that morning, was now casually tucked behind her ears, putting all the attention on her subtle make-up and the lipstick she put on at the last second.
When she answered his knock promptly at 7 p.m., he practically barreled his way into her apartment, pushing her backward a little bit in the process, while holding a bottle of Merlot in one hand.
“What are you—”
“I don’t want to be seen,” David explained in a rush, looking over his shoulder before closing the door swiftly.
“You mean by Dolly?”
“To you, she’s ‘Dolly’. To me, she’s ‘Mrs. Harte’.”
Paige couldn’t completely stop her smile; Dolly had been on fire the other night.
“Is that funny?”
“No.” Clearing her throat, Paige tried to squash all traces of amusement. “Not at all.”
“That woman’s a menace,” David complained.
“Because she gave you a hard time the other night about your hair? You poor thing.”
He gave her a look that said he didn’t appreciate her minimizing the trauma he’d gone through. “It was more than just my hair. She threatened to call the police on me and what did you do? You hid in your apartment and let me fend for myself.”
“I figured you could hold your own … and you did.”
“Hmm.” David frowned. “I think I get it now.”
“Get what?”
“You were hoping she’d chase me off, weren’t you? You were rooting for that barracuda.”
“What? Of course not.” She did her best not to laugh. “What a terrible thing to say.”
“Oh, my God, you totally were.” He shook his head as if disappointed in her actions. “You should’ve known nothing was going to chase me away after our world-class make-out session. Not even that barracuda.”
Even though it was pleasing to hear him call it ‘world-class’, Paige knew she had to shut him down and narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought we had an agreement not to continue that particular conversation.”
“I was only referencing it.”
“How about we don’t ‘reference’ it, either?” she asked, just as a timer went off in the kitchen.
His head instantly swiveled eagerly toward the sound. “I hope that means my victory dinner is ready.”
Before she could answer, he was already making tracks down the hall, leaving her to follow him into her own kitchen. The only thing that kept Paige from being annoyed by this was the opportunity it provided to check him out without having to be discreet in any way, which she took complete advantage of despite knowing she shouldn’t.
He was wearing the pants from the other night and she couldn’t help but wholeheartedly agree with Dolly’s assessment that he wore them well. Did he, ever. He also had a shirt on that Paige had picked out for him when they were married, and while she didn’t know if he’d worn it on purpose, it made her smile to see it.
They fell into an easy, familiar rhythm, which probably should’ve felt strange, but didn’t. David took care of opening the wine and pouring it into two glasses before moving on to setting the table, while Paige got all the food ready and arranged it on the island.
A few minutes later, as they sat down to eat, he gazed at the array of food he’d piled on his plate with true appreciation and sighed with pleasure. He could see how much effort she’d put into the meal—the sauce was homemade (from her grandmother’s recipe), as were the meatballs, and the green beans had not come from a can. Even the salad appeared to be relatively ‘homemade’ and not from a pre-packaged bag. “This looks fantastic.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you.” He raised his glass and waited for her to do the same, before announcing, somewhat grandly, “Here’s to your lack of bowling skills, which made all of this possible. Cheers!”
Her jaw dropped as he clinked his glass to hers while she stared at him. Then, seemingly oblivious to the fact she was practically glaring at him, he took a drink of wine before setting the glass down and beginning to eat with enthusiasm.
She cleared her throat. “What was that?”
