“Uh…” I said, still not sure if it was a good idea.
“Look, friends have lunch together all the time. No one will think anything of seeing us together.”
My stomach growled right at that moment, and I sighed in defeat. “Fine, but I don’t want to stay long.”
“We won’t. I promise.” He smiled reassuringly at me. “Once your clothes are done, we’ll go. I’m about to die of starvation though, so I’m not sure I’ll make it that long. I can hear the burgers already calling my name.”
“Somehow, I think you’ll make it,” I joked.
While we waited for my clothes to finish washing and then drying, we cuddled together on his bed, watching television. I enjoyed it. The thought of leaving this house and facing the rest of the world didn’t appeal to me at all.
Eventually, my clothes finished drying, and I was forced to get dressed. When I walked out of the bathroom, Ethan was waiting for me.
“Finally. I thought you’d taken up permanent residence in my bathroom,” he muttered.
I stuck my tongue out at him, not wanting to admit that I’d purposely taken my time in getting ready to delay the inevitable. I couldn’t put it off any longer. Hungry and terrified, I followed him through his house and out the front door.
“We can take separate cars,” I said as he locked the door behind us. “It will look better that way.”
God, everything about Ethan made me feel like he was my dirty little secret, which I guessed he was. I hated that it was this way between us. I feared he would think I didn’t want people to see us together because I was ashamed of him, but that wasn’t the case. I just wanted things to move forward in my life.
If Joey somehow found out about Ethan, it would all be over. Joey would explode. After our talk yesterday, I wanted to keep things civil. It seemed possible with the way he had acted, but if I threw Ethan into the mix, I wasn’t so sure.
“Fine by me,” Ethan said, completely unbothered by the idea.
I sighed in relief, feeling silly that I had worried that he’d be offended by my suggestion.
We climbed into our cars. Ethan pulled out first, and I followed behind him. As we drove through town, I couldn’t help but look at the people walking the streets. I wondered what they’d think of me if they knew I’d spent the night with a man who was not my husband. I was sure they’d call me a whore. People were awful that way. They judged carelessly, ripping someone apart without remorse. They didn’t care if they had the whole story or not.
When we pulled into the parking lot of the diner, I looked around to see if I recognized anyone. Stuffy’s, a hole in the wall that made some seriously awesome burgers, was on the opposite side of town from where I normally traveled. I’d stopped here with Joey a few times, but because of the distance, we didn’t eat here a lot. The parking lot was barely half full, something I was very much thankful for. I glanced at the cars parked around me, looking for any that were familiar. I relaxed when I saw none.
I parked a few spaces down from Ethan’s car and climbed out. He was waiting in front of his car as I made my way over to him. When I reached him, we walked side by side across the lot. He opened the door for me, and I was instantly assaulted by the smells coming from within. This place was fat-girl heaven. The smell of burgers cooking on the grill and fries meeting their delicious end in the grease of the deep fryer was like a welcome mat, begging me to come in.
My stomach rumbled loudly, earning a smirk from Ethan.
“I told you this would be a good place to eat.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, too focused on the smell to pay him any attention.
I reached the counter first and ordered a cheeseburger with fries. Before I could pay, Ethan pushed me aside and added a burger of his own to the order. He paid for our food, completely ignoring my protests.
The cashier smiled at him in a way that made me want to scratch her eyeballs out as she handed him our cups and his change. He thanked her, clearly not catching on to the way she was looking at him, and headed over to the fountain drink station. He handed me a cup as he started filling the other. I glanced back at the cashier to see her still watching Ethan, a disappointed look on her face.
“You didn’t have to pay,” I pointed out as I filled up my own cup.
“Yes, I did,” he said as he handed me a lid.
I put my lid on and grabbed two straws. “Why?”
He smirked at me before turning away and walking to a nearby table. I followed and sat down across from him. I took time to look around the restaurant to see if there were any familiar faces. I relaxed even more when I saw none.
“Because this is technically our first date. I’m not about to ruin it by letting you pay for your own food.”
I snickered. “You’re such a gentleman.”
He opened his mouth to reply but stopped when he saw the cashier carrying our food over to our table. After quickly thanking her, he turned his attention back to me.
“Seriously, I wanted to pay. Things between us are moving in completely ass-backward order, obviously, but I still want to make all your firsts something to remember. After all the fuss you put up over the fact that I paid, I doubt if you’ll forget this date anytime soon.”
I rolled my eyes, ignoring the fact that he was right, and I dug into my burger. When the first bite hit my taste buds, I moaned. “This place really does have the best burgers.”
I looked up to see him watching me, a smirk on his face. “I figured that out by the sound you just made. As a matter of fact, I remember you making a similar sound just last night in my bed.”
My face heated. I pretended not to hear him as I took another bite of my burger. He chuckled at my discomfort but didn’t comment. We sat together in companionable silence as we both inhaled our food. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who was starving.
As we ate, I people-watched. A few others were eating around us, ranging from an old couple across the room to a mother and her two kids sitting only a table away from us.
None of them paid us any attention at all. They had no idea I was out with a man I had slept with last night that most definitely wasn’t my husband. To them, Ethan and I were just a normal couple eating lunch together. I almost laughed out loud. God, I would do anything to be in a normal relationship with him.
We finished our food in record time.
Ethan sat back and patted his stomach. “I think I ate too much.”
I snorted, and surprisingly enough, I wasn’t embarrassed over making a very unladylike sound around him. It hit me then that I was truly comfortable around the man sitting across the table from me.
“You ate a burger that was three times the size of mine. Of course you ate too much,” I told him.
He pouted. “I’m a growing boy. I need sustenance.”
“Sure you do.” I laughed.
He grinned at me. “I love that.”
“Love what?”
“You laughing. You don’t do it nearly enough.” He paused. “Although, I’ve heard more laughs come out of you in the past two days than I have in months. I hope they don’t end anytime soon.”
“I’m happier when I’m around you,” I told him honestly. “Even when we are at work and can’t talk much, I’m happier just because I know you’re near. That sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”
He shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. The fact that I can make you happy…well, that’s probably the best thing you’ve ever told me. I want you to be happy, no matter what. It’s just ten times better that I’m the one making you feel that way.”
I grinned and looked down as I started gathering up my garbage. “Now, you’re going to get all big-headed. I shouldn’t have paid you that compliment.”
“My head’s already big,” he said.
I looked up to see him waggling his eyebrows at me. My face flushed again as I remembered just how big he was.