Page 103 of The Need to Know

“What about you? Paisley said you two were co-owners of something?” Gray probed.

Sabrina came back pushing a clothed cart with a bottle of chilled wine and a collins glass filled with a few peach wedges and the white sangria.

She set the bottle of wine on the table and dished out an empty wineglass, and handed me my wine.

While Sabrina uncapped the wine bottle, I took a sip from my glass. The wine was sweet to the taste with a strong peach liquored backing. Too much of it and I knew I’d be drunk.

“Paisley and I own a clothing boutique called Shéc,” I said as Gray accepted the glass of wine from Sabrina.

He tasted the wine and soon offered a thumbs-up, approving before getting back to me. “Chic?”

I took another sip of the sangria. “Yeah, but spelled S-H-É-C, kinda like she’s chic, because we sell women’s fashions.”

Intrigue lit up Gray’s face. “I like that.”

“So, outside of thinking of a master plan,” I joked. “What else do you do?”

Gray caught my lyrical jab and grinned some more. “Not much, I go out with friends, sometimes we get tickets and catch a football game, and a lot of time I’ll hang back at the crib playing the game.”

“Oh, you play video games?”

“Don’t judge. Don’t judge.” Gray held his hands up. “Warzone is the shit.”

“I-I don’t know what that means,” I admitted with a shy laugh. Alannah was a gamer when she had the time, but I’d never gotten into it. Outside of Corey, I didn’t know any other gamers.

“Call of Duty,” Gray tried to explain.

The idea of the game was familiar, but I didn’t get it. So I took another sip of my wine. “Okay.”

Gray laughed at me. “How about we get together some time and I can show you the ropes? Fair?”

It was a promise of more with still no added pressure.

“I’d like that,” I said.

“Okay, so video games for me, and what else for you?” Gray picked back up.

“I’m a little movie buff. I run a blog where I do movie reviews.”

“That’s cool. Do you really go in, or are you light with it?”

“I try not to be pretentious and super picky, but if a movie’s bad, I’ll break it down as best as I can,” I said. “What’s your favorite movie?”

“Uh…” He sat back and peered up at the ceiling, trying to think after being put on the spot. “Unbreakable, I guess.”

I gasped at the title. “Unbreakable is amazing. Love M. Night Shyamalan.”

Split was probably my favorite of the Unbreakable trilogy.

Sabrina came back to our table carrying a big brown tray. She leaned down and placed a large plate of parmesan and prosciutto mini tarts on the table. There were two little sauce bowls filled with optional dipping oil. Everything looked so good, but something made me stand from the table and shoot Gray an apologetic smile.

“I’m going to run to the ladies’ room, I’ll be right back,” I told him as I gathered my clutch.

In the far left corner of the room was where the restrooms were held, and I made my way straight over to the women’s room.

Inside, the room was vacant, giving me a moment of clarity. I let out a long breath as I walked over to the middle individual sink of a row of seven. In the oval shaped mirror, I found my reflection and I was antsy. Everything was going well, almost perfect, and still I felt empty.

I did the stupidest thing I probably could’ve done; I reached into my clutch and grabbed my cell phone. Ezekiel hadn’t called or texted during this date, but he’d left enough texts to let me know he was probably somewhere worried.