Page 102 of The Need to Know

Gray wrinkled his nose. “Not a fan of seafood—well, I don’t really know. I know my mom and sister are allergic to shellfish, so I’ve just avoided it.”

“Seafood’s amazing. Outside of chicken, I could live on seafood.”

“Polo pescatarian?” Gray quipped.

“With a burger every once in a while? Totally.”

He chuckled as he read over his menu. “Think I’ll just stick with a steak.”

I’d just settled on the captain’s plate, a dish of shrimp, scallops, and sautéed fish when our server came for our orders.

She had her dark red hair done in two pigtails that fell past her shoulders. Her brown eyes swept from Gray to me as a friendly smile tilted her rose-colored lips upward. “Good evening, my name is Sabrina, and I’ll be your hostess for the night. Are you ready to order?”

“Yes,” Gray and I answered at the same time. Gray shifted his attention me. “You can order first.”

I handed over my menu. “I’ll have the captain’s plate.”

Gray handed off his menu next. “I’ll take the New York strip, well done, with a baked potato as my side.”

Sabrina tucked both menus under her arm as she jotted down the orders. “Any appetizers?”

Gray looked to me, allowing me to speak again first.

“Uh, the parmesan and prosciutto tarts sound good,” I said.

Sabrina wrote it down. “And to drink?”

“Do you like wine?” Gray asked me.

I shook my head. “No.”

He glanced at Sabrina. “A glass of your best Cabernet Sauvignon, please.”

Sabrina bobbed her head and scribbled it down before turning to me. “Our white peach sangria is amazing. A lot of non-wine lovers actually turn it around for it.”

“Okay,” I said.

Sabrina smiled. “Awesome, I’ll put these in and be right back with your drinks.”

She hurried away and the date went on.

“So, you work with Paisley at the station?” I brought up.

“I’m just filling in for Ryan who’s on paternity leave,” Gray clarified. “I’m a producer, and currently I’m floating from station to station until I find my proper home.”

“I remember when I was younger I used to watch radio interviews on YouTube. I’m never in the car long enough to really sit and listen like that.”

“Right, which is why the YouTube market was so smart as a collab,” Gray agreed. “Ultimately, though, I’d like to create my own conglomerate, a radio station and record label. I think genuine Black ownership in the music world is missing, the understanding, nurturing, support, and protection of Black artists is missing.”

“Wow,” I let out. “I love that.”

Gray ducked his head, blushing. “It’s a dream.”

“It’s a great dream,” I told him. “Think of all the people who get screwed over because they don’t know financial literacy or how to read contracts. Money is important for a business to work, but sometimes that clouds the executives’ heads and it ruins artists.”

“Exactly, like, I want to be successful, build an empire, but I want honesty and integrity to be the root of it all,” Gray said.

I didn’t know a thing about him, but his dream and ambition was something I really admired straight out. Going into something with a desire to be honest and have a good heart sold me on what kind of person Gray was.