“No…” I mutter sheepishly. “His parents did.”
“I’m sorry, what?” As hard as he might, Jase can’t hold back his smile, his chest shaking with silent laughter. “Just forclarification, did his parents crash your date, or did he invite them?”
I smack him lightly in the chest, though I’d be more convincing if not for the fact that I’m also trying not to laugh. “No, he didn’t invite them, and it’s not like they were mean or anything. They were just…inquisitive.”
All Jase has to do is issue me one pointed look for me to crack.
“Okay, fine, they were weird as hell.”
“What were they asking you?”
“Everything. And I don’t mean that as an exaggeration. At one point, they were pushing to know about my family’s medical history, and his mom made a ‘joke’ about wanting to see my dental records, but I’m honestly not sure if she was kidding.”
“I’m sure she was—”
“She also asked if anyone related to me has ever had fertility issues and if I’m currently taking a contraceptive.” I bury my face in my hands, only bothering to peek through my fingers to see Jase’s face. “Wes looked like he wanted to impale himself with a butter knife, and I wanted to join him. Seriously, even the couple seated adjacent to us in the restaurant had secondhand embarrassment having to witness this.”
“Do you plan on going out with him again?”
I shrug, unsure of what else to do. The longer I’ve had to process the date, the more alarm bells keep sounding off in my mind. “Wes is really sweet, and we get along well, but…I can’t even handle the shit going on with my own family. I wouldn’t know where to start dealing with his parents. And the guy’s got a bodyguard. I mean, he was nice and everything, but it would be weird to always have a third wheel lurking in the shadows everywhere I went with Wes.”
I remove my hands from my face to concentrate on rubbing my temples, and Jase slings an arm around my shoulder, hauling me back against him.
“How about an easier question,” he teases. “Have you at least decided on what you want to eat?”
And Jase is right.
Because I’ve never heard an easier question in my life.
I begin devouringmy cheese fries even before we reach the booth, and when we set our trays down on the table, I waste no time digging into the rest of my food. While Jase eats his hot dogs and onion rings like a civilized human, I probably look like a ravenous hyena with how I tear into my bacon burger. It’s drenched with ketchup, just the way I like, and the bacon is the perfect degree of crispy that I can’t help but moan.
“I take it your meal meets customer satisfaction?” Jase asks, handing me some much needed napkins.
My moaning only continues as I take a drink of my vanilla shake, the flavor unrivaled. “Am I the only one hearing the choir of angels singing?”
He laughs, but I’m wholly serious.
“You have no idea how much I missed you,” I whisper to a cheese fry before popping it into my mouth.
Sure, I look like a crazy person, but I don’t mind. And neither does Jase, it seems. The more I eat and gush over the meal and talk about its “hangover healing properties,” the larger his grin becomes.
We fall into conversation about anything and everything to do with my time away at college, and I regale him with the manymisadventures Maggie dragged me along on, leaving us both laughing hard enough that we’re wiping away tears.
After a certain point, however, something in Jase’s expression changes. He’s still smiling, but there’s something almost sad about it.
“You okay?” I ask.
Jase sits back, as if needing to distance himself, and runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah.” His voice cracks ever so slightly on the word, and he clears his throat, looking thoroughly self-conscious now. “It’s just…I haven’t seen you like this in quite some time.”
“What?Happy?”
He shakes his head. “It’s more than that. You’re relaxed. You’re completely at ease just being yourself. You’re comfortable.”
“And that makes youuncomfortable?”
I must sound as bewildered as I feel, because he’s compelled to elaborate.
“It makes me sad,” he admits. “I haven’t seen that smile in four years, and I know I’m the cause for most of those reasons.”
