Page 62 of From That Moment

“Thanks, I’ll take the compliment.”

“You know you’re hot. I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”

She said that so deadpan that I snorted before I laughed right as the waiter came to our table.

“Hello, welcome to Oscar’s,” the waiter began, and we listened to the specials, my stomach growling. I was starving, and thankfully this place, even if it was a little fancy, had decent-sized portions.

“That all sounds so good,” Paris said as she looked down at her menu after the waiter had left with our drink orders.

“I know. I love this place. And their portions are small enough that I could probably eat everything, yet big enough to be full.”

“Oh, right, I forgot. I’ve been to a couple of places around here where they try to make it so fancy that you’re pretty much just eating off a big tablespoon. And sometimes, the spoon isn’t even that big.”

“Oh, that place Fontanos or something? I went there with Allison.” I cringed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. You witnessed me on two of my horrible dates. You’re welcome to mention the fact that you recently dated another woman. It’d be awkward if we purposely didn’t mention her name.”

“Well, I don’t need to bring her up.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay…this is going to be very awkward then.” She grinned over my shoulder, and I froze, wondering where in my past life I had gone wrong.

I turned to see Allison strolling towards us in a red dress cut out in strategic places. I hated to admit it, but she looked amazing.

Her ex, who was probably no longer her ex, was on her arm. They sauntered over.

“I see you finally took the plunge,” Allison said, glaring daggers at us.

“Allison.” I paused. “I didn’t actually catch your name before,” I said, apparently a little angrier than I thought I was.

“It’s Tony.”

“You don’t need to talk to them. Seems they found exactly what they were looking for. Good luck to the two of you.” Allison turned to Paris. “You’re going to need it.”

And then she turned away, dragging Tony with her. I turned to Paris, wincing.

“Sorry about that.”

Paris pressed her lips together before bursting out laughing, her shoulders shaking. Others had already been staring at us, and now they were giving us weird looks before pointedly turning away.

“What is so funny?”

“Oh, just the fact that you witnessed me on two very horrible dates that were quite embarrassing, and now I got to be part of yours.”

“I’m not dating Allison. I’m on a date with you. And in a new version of hell where my ex shows up randomly.”

“Welcome to my horror of dating. I mean, it wouldn’t be me on a date if things didn’t go horribly wrong.”

I reached across the table and gripped her hand. “Nothing’s gone wrong yet. Don’t discount me right out of the gate.”

She didn’t move her hand back. Instead, she rubbed her thumb down my forefinger, frowning.

“I told you, I’m not good at this.”

“The others didn’t set you up with me. We set each other up.”