Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Luke flared out his jacket so he wouldn’t sit on it. “Sorry again about being late.”
Faith hung her purse on the chair. “It’s okay. We’re here now, right?”
At least she’d only been standing outside for ten minutes. She was glad Tanner hadn’t seen her through the window from his seat at the bar.
She’d been surprised to see Tanner here, since they’d planned on him waiting at the pub next door. She’d watched him from the corner of her eye as he smiled at the bartender and sipped his beer.
Tanner reminded her of professional athletes she’d seen on television. The wild hair, the big muscles. The man had a certain appeal.
They’d become friends through Sylvie, and they’d hung out countless times since Faith had moved to West Oaks. But always in groups, never one on one.
Her seat was facing away from the bar, which was a good thing. She was supposed to be thinking about her date, not the friend doing her a favor.
“Busy day?” she asked.
“It’s been crazy, actually. Practice ran over. Then I had to shower, and—yeah. Time got away from me.” He’d worn jeans and a blazer. He looked cute, but also jittery. His fingers kept swiping through his hair.
Faith opened her menu. “What were you practicing?”
“Football.” His eyes drifted downward toward her chest, then snapped back up.
“Oh.” Some kind of adult rec league? “Great way to stay active.”
“I try.” He flashed his handsome smile, and she felt relieved. There was the Luke she remembered from the coffee shop.
They were getting past the awkward part. And he’d never seen her in a low-cut top before, so that explained why he was suddenly struggling to maintain eye contact.
Luke usually took the table next to hers on Tuesdays at her favorite coffee shop. She liked to spend her afternoon off from work there. They’d started chatting about a month ago, which had turned into sharing an oversized peanut butter chocolate chip cookie whenever they saw one another.
There’d been something youthful and energetic about him. Mischievous, even. When he’d asked her to have dinner with him, she hadn’t hesitated.
And he’d let her pick the restaurant, too. I’m up for anything, he’d said. Tell me where you want to go.
“What kind of sushi do you like?” Luke asked.
She scanned the menu, but she had no idea what she was looking at. “I don’t know, actually. I’ve never had it before. That’s why I picked this place. To try something new.”
“Never tried sushi?”
She shrugged. “Didn’t have much variety where I grew up in Texas. Sometimes we drove into Austin, but we always got barbecue.”
Luke’s grin grew even broader. “I’ll order for you, then.”
When their waiter returned, Luke listed a bunch of items from the menu. He got a beer, so Faith did as well.
Their drinks arrived, and they clinked the glass bottles together.
Luke took a sip. “So, Texas. I’ve never been. What’s it like?”
She didn’t know how to answer. How could she sum up such a massive, diverse place in a few words? She hadn’t even been to most of it herself. “Big? Um, but the town I come from is tiny. Lots of cows. The bowling center-slash-arcade was the popular hangout.”
“Did you have any high scores?”
“House of the Dead 2 was totally my game. I splattered those zombies all over the place.” She and Sylvie had spent countless afternoons there over summer breaks in high school. Their parents wouldn’t have approved, but the girls usually snuck over from the roller rink.
Luke tipped his head back, laughing. “I love it. I can just see you with that light gun. What a badass.”
Faith sipped her beer. “I’m glad we’re doing this. I was a little nervous, to be honest. I haven’t been out in a while.”
“Yeah, me too, actually. Not since—”
His phone rang. He fished it from his blazer pocket and looked at it. “Shit, it’s my mom. Hold on. I’ll be right back.”
He was up and crossing the room before she could say anything. Luke stepped out of the restaurant. Faith could see him talking animatedly through the front window.
His mom? Was she sick or something? Faith hoped not. She couldn’t imagine answering a call from her mother during a date. Not unless it was an emergency.
Faith’s phone buzzed with a message. She checked it.
Tanner: Everything okay?
She turned around. Tanner waved at her from the bar.
Faith: I think so. He’s talking to his mom.
Tanner: Is she sick?
Faith: That’s what I was wondering!
Tanner: So what do you think? Do you like him? Is he a keeper?
Faith: Still deciding. Started out slightly weird but improving.
Tanner: Copy that. Your wingman is standing by.
She smiled over her shoulder at him, but Luke stepped into her line of sight instead.
“Sorry about that.” He slid back into his seat.
She set down her phone. “Is anything wrong with your mom?”
“Oh, no. She just wanted to remind me of something.” He rolled his eyes. “So, anyways. You were saying you hadn’t been out in a while?”
“Yeah.” It was probably time to tell him. “I’m going through a divorce.”
Luke had just lifted his beer to his lips. Now he covered his mouth, coughing, and set the glass roughly on the table. “Divorce?” he choked out.
“Are you all right?”
It took another minute for him to be able to speak. Faith resisted the urge to clap him on the back. Other patrons were staring.
Luke dabbed his mouth with his napkin. “You must’ve gotten married really, like…young.”
She nodded. “In hindsight, it was a mistake.”
His mischievous grin reappeared. “But you also must be pretty experienced.”
“I…guess.” What were they talking about right now? “With relationships, you mean?” She thought the opposite was true. Faith knew almost nothing about a normal, healthy relationship. She and Jon had never had one.
“Yeah.” He leaned his elbows on the table, and his leg brushed hers. “Divorce sounds rough.”
“You have no idea.”
He was shaking his head. “It’s just so hard to imagine. But I guess it’s the small-town thing? That’s why you got married young?”
“Probably. Yeah.” She didn’t want to get into the real reasons.
“And your parents were okay with it?”
“Definitely okay with the marriage. Not so much with it ending.”
“Wow. So, is that why you moved here? Because of the divorce?”
Faith picked at the label on the beer bottle. “I needed a fresh start.”
“But it must’ve been hard, settling into a new school and everything.”
She sat up straighter. “I’m sorry. Did you say…school?”
“Yeah. Unless you’ve already graduated?”
Faith blinked at him. “Wait. Do you think I’m in college?” She’d been told she looked young, but that young? It was a little creepy, actually. Luke thought he was out with a college girl?
“I wasn’t sure. I just figured, since you don’t go to West Oaks Prep, like me…”
“West Oaks Prep.”
She didn’t realize she’d shouted until the couple at the next table looked over. A panicky feeling was crawling across her skin, setting off goosebumps.
No. This cannot be happening.
A bunch of different clues suddenly clicked together in Faith’s mind into a horrifying image. It was worse than the splattered zombies in House of Dead 2.
“Luke, are you in high school?” Her voice had gone all high and shrieky.
“Not so loud. It’s cool. I’m a senior.”
Faith’s teeth ground together. “I assure you, this is very much not cool.”
“Why? How old are you?”
Instead of answering his question, Faith got up, spun around, and marched over to the bar.
Tanner saw her coming. “What’s up?”
“I have a situation.”
Fury darkened Tanner’s features. “Did he do something?”
“No, it’s what he is. Luke is…” She could only whisper the next part. “He’s a senior in high school.”
She expected shock. Horror. Instead, Tanner started snickering. “You cannot be serious.”
“You think I’d make this up?”
“If you had a twisted sense of humor, maybe.” He leaned out to look past her.
“This isn’t a joke, Tanner.”
“For real? The dude is eighteen? Must be an early bloomer.”
She shushed him. “It’s not funny. He ordered a beer! I’m contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” How on earth had she not realized he was so young? The football comment, the call from his mom… Ugh. She wanted to curl up and disappear.
Tanner closed his mouth, though mirth still danced in his eyes. “We’ll fix this.”
“How?”
He slid off his stool, towering over her, his big hand resting on her arm. “Come with me. We’d better let him down easy.”
Together they walked back to her table. Luke watched their approach with wide eyes.
Tanner put his hands on the back of her empty chair. “Hey, Luke. I’m Tanner. Afraid I’m going to have to confiscate that.” He reached out and snagged the beer from Luke’s hands.
“But—”
“Nope, no arguments. Now, it seems there’s been a misunderstanding. We can either cause a scene in here—which your mom won’t like when she gets called—or we can go outside and request you an Uber.”
Tanner had spoken quietly, but Faith still felt half the restaurant staring at them.
“Okay. Sir.” Luke’s face had turned beet red. Hanging his head, he got up and shuffled toward the door with Tanner behind him.
The waiter appeared with their sushi order on a serving platter. “Ma’am? Is something wrong?”
“There’s been an emergency. I’m really sorry.” Faith got her purse and took out her wallet. “Could I get that to-go?”
A few minutes later, she met Tanner outside the restaurant with a shopping bag full of takeout containers. “Is Luke gone?”
Tanner pointed at a pair of brake lights. “He’s headed back home. He’s going to be more careful next time he picks up an older woman.”
“Did you tell him how old I really am?”
“Same age as Sylvie, right? Thirty? Yeah. I don’t think he believed me, but he was too busy trying not to piss his pants to argue. I told him I’m an undercover alcohol enforcement officer.” He chuckled.
Faith sank onto a bench beneath a bus stop sign. She was humiliated. “The day I got married, he was seven. Seven.”
“To be fair, he looked at least twenty-two.”
Faith made an exasperated sound. “I thought he was twenty-eight.” She covered her face with her hands. “My first real date since…ever, and I pick a child.”
Tanner moved the bag of takeout to sit beside her. He took up almost the whole bench.
“I thought Luke was writing a screenplay. He must’ve been doing his homework.” She groaned, looking up at the sky. “What the heck is wrong with me?”
He nudged her shoulder. “Nothing’s wrong with you. You were nervous about dating again, so you picked a dude who wasn’t intimidating. He didn’t seem like a bad guy.”
She’d been through so much awfulness with Jon. Seen the dark things people were capable of doing to themselves, to each other. Was Tanner right, and she’d picked a guy who didn’t scare her?
A kid. Because apparently, she was too scared of men to want to date one. If that was true, then she was more messed up than she’d realized.
It was one thing to leave her husband, another to get over the scars of what happened during her marriage. Scars that even her best friends didn’t know about.
“Please don’t tell Sylvie about this? Or anyone? Ever?”
“I won’t. Wingman’s code of secrecy.”
She managed a small smile.
“The night’s young.” Tanner smoothed a hand over his bushy beard. “You could still have your first-date-since-ever. If you want.”
“How?”
“Well, for one, you’ve got a lot of sushi to eat. And two, unlike some people, you and I don’t have a curfew.”
Faith snorted.
“What do you say?” he asked.
She looked up at him. Tanner’s warm brown eyes gazed down at her. “Okay. What should we do?”
He held out his hand. “Leave it to me. Your first date is going to be epic.”