Finding Mr. Write (Business of Love #5) - Ali Parker Page 0,31
I thought when I bought my plane ticket to fly out here that I might have been making a mistake. I wondered the same thing sleeping alone in that motel room. And then I met you. And Sonia. And things started to fall into place. And now?” I forced myself to look at Wes. “Now I feel like I’m becoming her.”
“Who?” he asked, his eyes searching my face.
“The girl I came out here looking for.”
Wes grinned.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s just sometimes you say things that I wish I’d come up with.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to put you in a book.” He chuckled.
I blinked. “Is that a good thing?”
He nodded and took my hand. “Depends. For some people, no. For others? Like you? Well, I don’t think you’d have anything to worry about. Walk with me. I have another surprise in store for you, but we have to get there on foot.”
We spent the next hour walking the park. We didn’t even see half of it but we saw enough for me to fall in love with it and want to come back with a picnic blanket and a book. I was so caught up checking out the best trees to read under that I didn’t even notice the building up ahead until Wes squeezed my hand and nodded up ahead.
There, across the lane, was a restaurant I’d resigned myself to never going to.
The Tavern on the Green.
“Shut up,” I whispered.
Wes chuckled.
I looked wildly at him. “We’re not going in there, are we?”
He nodded. “We most certainly are. I have dinner reservations for us.”
“Are you screwing with me, Wes? If you are, I don’t think that’s very funny.”
“I’m not screwing with you.” He led me by the hand across the lane and under the awning-covered walkway to the front doors. The gardens were nicely decorated with white lights that created magical ambiance now that the sun had slipped from the sky. A hostess opened the door for us and Wes moved to a podium where he gave his name to the young woman standing behind it.
She smiled gracefully, took two menus from under the podium, and passed them to a server who just arrived to take us to our seats.
I couldn’t unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth as we passed through the restaurant and entered the solarium dining area I’d seen so many times in the movies. We sat on the outskirts, our table pressed up against the glass walls, and Wes took his seat after pulling out my chair for me. We swept our napkins off the table and draped them over our laps as our server filled up our water glasses and left us a wine list.
I can’t believe I’m here, I thought to myself as I stared at the handsome man across from me as he scanned the wine options.
He glanced up at me. “What are you thinking about?”
I gazed out the windows at the surrounding gardens and the tree trunks wrapped in white lights. “I’m thinking this is all a dream,” I whispered. “A wonderful, wonderful dream.”
Chapter 14
Wes
It feels like a dream to me, too.
“Thank you for this,” Briar said, her voice papery thin and melodic, like she couldn’t quite pull herself from her reverie. I hadn’t realized how special this would be to her. I’d just thought this would be a nice way to celebrate her victories over the last couple of days. But holy hell was I glad this was where I’d brought her.
“You’re welcome. Thank you for agreeing to join me.”
She smiled and met my eye. “If you have surprises like this in store, I’ll always say yes.”
I chuckled and turned the wine list to her. There was a bottle I wanted to try and I asked if she’d be open to it. She nodded until she spotted the price. Then her eyes doubled in size.
“Wes, that’s too much. I’d always heard this place was expensive but this is extreme! How much is the food? Can we even afford to eat here?”
“It’s on me.”
She swallowed and leaned forward. “I’m sorry if this is rude, but can you even afford to eat here?”
I laughed.
Briar didn’t. “I’m serious. This is… this is…” She trailed off, still shaking her head incredulously. “This meal will cost my whole month’s worth of rent if we buy that bottle!”
I chuckled. The prices weren’t that outlandish. “I assure you I can afford it.”