Page 48 of Forever Only Once

“I’m sorry I’m late. Work things that I can talk about later.”

She just smiled.

“I don’t mind. But I’m glad you showed up.” She rolled her eyes and whispered, “They wouldn’t let me get a table unless you were here.”

“I have reservations,” I said. “You should have been able to sit.”

“Apparently, she didn’t believe that I was actually with you.”

I glowered and then looked over at the hostess, who had the grace to flush.

“I have no idea what that was about. But, fuck her,” I whispered.

“I think that’s kind of what she wants,” Hazel said, her voice completely dry. I laughed, throwing my head back, my whole body shaking.

“Thank you for that. I needed to laugh.” I kissed her again, then we made our way to the hostess stand. “Hi, Brady party of two,” I said.

The hostess blinked at me but kept a smile on her face. “Right this way.”

Apparently, everybody was going to gloss over the fact that she hadn’t treated Hazel politely, even though I knew for a fact that there wasn’t a policy that kept Hazel from taking a seat. In fact, my family came here often, and none of us ever arrived at the same time.

Well, that was fine. We weren’t going to have to worry about that much longer.

Because now it was just us, and this date was something I craved. Just like I longed for Hazel.

That should worry me. But it didn’t. She was a touchstone. One I hadn’t been prepared for.

We took a seat, and the waiter came right away, taking our drink orders.

“This is quite an upscale place,” Hazel said, looking around. “I’ve never been here before. I’ll need to tell Myra about it. She loves foodie places.”

I smiled. “It is a bit foodie for my family, but we like to come here for celebrations. And considering there are five of us, there’s always a birthday or a promotion or something that we want to celebrate. But this is our place.”

“It looks wonderful. And I’m kind of excited to try everything.”

“Miss Noble?” an older gentleman said as he walked towards our table, a woman with a double strand of pearls at her throat and a skintight dress standing next to him.

I raised my brow. The cultured tone of the man’s voice spoke of money, and the way he dismissed me with a casual glance spoke of snobbery. Or maybe I was just seeing too much into things after my dealings with Chris.

“Mr. Peterman. It’s wonderful to see you,” Hazel said in a completely different voice, one that I had never heard from her before. She sounded cultured, and a bit snobbish, as well.

Who the hell was this Hazel?

“I didn’t know you were back in town. I haven’t seen you around the vineyards in Napa recently. I should’ve known that you had moved out here.”

“It’s been a few years, Mr. Peterman. Mrs. Peterman, I presume?” she asked, nodding to the woman. Hazel didn’t push back her seat to stand up, and neither did I. This was all so weird.

“Hello,” the woman said, but didn’t say anything else.

Well, then.

“Anyway, I see you’re on a date,” the man said, a questioning tone in the word date.

I should’ve been insulted by that, but I really didn’t give a shit. I had my own problems to deal with. I didn’t care what this asshole thought of me. I might not look like I had money, but I did. And I worked my ass off for it. No one needed to judge me for that. And even if I didn’t have money, fuck him. Seriously. Fuck him hard.

“It’s good to see you. I hope you have a wonderful night. I shall get back to mine.”

If my brows could rise any farther on my forehead, they would be in my hair.