Love Me: Oakville Series:Book 5 (24 page)

“Okay, buddy, I think it’s time to go home. I’m sure Ms. Bissen is ready to get out of here for the day,” Marcus says. Chase stands.

“I’ll wait in the hall so you can ask Ms. Bissen out,” Chase says, then winks at his father. Marcus’ face turns a bright shade of red and I bite my lip, attempting to hold in my laughter. Marcus looks down at his feet, then slowly raises his head, his eyes filled with amusement.

“I think it’s time for a new wingman,” he laughs.

“I don’t know. I think he did pretty good,” I joke.

“Come on, Dad, ask her already. We’re not getting any younger,” Chase yells from the hallway, and both of us laugh. Marcus slips his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“Well, I guess this isn’t a surprise any longer. Would you like to go out with me? On a date,” he asks, and my cheeks heat at his question. There’s an obvious tremble in his voice. Unable to help myself, I decide to make him squirm a little. I know it’s mean seeing as he’s clearly nervous, but he’s so damn cute that way. I tap my lip with my forefinger and pretend to give his request heavy consideration. When beads of sweat begin to slide down his face, I figure it’s time to put him out of his misery.

“I’d love to go out with you,” I tell him. He wipes his hand along his face in relief and from the hallway, Chase yells, “Woohoo!” Again, we both laugh at his enthusiasm, and agree to go out tomorrow night. I write down my address on a piece of paper and hand it to him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night at seven,” Marcus confirms as he heads for the door. He turns back just before he gets to the door and gives me a smile and a wink. My knees grow weak and my throat becomes dry.

“See you then,” I squeak out.

I
throw yet another shirt in the pile on my bed. I’ve tried on at least twelve shirts already and all of them seem wrong. My nerves are beginning to take over. I feel like a sixteen-year-old trying to get ready for his first date. I begin to wonder if this whole thing is a mistake. Up until now, I thought I was ready for this step forward, but my anxiety level has me thinking I may not be. The doorbell rings and Chase runs down the hall by my room.

“I’ll get it! It’s Uncle Kyle, Aunt Amber, and Cody!” Chase yells as he heads for the door. I shake my head and laugh.
At least someone’s excited about tonight
, I think to myself. I stand in front of the mirror holding up another shirt that looks like shit.

“I wonder if I could just go shirtless,” I say to my reflection.

“I wouldn’t recommend doing that,” Kyle says from the doorway. Glancing at the pile of shirts on my bed, he laughs. “Dude, have you turned into a woman?”

“Fuck you, man. Nothing looks right.”

“You’re sweating like a whore in church, are you okay?”

“No, I’m not,” I say, defeated. I fall back on the bed and throw my arm over my face. Not only am I a nervous wreck, but now I have Kyle teasing me. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Oh, no you don’t. You are not backing out of this,” he says. “Amber, can you come in here?” Kyle yells out the door.
Oh, great. Let’s just get everyone involved in getting me dressed.
Amber walks into the room and her smile turns into a laugh as soon as she spots the pile of clothes on the bed.
Just shoot me now.

She looks me over and nods her head in approval after carefully scoping out my jeans. At least I chose something correctly. Amber then disappears into my closet. A few moments later, she comes out and hands me my favorite blue
Affliction
Henley. Why didn’t I think of that one? Maybe because it was also Taryn’s favorite. I slip the shirt on and the guilt begins to creep in. I take a deep breath and push it back down. Kyle glares at me and stalks over until we’re standing toe to toe.

“Don’t even start with that shit again. You are doing this.” Kyle pokes me in the chest. I raise my hands in surrender.

“Relax. I’m going.”

“So, what do you have planned?” Amber asks, sounding less than confident in my date planning abilities. I guess I can’t blame her; it has been over thirteen years since I’ve had a first date.

“I was thinking we’d go to that new seafood restaurant by the docks.” Amber nods her head in approval, so I continue. “Then I thought we could go play mini golf.” At this, Amber looks like she just sucked on a lemon.

“Mini golf? You’re not sixteen, Marcus. You need to do better than that,” Amber scolds. I thought mini golf was an acceptable outing for a date, but even Kyle is shaking his head. Obviously, I was wrong.

“What do you suggest?” I question.

“Something fun. It’s karaoke night at KC’s. Kyle and I are meeting Paul and Holly there after Kelly gets here to watch the kids after work. We could make it a triple date,” she suggests with an excited smile. She can’t be serious. Karaoke. Really? She must see the perplexed look on my face. “It’s perfect. It’ll be fun and not too serious or romantic. The perfect first date to break the ice and get back into the swing of things.” She’s right. Being in a crowded bar would take some of the pressure off.

Thirty minutes later, I finally make it out of the house. Chase had to inspect me and approve my attire before I left. He informed me I needed a little more cologne, ‘cause, as he put it, women love a guy who smells good. I’d like to know where he gets this stuff. I’m thinking it might be time to cut back his time around Angel. As I drive to Lexi’s house, I try my best not to let my nerves get the best of me, but the closer I get, the faster my heart beats. My palms sweat and my stomach knots to the point of pain. At this point, I don’t know if it’s just first date jitters or the fact that I can’t get Taryn out of my head. It doesn’t help that Lexi lives in the same apartment building Taryn and I lived in when we first came to Oakville.

I knock on her door and take a deep breath. When the door opens and Lexi is in full view, the air is knocked clear out of my lungs. She has on a pair of black skinny jeans that hug every curve just right. The purple V-neck tee she’s wearing gives you a view of her impressive cleavage. I have no idea how long I’m standing there staring with my mouth hanging open, but when I finally snap out of it, my eyes lift to meet hers. There’s an amused look on her face.

“Hi,” she says with a laugh, and my cheeks heat in embarrassment.
Getting busted staring at her cleavage, what a way to start a date, Marcus.

“Hey. You look...great,” I say, stumbling over my words.
Shit.
I sound like a fucking idiot. If she notices, she doesn’t show it.

“Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself. Let me just grab my purse and we can go.”

Our conversation flows well the entire ride to the docks. Most of it consists of Chase, but I don’t mind. I love talking about my boy and feel myself relaxing more and more. Maybe this won’t be as bad as I thought. Lexi is easy to talk to and the way she smiles when talking about Chase or her other students tells me she loves her job and the kids she teaches.

We pull into the gravel parking lot of Sea Treasures. The building is rustic and weathered, and the landscaping around the parking lot is tropical with palm trees and colorful Hibiscus flowers. I love places like this; they have character. I pull the car into a space and turn off the engine. Quickly, I get out, round the car, and open her door. She smiles up at me as she slides out. Side by side, we walk up the wooden walkway onto the covered patio and up to the hostess podium. The hostess, a young blonde, looks me up and down, licking her lips.

“Table for two? Outside?” she asks in what she probably thinks is a seductive voice. When she looks over at Lexi, she scowls. When I look over at Lexi, she smiles, amused, and rolls her eyes. I nod at the blonde. “Please, follow me,” she purrs. I allow Lexi to walk in front of me as we follow the hostess through the restaurant. Off to the side of the large room is a statue of an alligator in an apron and a chef’s hat. I chuckle to myself at the sight. All over the walls are signs and plaques with funny sayings, giving the place a unique touch.

The hostess leads us out to the enormous back deck where there are different sized wooden picnic tables and a bar. From the middle of the deck is a small bridge leading out to a series of docks with ten or so boats are docked. We are seated at a table that allows us to look out over the water and the hostess places a menu in front of us.

“Ross will be your server this evening. He will be with you in a moment,” the hostess says, placing her hand on my shoulder and squeezing. Leaning down close to my ear, she whispers, “My name is Brenda. If you need anything, just ask.” I’m stunned by her complete disregard for my date sitting two feet away. Before I can think of what to say, Lexi clears her throat.

“Thank you, Brenda, but I think I can handle whatever he may need,” Lexi states, her voice calm and sweet. The glare she’s giving Brenda is the only sign that she’s annoyed with the woman. Brenda lets out a loud huff then stomps off. I’m impressed at how calmly and easily Lexi put the bitch in her place. I laugh once Brenda is gone. Lexi looks down, seeming embarrassed for a moment. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, but she really pissed me off acting like you weren’t already here with someone else,” she explains.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. That was awesome,” I tell her. She smiles, stirring a fluttery feeling in my stomach. Our waiter, Ross, comes over and takes our drink order. We browse through the menu as we talk about what looks good. I’m happy to see she doesn’t seem to be one of those girls who only eats salads with the dressing on the side. She “oohs” and “ahhs” over the menu items. Ross brings my beer and Lexi’s glass of wine. Once we place our order, he leaves us and I take a swig of my beer, trying to give myself a chance to think of something to say. Lexi glances down at my hand—at my wedding ring—and quickly looks away. For the first time in three years, I contemplate taking it off, and that has honestly never crossed my mind before now. She sips her wine. My heart begins to pound as I wait for her to say something about the ring. I should have taken it off years ago or at least before I went on this date. I’ve probably just fucked everything up before it even began. Who wants to deal with a man that can’t let go of his dead wife enough to remove his wedding ring.

“I know how hard it is to lose someone you love so much. I’m sorry you and Chase had to go through that,” she says sincerely. I nod, appreciating her words, but talking or thinking about Taryn right now is not a good idea. She takes another drink of her wine. “It’s really beautiful here,” she says, changing the subject, and for that, I’m grateful.