Drop it and go get dressed.
Chapter 8
The next evening Olivia texted Emily that she was headed to Jimmy’s for dinner. Emily would assume it was with Heather. No need to go into details. Emily was out with friends tonight, so she had the house to herself to get ready in.
She stared into the depths of her closet. She didn’t spend much on herself for things like nice clothes, but certainly, she must have something to wear that didn’t look like it had been in her closet for years—which it probably had.
She finally found a simple red sundress. That would work. She slipped on red sandals and looked in the mirror. Her curly hair danced wildly around her shoulders, as usual. She took a silver clip and swept her hair up, capturing the curls. There, that was better.
She headed to Jimmy’s with time to spare, wanting to be sure she wasn’t late. When she got to the restaurant, Austin was already waiting for her. He waved when he saw her come in.
He stood as she approached the table and pulled out a worn wooden barstool for her.“Hi.”His eyes sparkled with appreciation.“You look nice.”
“Ah…thanks.”She sat down, suddenly nervous.
He sat across from her.“I’ve been looking at the menu. I want like everything on it.”
She laughed at that understatement.“It’s all very good here.”
“And right here on the bay. The view is great. And the beer is cold.”He pointed to his glass.“I got here a bit early—didn’t want to keep you waiting—so I went ahead and ordered a drink.”
So he hadn’t wanted to keep her waiting, either.Was he as nervous as she was feeling now?
If so, there certainly was no sign of it in his sky-blue eyes.
The server came over.“Hey, Livy. Usual beer?”
“Yes, please.”
“So you have a usual beer here? And of course, they know you.”His mouth curved into an amused grin.
“I come here with Heather quite a bit when she’s in town. And I do have a favorite beer. A local craft beer.”
“I’ll try that next.”
They ordered their meals, then sat and sipped their drinks, enjoying the view and the soft music coming from the lone guitar player at the far end of the deck. She slowly began to relax as they chatted.
See, this wasn’t so bad.
She looked over at him, watching him enjoying his meal. The light breeze barely ruffled his short brown hair. His blue knit shirt pulled across his broad shoulders. A relaxed expression settled on his features across his strong jawline. He looked up and caught her staring at him, and she ducked her head.
“Moonbeam is quite the hidden gem,”Austin said nonchalantly as if he hadn’t just caught her staring.“Jesse always talked about how great it was, but I had no idea. The town is charming. A bit of an old-fashioned small-town feeling.”
Talk about the town.That was a safe, easy subject.“I love it here. Though, honestly, I’ve never lived anywhere else. Well, except for a couple of years of college. Then I moved back because—”She shrugged.“Emily.”And suddenly the easy conversation became personal.
Austin didn’t knowif he should ask questions or press her regarding Emily, so he hid behind another sip of his beer—the last sip. He raised his hand to the server and motioned that he’d have the same beer that Livy had ordered.
He’d caught her staring at him, and he wondered what she thought after her perusal. Luckily she hadn’t caught him when he’d been staring at her while she searched the menu, though she said she had it memorized.
Livy continued.“I dropped out of school and I moved back to Moonbeam and in with Mom. It just seemed to make sense. Mom helped me a lot.”
He wanted to ask if she’d ever gone back to school, but once again, he was uncertain about posing the question.
“I’m just now finally finishing up my degree.”
Was she reading his thoughts?
“Really?”
