Page 199 of The Bluffing Game

“And I just wanted to say that I hope your dating experience on the app is proving to be all that you hoped it would be.”

“It’s early days, so we’ll see.” She offers me a wry smile. “Maybe I’ll meet the man of my dreams, or maybe I won’t.”

“Just as long as he’s rich, huh?” I say the words jokingly, but I can hear a note of bitterness in my tone, which I don’t like. “I hope you meet the man of your dreams.” That’s not really true, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Or maybe I don’t really want to know.

“Thanks,” she says. “It’s the table over there.” She points toward the front of the restaurant, where Lucia is standing. “That’s the lady.”

“I’ll go and figure it out,” I say with a smile. “I’ll text you the information for this afternoon.”

“Sounds good,” she says.

When I head past the bar, Jimmy the Fish looks at me, his eyes narrowed, and then he looks back at Sage.

“We were just chatting about her babysitting Toby,” I tell him.

“Ah, okay.” He nods and then looks back at her. “She’s got a really, really unique smile, doesn’t she?” he says.

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

I wonder if he’s questioning me. I wonder if he can see that I’m attracted to her.

“She almost looks like a woman I knew once,” he says, laughing.

“You know plenty of women, Jimmy.” I grin. “She’s too young for you.”

“I know,” he says, shaking his head. “And you know I don’t date anymore. I’m plenty happy, just working here and going home.”

“What about those dinners you’ve been having with Gracie?” I ask him.

He blushes and looks away. “We’re just friends—you know that. We became close when she was dating your dad, and I worked for him. I would never cross that line.”

“You don’t work for him anymore, Jimmy.”

“I know, but there are some loyalties that you don’t ever betray.”

“Okay,” I say. “Let me go and deal with this issue.”

I head toward the table and plaster a smile on my face because even though the customer sounds ridiculous, the customer is always right. I stop at the table and look down at an elderly lady with thick glasses and a sour expression on her face.

“Good day. I’m Dalton, the owner here, and I understand you had an issue with the beef stew.”

“I thought it would be tofu.” She points to the menu and taps it. “It says vegetarian option.”

“Available,” Lucia mutters under her breath. “It says available. You have to ask for it.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am. We’ll get you a veggie burger to make up for it. Can’t have you sitting here with a frown.”

I look at my watch. It’s eight p.m., and I feel a slight burden of guilt as I sit across the table from Brett at Kettle King.

“Didn’t you say you had to get back home?” he says, chugging the last of his beer.

“Sage is looking after Toby for me. It’s okay.”

I don’t mention to him that she had a date this evening. I don’t mention to him that I should have been back home hours ago. I don’t feel like I’m sabotaging her dating life, but a part of me doesn’t want her going on another date. Part of me is scared she will meet someone, fall in love, and I won’t even have a shot. A shot at what? I don’t know, since I am not looking for love or marriage, and I don’t have close to the amount of money she is looking for in a partner. But there is just something so easy in the way that we converse, in the way that we smile at each other.

“So, I’m going to speak to Toby’s mom tomorrow.” Brett leans forward. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

“I think you should handle this. I think maybe I’m the last person she wants to see right now.”