bumping the underside of the table, rattling the dishes. I forced myself to relax and tried to keep still. After apologizing to everyone profusely, she put down her knife and fork and finally looked back at me with murder in her eyes. If she’d had any idea how much I enjoyed her reactions, she would have acted differently just to annoy me. I was sure of it. I leaned toward her, and our shoulders and forearms lined up on the table as she met me in the middle.
“What are you doing?” she whispered harshly.
“Why are you avoiding me? What’s wrong?” I asked, pulling my hand away.
She pulled back a little, but we were still huddled together as we looked into each other’s eyes as if in a challenge. Her brows drew together before she whispered back, “What are you talking about? How can I be avoiding you when I’m sitting right next to you? What’s wrong with you?”
She straightened up, took another small bite from her plate, and started the slow chewing process again. I leaned closer and my lips got dangerously close to her neck, so much so that I got more intimate with her smell. A fresh flowery scent mixed with a fruit, maybe citrus. “I…” It took me a moment to remember what I was going to say and I faltered. “Just relax a little. Don’t you like your appetizer?”
I pulled back, and this time she leaned toward me.
“I’m not a big fan of seafood. Is it too obvious?”
After a quick glance at everyone else around the table to make sure we didn’t have their attention, I turned my body completely toward Rose and put my arm around her chair again. My chest rubbed against her shoulder. I thought she would flinch or even pull away, but this time she stayed put. We were supposed to be newlyweds. As much as I was trying my best to stay away from her when it was just the two of us, while around other people, I knew we needed to act more intimate if we wanted to seem believable as a couple. “Yes, Rose. The whole menu is seafood—why didn’t you say something?”
“It’s a prix fixe menu—I didn’t think we could change anything.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to eat something you don’t like.” Still keeping my arm on her chair, I looked around the restaurant. “Stop forcing yourself to eat.” Not finding who I was looking for, I drew back from Rose, even managing to push my chair back a bit before she put her palm on my thigh. I paused and we both looked down to her hand on my slacks with surprise. She immediately pulled it back. That was a good decision. That was a really good decision.
In the spur of the moment, surprising myself and her, I believe, I leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss on her cheek. It was something a husband would do before leaving the table. Her eyes widened slightly, just like it did when I’d complimented her, but she managed to keep it together.
I rose.
“Something wrong, Jack?” Fred asked, looking up at me.
“Please continue,” I said to the table. “I’ll be right back.”
It only took me a minute to track down someone who could change our order. Even though the restaurant only offered set menus the elite of New York couldn’t stop talking about, with just the right amount of persuasion, they agreed to make a slight change just this once. When I got back to our table and sat down, Samantha and George were deep into their conversation with Wes while Rose was chatting with Fred, her cheeks flushed.
“Everything okay?” I asked, curious to hear what they were talking about.
“You didn’t tell me she was related to the Colesons’, Jack. Gary had been with us for what five years? I didn’t even know about her.”
Rose gave me an apologetic look.
“I only lived with them till I was eighteen. After that we didn’t see each other as much. Holidays and a random lunch or dinner every month or so. Gary was very busy with his firm and well, his own kids.”
“It didn’t come up,” I explained briefly, wanting to end the conversation.
“Is that how you two met?”
Rose gave me a look I couldn’t understand, but looked a lot like told you so, then turned back to Fred. “Yes. Well, kind of.”
When the waiter came and started to collect the mostly empty dishes, Samantha piped up, taking advantage of the lull in their