Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Love is like you can love a person. Love is a heart.
“Is he here? What do you think?” I asked.
Liliana looked up over the top of her glasses. “He is…punctual.”
I waited to see if she’d add anything else. “That’s it?”
She glanced over the half-wall that divided the front counter from the seating area at the Texican. “He’s polite.”
“Polite?”
“ Si . He said please and thank you. That’s…polite.”
“Liliana.”
“ Mija , I do not know what to say about him. Sometimes there is nothing to put a finger on, you know? He’s not right for you.” She shrugged. “But maybe I am wrong.”
She was never wrong.
With slightly less enthusiasm than I’d had five minutes before (and I hadn’t had much to begin with), I let her lead me to a dark-haired man. He stood when he saw me, smiled, gave me a hug. He smelled good. Not fancy laundry soap good, but still good.
“So, you own a café? I think that’s what Ali told me, eh?” he asked when we’d settled in and placed our orders.
When Ali had told me Tony Olson had an accent, she hadn’t mentioned it was Canadian. Not French-Canadian. All the other non-French Canadians with their ehs and constant apologies. That was his accent.
Paired with my desperate need to be liked, we’d actually gotten into a vicious apology cycle the first ten minutes we met.
We just kept apologizing for…well, who knew?
But I’d asked Mae and Ali for a non-jerk blind date candidate and Tony fit the bill.
He’d pulled out my chair for me. Seemed interested in my answers to questions.
Was that where I’d set the bar these days? If he pulled the chair out and made conversation, then he was a keeper?
I smiled. “I do.”
“I’ll have to come try it out.” He had friendly brown eyes and a nice, easy smile. Unlike other men I knew.
Why was I thinking about Gil? Who I had left forty-five minutes ago with Oliver, the two of them sitting on the couch engaged in a serious discussion about dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period. I’d had the sudden, strange urge to cry at the sight of it.
Sunny would have something annoying to say about that, I was sure.
“You should. I have great muffins.”
He laughed. “Is that right?”
I blushed. “I meant actual muffins. That was not a euphemism or anything. Just, you know, muffins.”
“I like muffins.” He grinned. He had a soothing sort of way about him. He wasn’t mysterious or closed off. He probably doesn’t own a toolbelt though.
“So, what do you do?” I said, desperate to get my mind firmly in the present. “I think Ali said you’re in sales?”
“I am. Regional manager for a carpet company. I cover Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.”
“With carpet.”
“What?”
“You cover Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma…with carpet…Sorry. Silly joke.”
“Oh, I get it. Sorry.” He sort of chuckled.
Focus on his nice face and…and his hands.
He had long, elegant fingers that probably hadn’t touched a hammer or a wrench or a drill.
It was getting a little warm in here. It really wasn’t fair of Gil to prance around in that toolbelt in front of me.
Especially right before a date. It was almost indecent.
I should leave him a sticky note about it.
“So, Ali said you have a son?” he asked.
Ah, a topic I could talk about for hours. “I do. He’s six and his name is Oliver. He’s amazing.”
“I love kids,” Tony said. “I have fourteen nieces and nephews.”
“Whoa. You must come from a big family.”
“No, just my brother and me.”
“Wait. Your brother has fourteen kids? That’s…a lot.”
“Two sets of twins, too. Do you want a big family?”
My palms were itchy; I rubbed them on my skirt. “I would love another one or two, sure.”
“I’ve always wanted a huge family.”
The server picked that moment to bring us our meals, thankfully. That line of conversation was getting weird. We chatted a bit about other things—our favorite movies and TV shows, hobbies, the weather. He was easy to talk to and he didn’t once bring up an ex-girlfriend he was still in love with.
“So, tell me about Oliver.”
“He’s amazing. So smart for his age. He likes to read and draw. Oh, and he’s really into dinosaurs. He’s determined to learn the names of all of them.” I smiled and picked up my glass of water. “I’m sure he’ll do it, too.”
“I don’t believe in dinosaurs,” he said, taking a bite of his dinner as if he’d just announced the sky was blue.
I choked on my water, which turned into wracking coughs. When I could finally catch my breath, I stared at him. “I’m sorry? Did you say you didn’t believe in dinosaurs?”
“Yep. They’re all made up.”
“But what about…”
“Space, too. I don’t think it actually exists. It doesn’t make any sense. People didn’t walk on the moon. All staged.” He pointed with his fork at my plate. “How is your enchilada?”
“It’s fine,” I whispered. Except it suddenly tasted like cardboard. It was times like this I wished I hadn’t given up alcohol. People didn’t just not believe in dinosaurs. And space. Right? “Let me guess…you think the earth is flat, too.”
“Oh, definitely. There’s proof even.”
I swiveled around in my chair. “Am I being punked? Is this one of Ali’s pranks? Where are they hiding? Y’all come out. Ha-ha. Very funny.”
“What are you talking about? What prank?” Tony looked genuinely confused.
What planet was I on? I’d ask him but he didn’t believe in space . My mouth opened and closed. I chugged the rest of my water.
“You going to eat your rice?” he asked, seemingly oblivious of my plight. Cool. Cool. Cool.
“Ah, no. Go ahead, you can have it. I think I’m going to run to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
I ducked my head as I passed Liliana, hoping she wouldn’t notice me. It felt a bit like a walk of shame.
“I was right, wasn’t I?” she asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I muttered.
The bathroom was thankfully empty. Still, I locked myself in a stall and hastily texted Mae and Ali.
ME : Where did you find this guy? Conspiracy-Theories-R-Us?
MAE : Uh-oh.
ALI : But how’s it going? He’s nice, right?