by Iona Rose
I type out a quick text to Matt explaining that I’m running a little late and ask for the address of the restaurant so I can meet him there. My phone rings almost the instant I send the message.
It’s Matt.
“I won’t be a minute,” I say to Chloe, hurrying out of the bar and into the street. I take Matt’s call. “Hello?”
“Hey. Where are you? I’ll swing by and get you,” he says.
I consider it, but the last thing I need is Chloe blurting out something embarrassing to Matt. “It’s fine. I’ll just catch a cab.” I hope the place isn’t too far away. I could really do without wasting my money on a cab.
“Well, if you’re sure…” Matt says.
I tell him I’m sure, and he gives me the address. I go back into the bar and ask Chloe if she's heard of the street.
She nods. “It’s not far from here actually. It’s only a five minute walk. Just go to the end of the block, turn right and keep going. What’s the place called?”
“The Herb Garden,” I say.
Chloe lets out a low whistle.
“What?”
“Well, let’s just say that if you had any doubts as to whether or not Matt’s really into you, you can let them go. That place is fucking expensive. Like millionaire expensive. If he’s taking you there on a waiter’s salary, he probably won’t be able to eat for the rest of the month.”
The thought should cheer me up. I should be happy to know Matt is that into me, but it doesn’t. I don’t like the idea of him spending half of his salary on trying to impress me. I would have been happy to go back to the diner we went to last night.
“Honestly Callie, the guy can’t do anything right in your eyes can he?” Chloe says, reading my expression.
“I just don’t like the thought of him spending so much money on me. It’s not like I can return the favor is it?”
“Just make sure you give him a b j he never forgets.” Chloe winks.
“Thanks, that’s helpful.” I laugh then pick my drink up and down the rest. “I best get going.”
“I’ll walk to the end of the street with you,” Chloe says.
We leave the bar. The fresh air coupled with the beer starts to take effect and I feel myself relaxing a little bit. I decide to just enjoy the night and see where it goes. If we decide on another date, then I’ll talk to Matt and tell him not to blow his budget this way again.
We reach the end of the block and Chloe and I part ways. I walk along the street, checking the names of the places as I go. I pass a few restaurants dotted amongst them are boutique shops closed for the night. A couple of the shops remain open. This is a part of town I rarely come to and it definitely seems like it’s getting more high-end the further along the street I walk. I pass a cocktail bar and another restaurant. Finally, I spot The Herb Garden. My stomach does a flip when I see Matt standing casually outside waiting for me.
He’s wearing a suit, an actual fucking suit. And I’m dressed like we’re going for a picnic in the park. This is seriously bad. I honestly think I would have turned and fled if it wasn’t for the fact that Matt has clearly spotted me.
He doesn’t look pleased to see me. He frowns when he sees me and quickly comes towards me, closing the gap between us.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
I already know the answer. He’s annoyed because I’m so underdressed.
“You said you were getting a cab,” he says, his voice sounding like he’s barely holding back his temper.
His words throw me. What the fuck? Why is he checking up on me? “I was only around the corner. I didn’t recognize the name of the street, but Chloe told me where it was. Since when did you start checking up on my movements?”
He relaxes a little and sighs. “I’m not checking up on you. I just don’t like the idea of you wandering around the streets alone like this,” he says.
My heart warms at his concern, my annoyance at him for checking up on me fades, and I smile. “Because you’re an international spy and you’re worried your arch enemy will kidnap me to teach you a lesson?” I tease him.
“Yes. Exactly that.” He leans in and kisses my cheek.
I get a whiff of his aftershave. His lips are warm on my skin and I instantly feel tingles going through me.
“Seriously though, I would have picked you up,” he says.
“It’s fine, I’m here now.”
“Yes, you are, and you look amazing by the way.” He smiles.
He holds his arm out but I don’t take it. He frowns at me. “What is it?”
“I don’t look amazing. I look like what I am – like I’ve come straight from college. I’m not dressed for this kind of place Matt.”
“Not true. You’d look amazing no matter what you’re wearing,” he insists.
I can’t help but smile. “Look I get that you’re being nice, but seriously, you’re all suited up and look at me. I probably won’t even get through the door.” I am most definitely regretting the flat sandals as well as the dress now.
“I know the owner. You’ll be fine,” he says with a laugh.
I’m not convinced.
Matt looks at me for a minute and then he grins. “Wait here a minute.”
“Why? Where are you going?” I ask.
He kisses my cheek again and squeezes my hand. “Just wait here.” He’s gone without another word.
I watch him walk through a crowd of people who stand outside of a bar laughing. I lose sight of him in the small crowd. I try to spot him again, but I can’t. I sigh. What the hell is he doing? I feel self-conscious just standing here like this and I move back to lean against the wall between the restaurant and the shop next door. I pull my phone out and pretend I’m doing something on it. I scroll aimlessly through my Instagram feed, trying to look busy. I keep looking for Matt, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
Five minutes pass and then ten. I’m starting to think Matt has mysteriously vanished again. I debate texting him but that would look too desperate. Finally, he reappears again. My jaw drops when I see him.
His suit is gone and he stands before me in jeans, a white t-shirt and a pair of grey sneakers. “There. You feel better now?” He grins as he comes back to my side.
“I — yes.” I laugh. “Where the hell did you get those from?”
“The store down the road.” He grins.
I shake my head, surprised by his gesture, but much more comfortable in what I’m wearing now. When he offers me his arm again, this time, I take it. “At least now, we’ll both get turned away.” I chuckle.
He laughs with me, shaking his head. We approach the restaurant.
The doormen greet Matt by his name and ushers us inside. The maître d’ also greets Matt by name and I start to relax. He wasn’t kidding. He really does know the owner. The maître d’ shows us to a table by the window.
Matt thanks him and takes my hand across the table. “Are you okay? If you’re really uncomfortable, we can go somewhere else.”
“I’m just worried about how expensive it is here,” I blurt out.
Matt laughs. “I told you, I know the owner. I get friend rates.” He looks around to make sure we’re not being over heard and then he leans in closer. “Order whatever you like and I only get charged for the appetizer. Seriously.”
I grin at him, starting to relax now. How expensive can an appetizer be? I begin to look over the menu. Everything sounds so delicious. I’ve barely even glanced at it when a waiter appears.
“Good evening. I have a delicate and delightful Sauvignon Blanc tonight sir, or of course I am happy to recommend a pairing with your dishes,” he says.
I force myself to remain causal, like I go to this kind of place all the time. But holy shit. He’s no waiter. He’s a sommelier. Even our restaurant doesn’t have a specific wine guy and we’re pretty high end.
Matt chats with him for a moment about the options then he turns to me. “Do you have any preference Callie?”
I shake my head, complete
ly out of my depth. “I’m happy to go with whatever you choose.”
Matt orders the Sauvignon Blanc.
When the sommelier walks away, I smile at Matt. “I am so out of my depth here. I would have ordered a glass of rose or something.” I laugh.
“Don’t worry about it.” Matt shrugs. “They rely on people being flummoxed by the options. The sommelier is there to upsell the expensive stuff to people who panic and take his recommendation that’s all.”
“Like you did?” I grin.
“Yeah, exactly. I mean go big or go home right?”
“Right!” I laugh. I go back to the menu and finally settle on the chicken and tarragon soup, lightly braised beef with seasonal vegetables for my main, and for dessert, chocolate lava cake.
Matt catches a waiter’s eye and gives him our order. He orders the duck pâté followed by a rib eye steak with mushrooms and a strawberry cheesecake for dessert.
Before we can really start to chat, the sommelier returns to our table. He opens the wine with a flourish and pours a taster glass out. Matt swirls the wine, studies it for a moment and then sniffs it. He nods his approval and tastes the wine. “Perfect,” he says.
The sommelier pours us each a glass and subtly moves away.
I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever get any peace when an older couple approaches our table. Matt frowns slightly but it doesn’t put them off. They hover over our table.
“I thought it was you,” the man says, sounding excited. “Let me buy you a drink. What are you having?”
“I’m fine thank you,” Matt says. He smiles at the man but it’s clearly a fake smile.
“I insist. I’ve been meaning to call you actually, and —”
“Look this really isn’t a good time,” Matt says, interrupting the man. He digs in his pocket and pulls out a card which he hands to the man. “Give me a call during business hours and we’ll talk.”
The man seems to notice me for the first time, and it suddenly clicks for him that Matt and I are on a date. He goes pink and begins to stammer out an apology.
“Really, it’s fine,” Matt says.
The man’s wife finally drags him away from us.
“What the hell was that?” I ask. “Who was he?”
“Give me two minutes,” Matt says, standing up. “I’m going to ask to be moved somewhere a little more private.”
I’m quite happy here, but I have to admit the idea of being somewhere more private with Matt appeals to me. I want to have him all to myself tonight and not have to keep fending off apparent members of his fan club.
I sip my wine too quickly while I wait for Matt to return. When he comes back with the maître d’ who leads us away from the table, I realize I am a little tipsy. The maître d’ takes us through an archway to a quiet dining room with only one other couple seated in it. He leads us to the table furthest away from them and apologizes before leaving us alone.
“This is better isn’t it?” Matt says.
I nod. It feels more intimate and I like the feeling that we’re almost alone here. “Who was the man at the table?” I ask again.
“I have no idea,” he says. “Maybe he had me mistaken for someone else.”
This doesn’t ring true at all. If he had mistaken him for someone else, then why would Matt have given him a card and told him to call him. Why does a damned waiter even have business cards to hand out? “You expect me to believe that?” I demand.
Matt shrugs. “I don’t know what else to tell you Callie. I don’t know who he was, let alone what was going through his head.”
“Okay,” I say. “Forget about him. I don’t know anything about you.”
“You know plenty about me,” Matt defends.
He looks uncomfortable, but right now, I don’t care. I’m getting sick of all of the secrets. I always thought a man of mystery would be hot, but now, I’m finding out it’s actually just frustrating. “I don’t know anything substantial about you. Tell me something about yourself. Something real. Or we might as well just call this date done now. For god’s sake, I don’t even know your last name.”
The waiter appears at that moment with our starters.
“The pâté?” he says.
“Me,” Matt says.
The waiter puts the pâté down in front of him.
“And soup for the lady,” he adds as he sets my soup down.
It smells delicious and I realize I’m starving. I pick up my spoon and taste it. It’s every bit as good as it looks. I am suddenly nervous, afraid to look at Matt. He obviously isn’t going to talk. And now I’ve laid down an ultimatum like that one, what do I do? Leave and save face but regret it? Or stay and have Matt think my words mean nothing?
“Hunter. My last name is Hunter.” Matt says.
I do look up then and he smiles. I feel myself returning his smile as he goes on.
“I grew up in Belfast,” he says. “I was seven when my family moved here. My parents were never particularly strict, but they insisted on manners. I guess my brothers and I were kind of a handful. I’m the eldest of three. Chance is two years younger than me, and then there’s Seb, he’s only a year behind Chance My family was pretty traditional. Dad went out to work and mom stayed at home to raise us.”
“Wow, your mom must be a saint!” I laugh.
“I’m not sure that’s how I would have described her.” Matt laughs. “But she was a good mother. She loved us all so much and we all knew it. And it’s because of her that I developed a love for food. She loved home cooking. She would make every meal from scratch and she would bake the most amazing cakes. She taught me to cook, she taught me how to pair flavors.”
“It’s funny, you sound more like you should be a chef than a waiter.” I smile.
“Maybe you’re right, but I have a love for people too. I like to be social, to work on the ground so to speak. I like seeing people happy.” He shrugs looking embarrassed suddenly, like he’s given too much of himself away.
“I know what you mean. Some customers make our job a pleasure don’t they? But boy, some of them make me feel pretty murderous.”
“Oh, yeah. I get that. I should maybe say, I like the nice people.”
Our waiter reappears with our main courses.
I thank him and dive straight in.
“How did you get into restaurant work?” Matt asks me.
I’m not sure how much to tell him. It’s not something I usually talk about, but then again, Matt has finally opened up to me a little and told me about his family. I guess I owe him the same courtesy. I can’t complain about him keeping himself closed off from me, if I do the same to him. “I just kind of fell into it. There was no particular love for the environment. I basically needed a job that paid well enough to fund my degree, and that had flexible hours. I had a choice; waitressing or bartending, and I decided I would have to deal with less drunken idiots in a restaurant than in a bar.”
Matt raises an eyebrow. “You pay for your own degree?”
“Yeah… my father left my mom before I was even old enough to remember him. And my mom died when I was eighteen, right before I started applying to universities. Our house was rented and we didn’t have money really. Her insurance policy barely covered the funeral and that was it. I was on my own.”
“I’m sorry,” Matt says.
I shrug. “I miss my mom so much. It was always just the two of us. But I’m not worried about paying my way. She always taught me never to get in debt and never to rely on someone else to keep me. I guess the lesson stuck, because I stick around at the restaurant. Even after…” I trail off as the waiter brings our desserts. I smile at Matt. “This looks amazing!” I line my spoon up with the top of the cake. “Are you ready for the ooey, gooey chocolate?” I grin.
“Ooey gooey?” Matt raises a brow at me.
“Yup,” I confirm as I push my spoon into the cake and the sauce spills out. “See?”
“I get it.” Matt laughs.
I try the cake and ma
ke an mmm sound. Without thinking, I scoop some up on my spoon and hold it out to Matt. “You have to try this.”
I expect him to take the spoon from me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he leans forward and I feed him the cake. He doesn’t take his eyes from mine as he does it, and I have a quick flash of those lips somewhere else, doing something else. Matt grins at me as I shift in my seat, well aware of the effect he’s having on me.
He offers me a taste of his cheesecake and I accept readily, ready to get my own back. I take the bite of cheesecake, which I have to admit is perfection, and I purposely get a bit of cream on my lip, which I then make a show of licking away. Matt smiles and shakes his head. I smirk at him and go back to my dessert secretly pleased that I can have this effect on him.
“Even after what?” Matt asks suddenly.
“Huh?” I ask back.
“Earlier, you said you stick around at the restaurant. Even after… and then you just kind of stopped.”
“Oh yeah. Even after Marco hit on me,” I say. I know instantly it was a mistake. Matt’s face clouds with anger.
“He did fucking what?” he exclaims.
I reach across the table and run my fingers over his hand. “Relax. It was a long time ago. I made it clear I wasn’t interested and he’s never tried it again.” I leave the rest unsaid. The constant dread that it will happen again. The way he treats me as a result of me turning him down. The way I felt cheap for days afterwards, even though nothing happened.
“So that’s why he’s such an asshole to you then,” Matt says.
I’m surprised he noticed. Part of me always thinks it’s all in my head, that Marco is a prick to everyone. “Maybe. Or maybe he’s just a bad manager.”
Matt still looks angry.
Now, I hate that I’ve ruined the mood of our date. “Look can we just forget I mentioned this? I really don’t want to think about work tonight.”
Matt nods slowly and then he smiles at me, a playful smile that sends shivers through me. “So what do you want to think about?” he asks.
“Oh, I don’t know. Something a little more appealing.” I grin.
“How about this?” He moves his chair around the table, moving closer to me, leans forward and kisses me.