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I waited until I saw him get into a taxi before I started to go back upstairs but I saw Nathan coming down the stairs with my bag, phone and keys in the one hand and my unfinished dress in the other.

I watched him with scrunched brows but he paid no heed to me and walked past me as if it wasn’t my stuff that he was holding.

I watched him walk up to my car, open it and set everything at the back of the car then he walked over to the driver’s side.

“We can do this all night,” he began, “Or you can get into the car without any hassle.”

“This is kidnapping.”

“I will drag you into the car if I have to but that will be unnecessary and embarrassing for you; it’s your choice.”

I muttered a few choice words under my breath but I knew he was serious so I dragged my feet over to the passenger side and got in.

“Why didn’t you leave when the others did?”

“I did leave.”

“Then why are you here now?”

I knew he heard my question but for some reason, he ignored me which was very annoying. He dragged me out of my office and now he won’t even speak to me. If he was going to give me the silent treatment like a child, then he could have just left me in there.

“Parce que je savais que tu serais la.”

“What?”

“Je suis revenue a cause de toi.”

“You speak French.” I mentally face palmed myself for that one. Of course he speaks French, he literally just spoke French .

“I grew up in Montreal.”

“Is your family still there?”

“No,” his voice had gone soft, “Dad died when I was eighteen, my mother passed a few years ago. I haven’t gone back there in almost three years.”

“I’m sorry,” I offered and all he did was shrug.

He put the car in park and I realized that we weren’t anywhere near my house, in fact, I don’t know where we are. I was too busy being angry and arguing with him that I didn’t even notice where he was driving to.

He got out of the car and all I could do was follow him as he walked into a small restaurant. I’m not surprised I missed it because there’s no sign indicating what it is. It has a cottage core vibe with the vines hanging all over the walls and the little flowers adorning every inch and surface.

The fairly lights somehow brought the whole place to life and gave it an ethereal and fairytale kind of feeling. It was beautiful and I made a mental note to add it to the long list of places I need to visit a second time- at least for the view.

“Why are we here?” I whisper yelled as we took our seats opposite each other at a small round table.

“There’s a menu in front of you. I would recommend their steak; it’s amazing, or their burgers.”

“I want to go home Nathan.”

“You haven’t eaten all day,” it wasn’t posed as a question and he wasn’t trying to confirm from me, he already knew, “And I know for a fact that when you get home, you will go back to working on your dress and you will forget to eat. ”

“That’s not true.” It is very true.

“Look at the menu Adira; a waiter will be here soon to take our orders, they’re not very busy tonight.”

I decided on burgers and fries and Nathan ordered the same thing along with hot chocolate for me and a cup of coffee for himself. He stayed quiet while we waited for our food and I took the time to really look around the interior.

Everything about this place screamed down to earth from the rounded tables to the wooden chairs and the decorations laid out. Even the people were dressed casually in jeans and hoodies and here Nathan and I were still in our work clothes. We stood out like sore thumbs.

Our food arrived within fifteen minutes and as I took a bite of the burger, I realized that Nathan was not lying. Their burgers are really good.

“This is really good.”

“I know.”

“Just take the compliment,” I said and he shrugged.

We went back to our silence and one thing I noticed as he ate was that he did not chew loudly. That was one of my biggest issues with Joseph, he chewed like a cow and that sound is one of my huge pet peeves but Nathan chews rather quietly.

“Have you ever been told that staring is rude?” he asked in a dry tone.

“Have you ever been told that you’re rude?”

“Not by anyone who mattered.”

I rolled my eyes at his response but effectively kept my eyes off him for the rest of the night .

When we finished, I wanted to pay but I realized I left my bag in the car. Before I could even blink, Nathan took out his card and paid for the meal. The waited handed him a plastic cup that I assume is filled with coffee. He thanked the guy and then gestured for me to leave with him.

“I could have paid; you didn’t have to.”

“A normal person would say thank you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome; that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

He got into the driver’s side and that was when it hit me. Nathan is with my car, I didn’t see his car in the parking lot of the office so that means he has no way of going home.

“How are you getting home?” I blurted out and he froze with the key in the ignition, “You don’t have your car. I don’t know where you live but I assume you don’t want to walk there.”

“I’ll call an Uber; this isn’t the Stone Age where people have to walk everywhere.”

“You could just get an Uber from here; I can drive myself.”

“Just shut up and close the door.”

I wasn’t expecting that response so I sat staring at him in shock. He didn’t want to ask again because he leaned over, shut the door for me and buckled my seat belt before starting the car.

“If I knew that telling you to shut up would work then I would have done it sooner.”

That snapped me out of whatever trance I was in, “You are so insufferable.”

“You’re welcome. ”

This time, I kept my eyes on the road; partly because I needed to instruct him on how to get to my house and partly because I wanted to remember the way to this restaurant if I wanted to visit again.

I didn’t want to drive in silence so I turned on the radio and Taylor Swift started playing. Nathan looked at me with a raised brow and I dared him with my eyes to say something misogynistic about her or her music. He got the hint because he just shrugged and let the songs play.

The ride was over sooner than I thought and he parked the car in my driveway. Instead of getting out and calling his uber, he moved to the backseat and helped me grab my things.

“If you wanted a reason to come into my house; all you had to do was ask.” I teased.

“This is why I don’t do nice things for people.”

“Don’t worry; I won’t tell anyone that you’re secretly a nice guy.” He shook his head and I directed him to lay the things on my couch.

I know my living room is always clean but that didn’t stop me from looking around to make sure that there wasn’t a stray shoe or underwear in sight. After I was convinced, I turned back to Nathan who I realize was also looking around.

“Was it to your standards?” I asked as I walked him to the door.

“It’ll do,” he walked over to the car and took out his cup of coffee then handed me the keys and the cup.

“Isn’t that yours?”

“I figured if you’re going to stay up all night then you might as well have some good coffee.”

“Thank you,” I said and this time I was being sincere .

He gave me a curt nod and opened his mouth to say something but a car pulled up into the driveway.

“That’s my uber; I’ll see you on Monday.”

“I’ll see you around Nathan.”

I watched as he disappeared into the uber and it wasn’t until the car pulled away that I walked back into my house.