The Love Wager by Lynn Painter

            “Nope.” Jack pulled out his wallet and tossed a twenty on the table. “I’m a genius.”

            “I think you mean moron.” Colin picked up another wing and gave him a look. “Have fun on your date, moron.”





Chapter

FIVE



Hallie


            Hallie walked into Charlie’s, and once her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the restaurant, she looked around for Kyle. It was tough, since she’d only seen the pictures on his profile, but maybe since she was ten minutes early, he wasn’t there—

            “Hallie.”

            She turned around at the sound of the voice, and there he was.

            Thankfully, his face looked the same as his photo and he was a little taller than her. Overall, her first impression was that he was handsome and had a nice smile. He was wearing a button-down and jeans, and she had no complaints.

            “Hey, Kyle.” She smiled and put her handbag under her arm. “Nice to finally meet you. You know, um, in person.”

            “Same, same,” he said, gesturing with his arm toward the dining area. “I already have a table over there.”

            “Perfect,” she said, and followed him over to the spot.

            Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, she thought. It was just two people eating food together and talking; she liked both of those things, right? And she felt pretty confident that night, with her new hair, cute cashmere sweater, and full-on makeup, so she was going to throw herself into the magic and see what transpired.

            She sat down across from him and picked up a menu, trying to remember what two strangers talked about on a first date.

            “I’ve never eaten here, so you can’t blame me if it’s shit,” Kyle said, giving her a half smile. “Smells good, though.”

            Hallie nodded. “It does.”

            She opened her menu and started reading, trying to think of something to say. “Wow, everything looks so good.”

            “Holy shit, twenty bucks for a burger?” Kyle shook his head in disgust and said, “That better be a gold-plated patty, am I right?”

            She smiled and nodded, suddenly nervous about what she should order. If twenty was too much for a burger, would he think twelve was too much for a salad? “Right,” she said.

            “It’s a first date, though, so you order whatever you want, Hal,” he said, smiling.

            “Okay.” She laughed, feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden, both with his attention to pricing and his comfort in dropping the second syllable of her name. She wanted to tell him that she’d happily pay for her meal, because she totally would, but she felt like he might be the kind of guy who would take that as an insult.

            “No lobster, though,” he teased, and she’d never been so stressed out by the decision of what to order at a restaurant in all her life.

            “Got it.”

            When the waiter came over, Hallie ended up ordering a side salad and french fries, just to be doubly sure it wasn’t too expensive.

            After they handed off their menus to the waiter before he walked away, Hallie took a sip of the wine Kyle had ordered before she arrived. When she glanced at Kyle, he was giving her a funny grin.

            “What?” she asked, smiling.

            He shook his head and said, “That’s all you’re going to eat? I swear, you women and your diets.”

            Yes, because the french fry diet is all the rage, Kyle. She just said, “It just sounded really good to me.”

            “Okay, hon,” he replied teasingly, and she reached for her wine yet again.

            He started telling her about his job, and it was pretty interesting. He was a diesel mechanic who worked on big Caterpillar machines, and it sounded really cool. There was something super attractive about him as he talked about tools and mechanical things.

            Made him seem incredibly capable.

            “So what do you do, Hal?” He grabbed a roll from the basket at the center of the table, tore it open, and dipped his knife in the silver bowl of butter. “Something in finance, right?”