“I guess they don’t want the social embarrassment of a divorce or the bad publicity. Or maybe they’re actually being decent parents for once and thinking about Lilly.”
I run my finger up and down the stem of my water glass. “You didn’t need to make Katherine apologize to me. It was kind of a waste. She would’ve bought you another car, or a trip, or what was the other thing?”
“Golf clubs. Like I need any more of those.” He reaches over and takes my hand from the water glass and holds it in his. “It was important to me that she apologized to you. I can’t promise you she’ll follow through on the being nice part, but she might at least make an attempt now.”
“Well, thank you for doing that.” I smile. “But next time go for the car. Then you can loan it to me, so I can actually drive places.”
“Do you seriously want a car? Because you know I’ll buy you one. I just didn’t think you’d let me.”
“I’m kidding, Garret. Do not buy me a car. I don’t need one.”
“What kind of car should I get you?” He lets go of my hand and sits back in his chair, pretending to contemplate this while I shake my head. “I think you’d like a convertible. What color do you want? White? Red?”
“Real funny. Let’s talk about something else.”
“I didn’t even think of that. We totally need a convertible. We’ll be living in California all summer. We have to get one.”
“I think your current car will work just fine.”
“No, it’s all wrong for California. It’s black for one, so it’s too hot in the sun. We should get a white convertible. Or red.”
“Are you done yet?” I give him my fake annoyed-at-him face.
The waiter brings our salads. He seems much more relaxed now.
“Jade, you really need to start using the BMW. It’s ours, not mine. If you need to go somewhere, just take it.” Garret picks up a roll from the basket and spreads it with butter that’s been molded to look like a rose.
“That car is too expensive. You’d kill me if something happened to it.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” He sets his butter knife down with a now deformed butter rose stuck to it. “Why would you even think that?”
“Because that’s how guys are with their cars. You get one scratch on it and they go crazy.”
I look down at the salad that came with my meal. I rarely eat salad, but I decided I’d eat this one because it’s just lettuce and it’s really small. But there’s no dressing on it. They didn’t even put any on the side. And there’s no way I can eat lettuce unless it’s drowning in dressing.
“First of all, you’re a very cautious driver,” Garret says as he eats his roll. “And second, I don’t care about the car. If something happens to it, I’ll get it fixed. It’s no big deal.”
“Then maybe I’ll take it sometime. If you’re sure it’s okay.” I spot a silver serving dish next to Garret that looks like a gravy boat but contains something white with black flecks. I pick it up and drizzle what I hope is dressing over my salad.
“If you don’t take it, I swear I’m going to get you your own car,” he says, completely oblivious to my salad conundrum. “Can I have the dressing?”
I notice that I’m still holding what he’s now confirmed is dressing. “Yeah. But why is it in a gravy boat?”
“They always put it in one of those.” He takes it from me and pours some dressing over his salad. “A lot of restaurants do.”
They do? I really need to get out more.
We finish our salads just as our meals arrive. I’m glad I went with Garret’s recommendation. The steak looks really good.
When we’re finished eating, Garret puts his napkin on the table and leans back in his chair. “So for dessert, we could either order one of the fancy desserts here or we could go to the diner and have that sundae we ate on our first date.”
“You’re calling that a date now? That time you barely knew me, but took me to the diner and had the audacity to order for me without even letting me look at the menu?”
“Yes. That’s the one,” he says seriously.
“So why is that suddenly considered a date? I thought our first date was at the bowling alley.”
“I was thinking about that and I think we should make the diner our first date. It sounds better for the kids.”
