by Carrie Elks
The restaurant was thronging, full of families and couples who enjoyed the rustic pasta dishes Delmonico’s was famous for. Waiters pushed their way through the double doors, their hands raised up with trays of delicious foods balanced on them. The maître d’ spotted her, and nodded before walking over. “Good evening, madam. Do you have a reservation?”
There was a huge lump in her throat. She swallowed but it refused to move. Once again she considered running back outside and high-tailing it to her car.
But Adam really had seemed like a nice guy. She hated to let him down.
“I’m meeting somebody, Adam Michaelson. He made the reservation.”
The maître d’ ran his finger down the clipboard he’d picked up. “Mr. Michaelson. Ah yes.” He glanced up at Ember. “He hasn’t arrived yet, but let me take you over to your table and I’ll get you a drink while you wait.”
“He’s not here?” She glanced surreptitiously at her watch. It was fifteen minutes past eight. If she was being fashionably late, what did that make him?
“We have a lovely little table for the two of you out on the terrace.” The maître d’ started walking, and Ember followed him, still frowning at the thought of the time. He weaved his way through the tables inside the restaurant building itself, leading her to the open sliding doors that led to the terrace. Strings of tiny lights were fixed to the covered deck, adding to the romantic atmosphere; these tables were coveted by locals and tourists alike – with their view of the darkening ocean and white tipped waves.
“Would you like the wine list?” the maître d’ asked her.
“No thank you. Just a bottle of sparkling water.”
“How about some appetizers? We have a fantastic seafood platter on special tonight.”
Ember had no idea if Adam Michaelson liked seafood or not. “I think I’ll wait for the other guest.” She smiled at the maître d’, wondering if he knew she was on a blind date. He must have seen it all before, yet she couldn’t help but feel like there was a flashing lit-up arrow above her head, making everybody look at her.
“Wonderful. I’ll have your drink brought over. And I hope you enjoy your meal.”
Ember hoped so, too. But from the way her stomach kept turning over, she felt there was little chance of that hope coming true.
“Thanks for your help with this. I appreciate it,” Mitch Lakin said, as he ticked off the final item on his list. Lucas had been helping him make an inventory of the station – something the captain had to do every year. It was an easy job here compared to carrying it out at White City, where it took more than two men and a few hours, but it still needed doing. Lucas had come over to the station at Mitch’s request to help him out, taking a break from plumbing in the bathroom.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll head on home.” Lucas stretched his arms above his head, loosening the muscles there. Then he checked his phone again, no message from Ember. He wasn’t sure whether that made him feel anxious or pleased. He knew she was on that date tonight. She was probably sitting at Delmonico’s right now, flirting and laughing with this guy.
Yeah, the anxiety seemed to be winning. It was grabbing his stomach and squeezing like crazy.
“How’s the fair planning going?” Mitch asked, lifting his coffee mug to his lips. As soon as he’d sipped it, he wrinkled his nose and spat it back out. “Ugh. Cold.”
“It’s almost there, we’ve got another meeting next week and then the real thing. No surprises, no emergencies.”
“That’s how we like it.” Mitch smiled. “Well, how some of us like it anyway. I guess you’ll be heading back to White City soon after the fair. When are you leaving?”
Lucas shrugged, though he felt anything but casual about it. “I’ve got another four weeks.” He gave Mitch a closed-mouth smile. “Not that I’m desperate to get out of here or anything.”
Mitch burst out laughing. “Liar, and I can’t say I blame you. You must feel like all this volunteering is more of a punishment than a vacation. But I’m really grateful for your help; we’ve all appreciated having you around.” He gave Lucas a slow nod. “I’ll be letting Chief Simons know how much.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Now go home. It’s a Friday night, a young guy like you should be out on the town.”
The corner of Lucas’ lips quirked up. “Yeah, something like that.” His thoughts immediately turned to Ember, and her date at Delmonico’s. For a moment he pictured that other guy sliding his hand up Ember’s smooth thigh, and the thought made him want to hit something. “I’ll probably pick up takeout and head to the cottage.”
“I won’t be far behind you.” Mitch picked his phone up and squinted at the screen. “I’ve missed three calls from Linda. I’m betting I’m late for dinner, again.” He raised his eyebrows. “Time to make like a tree and leave.”
There were definitely some advantages of living alone. Nobody sending you messages asking when you’d be home. Nobody to disappoint when you had to work late again, and didn’t know what time you’d make it back.
Nobody who cared if you came home at all.
He picked his phone up, checking it one last time for any message from Ember – there wasn’t – and along with his wallet he shoved it in his pocket.
Time to go home and walk into his half-finished project. There was something to look forward to.
Ember couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this embarrassed. She silently passed her card to the waiter and let him press it against the machine, waiting for the receipt to print out. It wasn’t the biggest check she’d ever paid – a large bottle of water didn’t exactly break the bank. The emotional cost, however, felt huge.
Adam Michaelson hadn’t turned up.
There’d been no message, no phone call, nothing. She’d just sat here and waited, suffering the stares of the other diners and the over-effusive treatment from her waiter, as he kept checking to see if she wanted to order ‘just a little something to tide her over’.
She endured this for half an hour before she finally picked up her phone and tried to message Adam. She’d opened up the Sizzle app and pressed the screen to open her matches, but when she scrolled through them, Adam wasn’t there.
Frowning, she closed the app and opened it up again – wondering if the thing had glitched. But when she looked the second time, he still wasn’t there, and even when she pressed the search button nothing came up. Their whole conversation was missing. It was as though he hadn’t existed at all, that this whole date was a figment of her imagination.
‘It sounds like he’s unmatched you,’ Ally wrote, after Ember sent her an SOS text message. ‘Or maybe he’s blocked you. Either way he’s an asshole.’
With her awkwardness reaching a whole new level, Ember had called the waiter over and asked for the check. And when he’d asked her if she wanted to wait just a little longer to see if her guest arrived, she’d shaken her head, and hoped nobody else was listening.
She felt beyond embarrassed. It felt as though somebody had scraped all her skin off, the soft flesh beneath exposed. It was all she could do to bite down on her lip as she walked through the restaurant and toward the parking lot, trying not to see if everybody was looking at her. She’d barely walked out the door before the first tears started to sting at her eyes, and she felt her chest convulse and force all the air from her lungs.
By the time she reached her car, tears were dampening her cheeks. She wiped them away, feeling angry at her own emotions. She didn’t want to feel like this – not again – and she definitely didn’t want to be crying over a guy she didn’t even know.
And yet here she was, letting herself be vulnerable and letting Adam Michaelson hurt her before they’d even met. Why on earth had she let Ally talk her into this? The Sizzle app was supposed to protect her.
Her phone vibrated in the yellow evening purse she’d bought to match her dress. She pulled it out, expecting it to be Ally again, and tried not to be angry at her friend for starting this who
le thing.
It wasn’t Ally’s fault she’d been stood up, it wasn’t even Ember’s fault. It was Adam Michaelson’s and the chink she’d allowed to appear in her armor.
When she glanced at the screen she saw the message wasn’t from Ally at all. It was from Lucas Russell. Surprised, she opened it up and quickly scanned his words.
Hey. Hope everything’s going okay on your date. Just wanted to let you know I’m over at the diner ordering takeout, so if you need rescuing I’m less than a minute away.
Ember glanced up from her phone and looked in the rearview mirror. She could see the diner from here, with its low building and silver décor, a few cars parked outside.
For a moment she considered turning her key, switching on the engine, and driving home. There was a bottle of wine in the refrigerator with her name on it, and the lure of her warm, cozy bed. Maybe she’d curl up in there and have a good cry. Let all those desolate emotions she’d thought she’d conquered rise up all over again.
The thought of it made her chest ache. But everything inside her ached right now.
Pulling her keyboard up on the screen she quickly tapped out a message.
I’m in Delmonico’s parking lot. He stood me up.
Thirty seconds later a reply appeared on her screen.
Stay there. I’m coming over.
13
“Can you make that two hot dogs and fries?” Lucas asked the server, who gave him a nod and added an extra dog to his order. “And two sodas, please. All to go.”
Within a couple of minutes he was carrying a large brown bag filled with food and drink out of the diner. He crossed the main road that led to the boardwalk and Delmonico’s parking lot, frowning as he scanned around to spot Ember’s car.
He stopped when he saw her slumped in the driver’s seat, her eyes red as she stared straight ahead. The muscles in his back tensed up, his hand curled tighter around the paper bag at the thought of her being stood up.
She looked pretty broken up about it, too.
With his free hand he gently tapped on her window. Ember looked up, her face a picture of surprise. When she realized it was him, she tried to smile, but somehow it ended up looking like a grimace.
She opened the door and he leaned his head inside. “I bought us some dogs and fries,” he told her, lifting up the brown bag. “I figured you might not have eaten.”
That half-smile half-grimace was still there. “I didn’t. Though I did manage to drink half my body weight in water. The waiter kept coming over and asking me if I wanted another bottle.” She gave a brittle laugh and it cut straight through him.
He tensed up again, trying to bite down the anger he felt at this guy. “Maybe we could go eat these on the beach,” he suggested. “That’s if you feel like heading over there. I don’t want to mess your car up.”
She climbed out, grabbing her purse from the passenger seat. Lucas stepped back, and his chest tightened even more.
“That’s a nice dress,” he said, nodding at her. Yeah, understatement of the year, Lucas.
“Thanks. I bought it for the date.” Another almost-laugh. “More fool me.”
“You’re not a fool, he is,” Lucas said gruffly, waiting for her to lock the car up and join him.
They walked in silence over to the boardwalk, then past the pier. He wanted to put a bit of distance between them and Delmonico’s, imagining the last thing she wanted to do was eat hotdogs with him while looking at that damn restaurant. Her face was still shiny from her tears, though he was pleased to see they’d stopped flowing. He wasn’t great with emotions, even his own – especially his own – they always left him searching around to find the right thing to say.
They reached the part of the beach that curved around into a rocky cove, at the far end of Angel Sands. From there you could see the deserted buildings of what used to be the Silver Bay Resort – an Art Deco hotel that thrived during the half-century since it was built in the 1920s, right up to its abandonment in the 1970s.
Lucas put the brown bag down on a flat rock, using it as a makeshift tablecloth. Then he took off his jacket and laid it down on another rock, gesturing at Ember to sit down.
“You don’t need to take your jacket off,” she said, glancing up at him. He could see the moonlight reflected in her eyes. “It’s chilly, you’ll get cold.”
“You’re more likely to get cold in that dress,” he pointed out. “You can either sit on the jacket or wear it, if you like.”
She offered him a smile. “I’ll sit on it.”
He pulled the food out of the bag, passing her the carton containing a hotdog, then the cardboard pouch full of fries. Popping a straw in each soda, he pushed one toward her, then lifted the other to his lips.
“The food looks a little sad,” he said, prizing the lid of his carton up. “I think it’s gotten too cold.”
“I’m not that hungry anyway.” She picked up a fry and slid it between her lips. “Actually, it’s not too bad,” she told him, picking up another. “And apparently I’m hungrier than I thought.”
She was looking over at the Silver Bay resort. “Did you ever go in there when you were a kid?” she asked him. “I can remember getting dared to when I was in eighth grade, but I was way too scared to do it.”
He picked up a few fries and swallowed them down fast, followed by a mouthful of soda. “You did the right thing. It was a famous make-out place when I was in high school. No ghosts, but plenty to be scared of.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Did you go there to make out?”
He shrugged. “Can’t remember.”
For the first time since he’d seen her, tear-stained in her car, a genuine smile broke out on her face. “Fibber. I bet you were king of the make out sessions.”
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “King?” he repeated, shaking his head. “There’s no king of make out sessions.”
“But you went there…”
“A couple of times. Until I got my driver’s license.” He pushed the box with the hotdog away. Unlike the fries, it was already stone cold. “After that it was all about the car.”
“Were you a player when you were a teenager?” She lifted her eyes up to meet his. “What am I asking? Of course you were a player. You were on the football team, weren’t you?”
“I played football, yes,” he said slowly. “But I don’t think I was a player in any other sense. I had a steady girlfriend for most of senior year.”
“You went to Angel Sands High, right?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he replied, trying to work out where she was going.
“I did too, I think I was friends with your sister. Caitie?”
Lucas smiled. “Yeah, that’s right.”
“I don’t really remember you from high school,” she said, finishing the last of her fries. “And since you’re two years older, I’m betting you don’t remember me at all. But I do remember the football team, and all the craziness of Friday night football.” She pursed her lips around her straw and sucked up some soda, then released it, keeping her eyes on his the whole time. “You guys must have felt like you had it all. The girls wouldn’t leave you alone.”
“Are you talking about my dating history because you don’t want to talk about your date tonight?” he asked her.
“How did you guess?”
He shrugged. “Just lucky.”
“Unlike me.” She leaned her elbow on the rock, turning her face to look at the ocean. Her profile was lit by the moon, making her skin look almost porcelain in the soft light. It was impossible not to look at her, not to admire the slant in her nose and the fullness of her lips.
Impossible not to wonder how soft they’d feel against his.
“Did he call you to let you know he wouldn’t be there?”
She shook her head, her gaze still fixed on the water. “No, there was nothing. No phone call, no message, he didn’t even bother cancelling the reservation. He just didn’t show up.” Her tongue darted out and she slow
ly licked her lips. He wondered if they were as salty as his. “And when I went to message him on the app, he’d disappeared. Ally thinks he might have blocked me.”
“But why?” Lucas was nonplussed. “Why would he go to all the trouble of arranging to meet you and not show up?”
“I have my theories.”
“What are they?” he asked.
She turned to look at him, her expression neutral. But he could see the hurt in the clouds of her eyes. Right then he would have done anything to take it away.
“I think maybe he turned up and got a glimpse of me and decided I wasn’t good enough for him.” Her voice broke as she finished her sentence.
What the heck? “Are you serious?” he asked her. “You can’t be serious. Have you looked in the mirror tonight? You look amazing.”
“I do?”
There was a lump in his throat that had nothing to do with the fries he’d been eating. “Yeah, you do. You’re beautiful.”
Her eyes softened. “Thank you.”
“So there’s no way he saw you and walked away. The guy would have to be crazy to let you down.” He leaned toward her, resting his jaw on his hands, the same way she was resting hers. “So, what are your other theories?”
“That he was just playing around. Getting a kick out of having somebody agree to meet him and then stand her up. Maybe it makes him feel powerful.”
“It makes him sound like a jerk.”
“You won’t hear me arguing with that.” She took in a deep breath of air, then exhaled heavily. “You were right all along about that app. I should never have downloaded it. I’m better off single.”