Not For Me

by Laura Jardine

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Grant muttered. He opened the car door. “There are over a million women in Toronto. It shouldn’t be surprising that one of them would go on a date with me.”

  “If she asked you out, she must really like you.” His stupid little brother was still laughing.

  “No shame in being asked out by a woman.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t what had happened.

  “Didn’t say there was, man. What’s her name?”

  “Kristy.” Grant got into the car and slammed the door.

  Jon knocked on the passenger’s window, and Grant reluctantly rolled it down.

  “If you can’t do next Saturday, that’s okay.”

  “I’ll try to move my date to the evening.” That would make it more like a real date.

  “Hey.” Jon snapped his fingers. “Hey, man, you zoned out. Thinking about her, eh?”

  “Can’t wait to see what kind of bet you and Sheila come up with. Really can’t wait.”

  “Try to avoid long silences. Other people find them awkward.”

  “I don’t think that’ll be a problem.” Kristy didn’t seem like the type to allow that to happen. And he didn’t mind because it took the pressure off him.

  “Do you become a chatterbox around her? This I need to see.”

  Grant rolled up the window and turned the key in the ignition, and Jon ran toward the house. This “date” was very exciting news, apparently.

  Chapter 2

  “SkyView? Is that the one on the top floor of an office building?” Kristy pressed the phone to her ear and lay back on her bed.

  “That’s right,” Grant said.

  “Isn’t it rather fancy? And I thought we were doing lunch?”

  “I’m babysitting my nephew in the afternoon.”

  Wasn’t that sweet?

  “Dinner is fine,” she said, “but we can go somewhere casual. It’s not like this is a date.”

  “Of course. But let me prove I can plan a nice date. And that I’m not broke—I’ll pay.”

  “If you’re sure.” He must really be interested in Maya if he was going to all this effort. “I’ll meet you there?”

  “Is seven thirty okay? I’ll make reservations.”

  * * * *

  Kristy took a while getting ready—she finally decided on her favorite black dress, strappy silver heels, and chandelier earrings—but still got to SkyView early.

  She saw Grant as soon as she walked in. He sat at a table for two by the window, resting his chin on one hand and looking outside. He wore a dark, collared shirt and looked particularly handsome. Her heart did a little leap. A perfectly normal response to an attractive man, but it did not mean she was interested in him, despite Allison’s insistence otherwise.

  She walked toward him. “Hello.”

  He whipped his head around. “You’re early.”

  “Which makes you very early.” It was seven twenty, and he’d already ordered a glass of red wine.

  She slid into the chair across from him.

  He frowned slightly. “Would Maya like if I pulled out her chair for her?”

  “I think so.”

  “Okay.” He nodded and looked upward, as though committing this to memory.

  She was a little jealous of Maya. Just a little.

  Last weekend he’d had a little stubble, but today he was clean-shaven aside from the ’stache. Both looked good on him. However, clean-shaven was probably better for kissing.

  Whoa. Where had that come from?

  “You look very nice.” He smiled.

  “Oh. Thanks.” Instinctively, she reached for her hair—it was up today—then dropped her hand and picked up the menu. “So what’s good here?”

  “Everything I’ve tried is good. I’ve been here a few times.”

  They studied their menus in silence. She looked up at him once, and his brows were knit as though he was concentrating very hard, even though he was just reading a menu. She lowered her eyes and read it over again. Everything did look wonderful, so maybe it required a lot of thought to make a decision.

  “What are you getting?” she asked.

  “Steak.”

  “Are you one of those men who always order steak?”

  He shook his head. “No. Just feel like it today.”

  That was good. Maya had once broken up with a guy because he only ate steak when they went out for dinner. And because he was a scumbag, though it had taken her six months to realize that.

  “I was thinking of the seafood linguine,” Kristy said. “But the duck also sounds good. I wonder what the soup of the day is? I was thinking of getting soup to start. And I can’t decide whether I want a martini or white wine. Do you know much about wine? I drink it on occasion, but I don’t remember the difference between Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling and Chardonnay.”

  When she was nervous, she talked too much and forgot to leave pauses for the other person to respond.

  “I don’t know much about wine,” he said. “The soup of the day is curried sweet potato. I heard the waiter recite the specials to another table.”

  “That sounds good. You know, I worked as a waitress after university for a year. But I hated it. Well, I hated the hours and—I guess I should figure out what I’m getting.”

  She decided on the soup and seafood linguine, and the waiter came to take their orders after she’d closed her menu.

  “So,” she said to Grant. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get down to business.”

  “How do you plan to check me out? What do you want to know?”

  “Tell me about yourself.”

  “I hate that interview question.” Grant was bouncing his right leg under the table. Presumably, that’s what he did when he was nervous. And he looked so serious—no hint of a smile.

  “It’s not a job interview.”

  “No, it’s worse. A totally unfamiliar social situation.”

  She wasn’t sure whether to laugh. “Yeah, for me too. I promise you, it’s not a habit of mine to pick up strangers in bookstores. Either for myself or for my friends.” He wasn’t making a move to answer her open-ended question, so she said, “What about your family? Tell me about your family.”

  “I have a younger brother. He’s married and has a two-year-old boy. My nephew, whom I was looking after earlier.”

  “Did he like the chameleon book?”

  “He liked eating it.”

  She laughed. “Your parents?”

  “They’re retired. Everyone lives in Toronto.” He shrugged those big shoulders of his. “That’s about it.”

  “That’s all you want to say about your family?”

  Under the table, he was still bouncing his leg. She tapped her foot against his, and he stopped.

  “I’ll tell you about mine,” she said. “I have a brother and a sister, both older. My brother’s in the military. He’s stationed at Base Borden. My sister does research for a pharmaceutical company. I don’t see her very often because she lives in Vancouver. But when we get together, we have a great time. We weren’t close when we were young. I used to borrow her clothes all the time, and she hated it. Especially when I tore her favorite dress. I tagged along when she went out with friends, which she didn’t like either. But we’re cool now. She’s engaged, and I’m going to be a bridesmaid, but they haven’t set a date yet. My parents—”

  His phone started dancing across the table—it was on vibrate. Probably good to have her monologue interrupted.

  “Go on,” he said. “I don’t need to get it.”

  “It’s no problem. Take the call.”

  He picked it up and looked at the screen. “It’s my brother. I really don’t—”

  “Let me talk to him.” She plucked the phone out of his hand. This would be a great way to learn about his family.

  “I prefer you didn’t,” he said quietly.

  She’d already pressed Talk. “Grant’s phone.”

  There was muffled laughter on the
other end. “Is this Kristy?”

  Apparently Grant had told his brother about her, which suggested they were close. Something that hadn’t come across when she’d asked about his family.

  “Yes, it’s Kristy.”

  Grant’s brother yelled something away from the phone. It sounded like, “He wasn’t lying, honey.”

  “Sorry, I don’t know your name.”

  “Jon.”

  “Well, Jon, your brother isn’t telling me much about himself.” Kristy assumed Jon knew the details of this bizarre situation. She sure didn’t feel like explaining it again.

  Grant glared at her and shook his head.

  But Jon seemed quite happy to talk. “Embarrassing stories? Would those interest you?”

  “Oooh, yes. But I can’t imagine he has any embarrassing stories.”

  Grant stood up, knocking the table in the process, and nearly upsetting his wine and her martini. He placed a hand on each glass to steady them and continued to glare at her.

  Then he stalked off, heading out the doors to Toronto’s highest patio. She thought he might be going to have a smoke—that would be a major strike against him as Maya wouldn’t go for a guy who smoked—but he just looked broodingly over the city, hands shoved in his pockets.

  Jon was reciting a long list of stories he could tell.

  “I think I pissed him off,” she interjected. “He walked away at the mention of embarrassing stories.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he still likes you.”

  For a split second, she considered that Jon thought this was an actual date. But she quickly put those thoughts aside and focused on learning what she could about the guy she was determined to set up with her friend.

  *

  Grant looked out at the lake.

  This was not going well. He’d gotten to the restaurant early to calm himself, but then she’d shown up early too, looking so beautiful. And still determined to have him date Maya.

  Now Kristy was talking to Jon, who’d probably confuse her by mentioning that he thought Grant was on a date. Then there were the stories from his childhood. Likely Jon would tell her about the time Grant had said very loudly at a parade, “Mommy, why isn’t that horse wearing a diaper so he doesn’t shit all over the ground?” It was his family’s favorite story, and it was told far too often for Grant’s liking. Jon hadn’t even been one at the parade, so it was impossible that he remembered it, but that wouldn’t stop him from telling Kristy.

  Or maybe Jon would tell her that Grant had lost his virginity in a snow fort. Grant wished he’d never told his brother that, or anything about his sex life or current lack thereof.

  He turned away from Lake Ontario and looked into the restaurant. Kristy was still on the phone, and she smiled and waved at him. He nodded back and attempted a smile. But she was on the phone with his brother and, from the look of things, very much enjoying the conversation, and he had trouble putting a genuine expression of joy on his face. Because yeah, he was jealous. Stupid, perhaps, but there it was.

  Well, time to go back in there and do the best he could.

  When Grant sat down, she said to Jon, “He’s back. I should go…Do you want to talk to him?…Okay. Nice to talk to you, too. Give me a call sometime.” She put the phone on the table.

  “He’s married,” Grant said.

  “I know. You mentioned it.” She took a sip of her martini. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t thinking of that at all.”

  “Good.”

  Perhaps he’d spoken a bit harshly because she frowned.

  “Anyway,” she said, “he said he’d call you tomorrow.”

  Yeah, he knew Jon would call tomorrow and press him for details. He just couldn’t believe his brother had called during his non-date.

  “What sort of things did he tell you? The horse-and-diaper story?”

  “He sure did.”

  Grant shut his eyes. “I knew it.”

  “Come on. You were three. It was hilarious.”

  Maybe it was. But not the kind of thing he needed Kristy to hear.

  She reached over to touch his arm. “And if you didn’t want me to know about it, you shouldn’t have brought it up. Because if Jon hadn’t told me, I would have made you tell it the instant you said ‘horse-and-diaper story.’”

  He chuckled. “I suppose you would have.” The feel of her fingers on his arm lingered, distracting him from the conversation. He finally forced out some words. “What else did he tell you?”

  “He told me about some of the things you built when you were younger. Like a train for a Lego competition and a very impressive snow fort.”

  Oh no. “What did he tell you about the snow fort?”

  “Not much. Just that it was in the local paper.”

  Yes, he and Callie had had a good laugh about that. Thankfully Jon hadn’t mentioned what Grant and Callie had done in the snow fort.

  “What were you afraid he might have told me?”

  Grant shrugged.

  “Okay. I won’t ask.”

  “I think you owe me a story now,” he said.

  A slow smile spread across Kristy’s face. So pretty. “I took the kitchen scissors to my sister’s favorite teddy bear when I was five because she wouldn’t let me play with her. I took out all the stuffing and left a mess of teddy-bear guts on her bed. We laugh about it now, and my parents love telling that story. But it’s not an embarrassing story, although I’m not sure yours was all that embarrassing either.”

  “You don’t—”

  “My brother caught me in a heavy make-out session with my boyfriend when I was fifteen. He came to tell me dinner was ready. When he opened the door to my room, he shrieked like a child. Embarrassing for both of us.”

  She was blushing and looking at the floor. Grant wanted to touch her arm like she’d touched his, but he didn’t trust himself not to get carried away. He definitely wouldn’t mind a heavy make-out session with her. In fact, he’d thought quite a bit about just that over the past week.

  Kristy had talked to Jon for fifteen minutes and heard all the crap that was normally reserved for meet-the-parents dinners, while he’d brooded on the patio. And she was still here. He wasn’t quite so nervous now.

  “What else do you want to know?” he asked. “I’ll try to do a better job of answering this time. But don’t tell me too much about Maya because I want to ask her all those questions myself.”

  Complete bullshit, of course. He didn’t want to go on a date with Maya; he wanted Kristy. He wanted to go out on the city’s highest rooftop patio and kiss her—it was nearly sunset—wanted to have her beneath him, wanted to wake up next to her in the morning.

  There was no way he’d like Maya more than Kristy.

  * * * *

  The pasta was delicious. It took Kristy about fifteen minutes longer than Grant to eat—she was always a slow eater, in part because she talked a lot.

  By the time she finished, she’d asked him a fair bit about his friends and job and interests. And he had this great way of listening like whatever she was saying was the most interesting thing ever, like he was paying attention to nothing but her.

  She’d just set down her fork when a man said, “Grant!” She turned to see a middle-aged couple walking toward their table.

  Grant jumped up and shook the man’s hand.

  “This is my friend Kristy,” Grant said. “Kristy, this is Samuel.” He turned to the woman standing beside Samuel. “And this lovely lady is your wife?”

  She nodded. “Miranda.”

  “You told me this place was good, so here we are,” Samuel said. A brief conversation about business followed. “I’ll let you get back to your date.” He winked at Grant.

  Grant didn’t correct him. “Wednesday. I’ll have it for you.”

  Kristy watched the entire exchange with interest: Grant seemed like he was putting on an act.

  “A client?” she asked, once Samuel and Miranda were out of earshot.

  “Yes. Sor
ry about that.”

  “No worries.” She cocked her head. “Why don’t you like working for other people?”

  He was silent, but he seemed to be considering what to say next, so she said nothing.

  “My dad was diagnosed with cancer several years ago,” he said at last. “At my old job, I didn’t have the flexibility in my schedule to go with him to appointments, that sort of thing. I didn’t like the bureaucracy and office politics either. Now I’m my own boss—I even have three employees now—and I can do whatever I want.” He smiled faintly.

  “Your dad—”

  “It’s in remission.”

  “I’m glad.”

  The waiter came over, collected their empty plates, and brought them dessert menus.

  “It was a struggle at first,” Grant continued once the waiter had walked away. “Networking doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s not that I don’t like people—I just don’t like schmoozing, small talk, that sort of thing.”

  “I understand,” she said. “Although I’m the complete opposite.”

  “When I go to the dentist, I’d prefer if the hygienist didn’t talk except to tell me about my teeth.”

  “If you come see me, I promise not to talk.”

  “Actually, I wouldn’t mind because I know you. Just as long as you don’t ask me a question right after telling me not to move my mouth. I hate that.”

  * * * *

  After coffee and dessert, they stood outside on the rooftop patio for a few minutes. It was May, and the night air was chilly; he draped his sports jacket over her shoulders.

  “I think you pass.” Kristy smiled out at the city.

  The “that’s great” or “awesome” she was expecting didn’t materialize.

  “Something wrong?” She turned toward him.

  “No. Everything’s fine.” Grant looked at her and tilted his head to one side, as though he was trying to figure something out.

  “You should smile more.”

  “So I’m told.” He paused. “I’m just surprised you agreed so fast. Thought you might want to get to know me better. Maybe see my place, and make sure I’m not a hoarder.”

  “Are you a hoarder?”

  “Of course not. I wouldn’t invite you over if I were.”