you find out about this place?” I asked as we sat down at a table near the end of the dock. Beneath us the waves rumbled against the beach. The restaurant was beautiful, not too crowded, not too fancy, with string-lights hung casting shadows on Dante’s handsome face.
“Jazz, actually.” Dante pulled the chair out from the table for me. My cheeks heated. He was always doing little things like that—small, attentive, chivalrous things that made me feel so… so cherished. “It’s one of his and Tex’s places.”
“I can see why,” I said. “It’s nice.”
“Food’s good, too, apparently.” He glanced at my menu, and then flicked his gaze up to mine. “Do you know what you want?”
God, I hoped he was suggesting what I thought he was. “No.”
“Let me order for you.”
A small shiver ran down my spine, followed closely by a rush of relief. I closed my menu, rested my elbows on the edge of the table, and rested my chin in my palm. “Okay.”
Dante grinned at me, and it lit up his whole face. Dante ordered everything for us—two margaritas, tuna steak for him, flounder for me. As the waiter walked away, Dante hooked his foot around my ankle under the table. “Graduation’s pretty soon, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Can’t come soon enough, in my opinion.”
“So what are you gonna do with that fancy degree?” he asked with a smile. “Besides clean up my books some more, I mean.”
“Hopefully take on a bigger role at Custom,” I said. “It’s really growing a lot—Maverick and Jonah are a seriously impressive team. And Maverick’s burning the candle at both ends doing most of the repair work while simultaneously trying to run the business end. I want to take that off his plate.” I sighed and gazed out at the waves. “I know he wants to spend more time with his daughter, too.”
Dante hummed in acknowledgment. When I looked back over, his expression was so soft and fond it made something in my chest somersault. The canvas of his sneakers was soft on my bare ankle, moving up and down gently.
“Do I factor into those plans at all?” he asked, with a playful edge, but a serious look in his eyes.
I felt my cheeks heat up. “Obviously.”
“Oh,” he said with a pleased little wiggle of his eyebrows, “Obviously?”
“I mean, I know it’s kind of early, but—”
I was cut off as the barback appeared with our margaritas in hand. “Oh!” he said as he set the drinks down. “Heath! I thought that was you!”
I started a little. I blinked once, owlishly, trying to place the barback’s face—“James!” He was a classmate of mine from last semester. We weren’t super close, but we’d had a few study groups together.
He nodded. “Yeah! Good to see you! How’ve you been?”
“Good,” I said, a little surprised that he not only remembered me, but seemed so happy to see me. “Graduating this year. You finished last semester, right?”
He shrugged and smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, my family’s nearby so I’m picking up some shifts here while I job hunt.”
“Cool,” I said. I blinked again at him.
James lingered, like he was waiting for me to say something. He glanced at Dante.
Dante raised his eyebrows. “I’m Dante,” he said pointedly.
“James,” James said. “I know Heath from school.”
“I gathered,” Dante said, not unkindly, but not in a way that invited further conversation, either.
“We should catch up some time,” James said, turning his focus back on me. He patted his pockets. “Oh, hell, my phone’s in the back.”
“My email’s the same,” I said. “You can reach me that way.”
“Okay,” James said, and he looked between Dante and me again. “Okay, well, I gotta get back to work. Good to see you.”
“You too,” I said, and James scurried back to the bar.
I took a sip of my margarita and turned my attention back to Dante. He raised his eyebrows and a small smirk curled his lips.
“What?” I asked.
Dante laughed incredulously. “What do you mean, what? What was that all about?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s just an old classmate. I didn’t even know him that well.”
“Seems like he wants to be a little more than classmates,” Dante said.
I felt my face heat up. “What? No, he was just being nice.”
“He was trying to get your number.”
“He was not,” I insisted, but it sounded half-hearted even to my own ears. Was that really what James had been doing?
“You really don’t see it, do you?” Dante asked.
See what? I furrowed my brow again. But then the food