Part 4 (1/2)

Twice. So only two girls... or possibly one girl two times. Ugh, I can't believe I'm still worrying about this. Jace is with me and that's all that matters. I've been his one and only girlfriend for the last year and two months and that's what I should focus on when thinking of us. Not the fact that he had other girlfriends before me. ”Wait, you've only lived here for one year,” I say. Immediately, I snap my mouth shut because I did not mean to say that revelation out loud. Jace's eyebrow is probably permanently c.o.c.ked in an expression of confusion by now. ”Yes...” he says, sliding his finger down the soft edge of the menu. ”What does that have to do with anything?”

”You've only lived here a year and Perry's Steakhouse doesn't exist in California where you lived before you met me.” It's all starting to make sense in a weird way that doesn't make sense at all.

”So, what's your point?” Jace asks. ”You wondering why I came here twice since I've known you?”

My heart thumps beneath my chest. ”Well...yeah.”

He leans back against the smooth leather bench seat behind him, crossing his arms in front of his chest. ”You could have just asked me, sweetheart.”

My face flushes and I gnaw on my bottom lip, suddenly wis.h.i.+ng the waitress would come take our order. But of course, she is nowhere to be seen. Two other couples sit at tables around us and I glance at them with their sweet expressions and their enthusiasm for being with each other and suddenly I feel like a huge jerk. ”You're right,” I say, folding up my menu and folding my hands on top of it. ”It's stupid of me to care. I was just being...hormonal, I guess.”

Jace stares at me with those piercing but gorgeous eyes of his. ”Mr. Fisher brought me here when we talked about the opportunity for me to come work with him at Mixon Motocross Park,” Jace says. ”And then Park and I came here last year during that weekend where you and Becca were having a girls only night to study for the SATs. Do you remember that? I remember calling you from Park's rental car when we were driving home and I talked about the volcano so much you had joked that I should marry it instead of you.”

I laugh. ”I totally remember that. You were obsessing over that stupid dessert.”

Jace laces his fingers through mine from across the table and leans forward, his eyes serious. ”It is a dessert worth obsessing over,” he whispers.

”You are such a dork,” I whisper back.

He shrugs. ”Takes one to know one.”

After we've eaten dinner, our waitress comes to check on us and Jace orders the volcano. Her eyes light up and she surveys us in a new light. ”Are you dining here for a special occasion tonight?”

”No,” I say, right at the same time Jace says, ”Yes.” I look at him waiting for an explanation. He extends out his hand toward me and tells the waitress, ”This is my fiance's first time here and she's never had the volcano.”

This makes the waitress laugh because she had been obviously expecting a better reason than that. ”You're in for a treat! I'll be right back.”

I'm expecting her to bring us the infamous desert, but she doesn't. Instead, she arrives with a rolling cart that looks like an ultra-fancy stove with just one burner on it. There's a s.h.i.+ny metal wok-shaped pan on top of the stove. On the fold out arm of the stove cart is a ma.s.sive oddly shaped bowl of ice cream. She fires up the gas burner and the blue flames glow beautifully in the darkened restaurant. I watch in awe as she pours syrup and sugar and other ingredients I don't quite see clearly into the pan and cooks them over the burner. An instant aroma of brown sugar fills the air and makes my mouth water. I only thought I was stuffed full from dinner- now I am desperate for this ice cream.

She takes the bowl of ice cream and stabs a few decorative pieces of chocolate lace into the sides of it. Then, with careful precision, she lifts the pan off the stove and pours the sugary concoction on top of the ice cream. She places the bowl in the center of our table, and then takes a lighter out of her ap.r.o.n. It's the kind of lighter with a long barrel. ”Enjoy,” she says with a smile before clicking on the lighter and touching it to the top of or dessert. A quick burst of blue flames erupts on top of the ice cream, caramelizing it for just an instant before the fire burns out.

My mouth has been open wide and childlike for a few minutes now. I finally remember to close it when Jace says, ”Told you it was awesome.”

We grab our spoons and dive in. I know I'm a pregnant chick right now, so pretty much anything with sugar in it is something my brain absolutely loves, but this volcano is the most amazing thing I've ever eaten, hands down.

”Oh my G.o.d,” I moan between bites. ”This is so good.”

Jace nods. ”I...told...you...” he says, his mouth full. He dives in to grab another spoonful but I knock his spoon with mine. ”Back off, mister. Pregnant chick gets twice as much since she's eating for two.”

He relents and lets me scoop up the best possible bite out of the whole bowlit is equal parts ice cream and caramelized, gooey delicious brown sugar. ”You're such a gentleman,” I tease him.

He smiles. ”You're lucky you're so d.a.m.n cute.”

”Dinner was seriously the most amazing thing ever,” I say as I slide my hand under Jace's elbow and hold on to him as we leave the restaurant. It's warm outside but I hug him close to me anyhow. I love the feeling of holding onto his arm when we're walking. We could be anywhere in the world and it would still feel like I'm home if I'm holding onto him. ”Thank you for taking me.”

”You're quite welcome,” he says, stopping to hold open the door for an older couple who has just arrived at Perry's Steakhouse. I step aside and let them in, and then hurry to catch up with Jace.

Jace lifts his arm slightly and I grab onto it again. ”Would you like to do anything else tonight? There's a mall not far from here.”

”I don't think anything could make this day any better,” I say. ”It's pretty much perfect the way it is. I say we go home and watch movies.”

”Perfect, eh?” He tilts his head to look at me, his eyes an expression of challenge.

”Yes it was,” I say. ”Don't try to think up some way to make it more perfect because it won't happen. This day was absolutely perfect and nothing can ruin it.”

Jace clears his throat. His arm stiffens under my grip. It doesn't click right away that his arm is stiffening for a particular reason. Nope, I'm still blissfully walking along the cobblestone walkway in front of the restaurant, heading toward Jace's truck and thinking all kinds of things about how perfect everything is.

”The f.u.c.k are you doing here?”

I look up and find Ian standing perfectly still a few feet ahead of us. Jace steps forward, his arm holding me back just a few inches. My stomach twists into a knot and sheer panic flits across my body. The strong repugnant scent of Ian's cologne triggers an outpouring of memories, all the weeks we spent together when I was constantly around the scent of Ian's cologne.

Well...this night was perfect, I think.

Right before I lurch forward and throw up.

Chapter 8.

The volcano does not taste as good when it's coming back up. Luckily, in my nauseated daze, I had leaned over a bunch of bushes and now, after a few moments of hurling, all of the food and puke nastiness is pretty much hidden under a ma.s.s of green foliage. I'm vaguely aware of Jace's voice saying something, and then Ian says something back, in a less friendly voice.

A hand touches my back when I stand back up. Jace leans toward me and I close my mouth, hoping to G.o.d that he can't smell my puke breath.

”Are you okay?” he asks. His eyes stare into mine as if we're the only two people on earth, but I know better. I nod and clench my teeth together. I know Ian is still standing around watching this scene and I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to see him and I definitely don't want to smell his cologne. He was the worst part of who I am. And he's in the past. He does not define me now.

”Move along,” I hear Jace say. I know he's talking to Ian but I refuse to look up and acknowledge him myself. I'm perfectly happy staring at my black velvet flats. I am going to be the bigger person here. I'll stay silent and go on with my day. I will not give him the satisfaction of talking to him.

”So it is true,” Ian says. ”Bayleigh did get herself knocked up.”

”Who the h.e.l.l told you that?” Okay, I screwed up on this whole staying silent thing.

Ian wears crisp black slacks and a black b.u.t.ton up long sleeved s.h.i.+rt, complete with a tie. He looks exactly like the servers in restaurant. He must have finally decided to get an honest job.

He looks me up and down and I cringe when his eyes linger on my stomach for longer than necessary. Although I am pregnant, I'm wearing a loose-fitting s.h.i.+rt and you can't really tell from looking at me. But Ian remembers the skinnier me from two years ago. He can probably tell that my stomach is bigger from a mile away.

”Who told me?” he says with a snort. ”Everyone. The whole d.a.m.n town knows you got yourself knocked up and then left town so you wouldn't be embarra.s.sed about it.”

I see red. ”f.u.c.k you, Ian. That is not what happened and you're a dumba.s.s if you want to believe gossip.”

He grins as if we're playing a game and he just won. ”Sure as h.e.l.l looks like what happened.”

I feel Jace's hand press against my back. ”You're done,” he says. His voice is serious and deep and for a split second, I think he's talking to me. But when I look at him, his jaw is rigid and he's staring straight at Ian. ”Get out of our way. I'm sure you have some tables to bus or floors to mop.”

”Man, f.u.c.k you.” Ian snarls. He stands up straighter, s.h.i.+fting from one foot to the other. He wants Jace to do something. He wants a fight, a scene. Because that's the kind of person he is.