Dr. Lyons raised an eyebrow.
“Ro…”
He shook his head.
“Phi…”
“Nope.”
“Gah! Fine. I don’t know your name. Is that so wrong?”
“Anthony,” he said. “Anthony Lyons.”
“Right. That was my next guess.”
He cracked a smile. “Sure it was.”
Chastity slammed her hand down on the table as she tried to get my attention again.
Nope.I didn’t need her whispered advice right now. I was doing fine all on my own. Couldn’t she tell? “I think Mikey would be very proud of you. Especially since you’re totally slaying this date.”
“Really?” He looked so happy.
“Yes.”
“What about you?” he asked. “Any siblings?”
“Three. Lauren, Kyle, and Rosalie. Rosalie uh…” I took a sip of water to try to prevent myself from tearing up again. It didn’t work. “She actually disappeared a few years ago. I feel like I’m the only one that believes she’s still out there somewhere. Everyone else gave up hope.”
“That’s horrible.” He reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “I’m so sorry.”
“I miss her.”
“I miss Mikey, too. I wish I could tell you that time will make it better, but it doesn’t really. I still miss him just as much as I did the day it happened. Maybe more.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes. We sat in silence for a few moments. But this time it wasn’t awkward. It was more therapeutic. A moment of silence for our lost siblings.
The spell was broken by the waiter bringing our food. And after that I promised myself I’d be more upbeat the rest of the date. No more crying.
“These shrimp are amazing,” I said.
“Wanna try some tagine?”
“No thanks.” I never tried anyone’s food. Sharing all those germs was the most disgusting thing in the world. And yet…I kind of did want to try it. Something abouthisgerms didn’t seem that repulsive. I still didn’t change my answer, though.Maybe next date.
“Ash,” Chastity hissed at me.
Stop. It.Geez, it was like Chastity was trying to turn my perfectly nice date into a train wreck. Couldn’t I just do one thing one time that wasn’t an epic fail?
“Are you sure you don’t know that lesbian couple?” he asked.
“Nope. Never seen them before.”
We kept talking while we ate. He told me all about the different places he’d lived - San Diego, Germany, South Korea - and I tried to make Delaware sound just as interesting. He agreed to visit Rehoboth beach sometime, although I couldn’t tell if we were seriously planning a vacation or if he was just humoring me. I kept trying to find an opening to bring up what had happened during my doctor’s appointment with him, but I could never seem to find the perfect segue. Which was probably for the best. No need to talk about Incident #2 ever again. Instead we went back to playing the lip-reading game.
I pretended like a young couple was hoping to swing with the 70-year-olds from earlier, and then Dr. Lyons…er…Anthony, acted like a very overweight couple was going to go streaking after dinner.
“How about that couple?” he asked, pointing behind me.
