He nods again. “Yeah. I’m sure.”
I go back to work, taking a moment between customers to call Lainey and ask her to keep Cora little later.
“It won’t be too late,” I promise. “I just have a dinner date right after my shift ends, so maybe an hour or two?”
“It’s not a problem, Harper,” she says. “But I do expect you to tell me all about this date when I see you. I need details!”
I laugh a little. “I’m not sure there’ll be anything to tell, honestly. But thank you for keeping Cora.”
“My pleasure, really.”
After my shift, I rush back to the house to shower and change, grateful that no one else is home yet. I have no idea if Cash would have told Lincoln and Everett about it yet, but I don’t want to deal with having to explain where I’m going to them right now.
I meet Leo at Smith’s Steakhouse, smoothing down the sundress I put on for the occasion and trying to act like someone who knows how to go on dates.
He looks nice in dark washed jeans and a button down shirt, the ever-present cowboy boots the ranchers wear adding to the look.
“You look beautiful,” he says, getting the door for me.
“Thanks. You clean up nice yourself.”
We’re shown to a table, and I pick up the menu, giving it a look over. “Have you been here a lot?” I ask. “I’m not sure what’s good.”
“It’s all good,” he replies. “I always start with a bottle of the house red. Sets the mood off right, I think.”
“I’m not drinking tonight, but you should get whatever you want.”
“I can’t tempt you with one glass?” he asks. “Not even a toast to our first date?”
I shake my head. I’m not about to explain that I need to be sober to go pick up my niece and drive home because that’s not really first date talk.
Luckily, he doesn’t press it. Unluckily, he does spend all the time before the server comes over, talking about himself and his family, without letting me get a word in edgewise.
My question, “what kind of ranching do you do?” turns into a whole explanation of how his father and his grandfather started their family business and where they get their cows from and how he plans to expand when he finally takes over from his dad.
I’m saved from having to nod and smile politely by the server coming over. Leo orders his wine, and I get a water and an iced tea.
“I’ll give you some time to look over the menu and come back,” the server says, going to put the drink orders in.
Leo immediately starts talking again. “I think you should try the ribeye,” he says. “I know women always go for the chicken or the fish, but if you come to a steakhouse and don’t try the steak, you’re not getting the whole experience, you know?”
“Sure,” I say. “I hadn’t made up my mind yet. I was thinking maybe the spinach artichoke dip to start?”
He shakes his head. “Don’t waste your time with that. You’ll get too full and then won’t have room for the rest of the meal. That’s why I never get appetizers or eat the bread. If I come to a steakhouse, I’m here for the meat.”
“Right… okay.” I take a roll from the bread basket anyway, buttering it before taking a bite. Leo smiles, but there’s something patronizing about it that I don’t like.
“You like to rebel, don’t you?” he asks.
“What do you mean?”
“I just said the bread is a trap, and now you’re eating bread.”
“I just wanted to try it. I’ve never been here before, and I want to try a little of everything. If I get too full to finish my steak, I’ll take it home with me and warm up the rest later.”
The way he looks at that, you’d think I suggested something heinous. “Steak is only good when it’s first cooked,” he says.“You cook it, you let it rest, and then you eat it. Reheating it ruins whatever temperature it was cooked to, and now you’ve got shoe leather to gnaw on.”
“Is it that serious?” I ask mildly.