Page 40 of Outlier

I blinked a couple of times, forcing myself to look up at him.

The expression on his face was pained as he stared across at me, and when he spoke, his voice was rough.

“I can never take it back, love. What I did that day can’t be undone. It kills me to know that I was one of thosestressful interactionsthat made you sad enough to lose your appetite. But just know that I’m going to do everything in my power to make it up to you. Understand?”

“Mike, if I was normal, I could have handled what you–”

“No,” he snapped, then gentled his tone. “No. I was mean, and I said what I said without knowing you well enough to make the judgements I made.”

I looked out of the window again and pressed my lips together to stop myself from arguing the point with him.

He sighed and gave my hand a squeeze. “But, Vicky, you managed breakfast at my house. I thought that you might be eating a bit better now, so I just don’t understand the salad ordering here. Do you think you could order an actual meal?”

I closed my eyes in defeat, realizing that I may as well admit the truth, at least then he wouldn’t believe I was deliberately starving myself to death.

“I can’t eat anything on this menu,” I said in a small voice.

“What?” Mike asked, confused.

I gestured towards the leather-bound paper in front of me. “I just can’t manage any of this stuff.”

“Oh shit, I knew I should have booked somewhere fancier. Maybe I should have thrown Ollie’s name around. That bastard gets a table anywhere he?—”

“No, no, you don’t understand,” I said, panicked by the thought of suffering through a meal at an evenfancierrestaurant than this, maybe even one with the tiny courses, all of which consisted of awful, rich food I couldn’t eat. “I can’t really eat at restaurants like this.”

“Like this?”

“Expensive restaurants.”

“What?”

“The food here is too rich. There’s nothing plain and familiar on the menu. And it’s too formal. I know it sounds really odd, but I can’t eat in formal settings. If I have a business dinner, I eat before. I think most people suspect I may have an eating disorder, but really, it’s just I’m a bit… difficult when it comes to food.”

I was on a roll now, so I decided to simply lay it all out.

“Also, I bought this dress for tonight, and I thought the fabric was soft, but now, it feelsreallyitchy, and I don’t think I managed to cut out theentirelabel, so that’s driving me crazy.”

I let out a long breath and collapsed back into my chair. It actually felt good to get all of that out.

Mike blinked at me, looking stunned, and then relief swept over his features.

“Well, thank fuck for that,” he finally said. “Jesus, love, I was terrified that you were starving yourself. I had no idea you hated this fancy muck. I thought this kind of gaffe was right up your street, being a proper lady and all.” He stood up from his chair and reached for my hand. “Well, if it’s plain food you’re after then I’m a bloody connoisseur of that shit.”

I put my hand in his, and he pulled me up next to him, then tugged me along to the exit, muttering, “Sorry, chief,” at the maître d’, and slipping him a twenty as we passed.

“Pub food?” Mike asked, although I was too distracted by the reversing-arm-at-the-back-of-my-seat manoeuvre that he was doing as we exited the car park to hear him.

“What?”

He grinned at me before concentrating back on the road. “Can you eat pub food?”

“It depends on which pub. If it’s like a gastro pub, then it’s a firm no.”

Mike snorted. “Never heard anyone describe The Badger’s Sett as a gastro pub. So you’re in luck.”

Chapter 15

Hedgehogs