“I’ve got to take this,” he said to Brandi. “It’s Yonkers and I always answer the phone for him in case Gloria needs me.”
“Oh,” Brandi said. He held up his finger and answered his cell.
“Tell me that you’re not on a date with my mother’s new nurse,” he insisted.
He could hear Yonker’s sigh at the other end of the call. “Wren tells me that all the time. Sorry that I yelled, but I just don’t want you fucking up mom having a nurse. If you mess things up with Brandi and she quits, I’m going to kick your ass, man.”
“Not going to happen,” Reacher insisted.
“Great, I feel so much better now,” Yonkers drawled.
Reacher could tell that he was being sarcastic, but he still couldn’t help but give his friend some shit. “You do?” Reacher asked.
“No, asshole, I don’t. My mother needs Brandi now that you have a job. Don’t fuck this up for my mom, Reacher,” he insisted.
“Got it,” Reacher said. “I won’t fuck things up. Anything else, man?”
“Yeah—congrats on the new job. That’s pretty awesome, man,” Yonkers said. He couldn’t help his smile. Yonkers might be rough around the edges, and extra protective of the people he loved, but he wasn’t unreasonable.
“Thanks, man,” Reacher said. Yonkers hummed into the other end of the call.
“Fuck off,” Yonkers grumbled, making Reacher laugh. His friend ended the call, and Reacher tossed his phone to the table.
“What was that all about?” Brandi asked. “Was he mad at you or something?”
“Not really,” Reacher lied, “he just wanted to congratulate me on my new job. I guess his mother told him about it,” he said.
“Did she also tell him that we’re out to dinner together?” Brandi asked. “It sounded as though Yonkers was angry that we were out together.” She seemed to be completely avoiding calling their dinner tonight a date, and that kind of hurt his feelings.
“He just had some questions about what we were doing tonight, and I told him,” he said.
“That we had no choice but to go out to dinner together because Gloria forced us to, right?” Brandi asked.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” he insisted. He seemed to put his foot in his damn mouth every time the pretty nurse was near him, and tonight wasn’t any different. He should have told Gloria that he had other plans tonight, but that woman could smell a lie a mile away.
The waiter brought over their meals and Reacher was happy for the reprieve.
He asked if they needed anything else and Brandi ordered another drink.
If he was keeping count, that would make her third martini.
She looked Reacher over and smiled, “Don’t worry,” she said, “I walked here.” He understood that but letting her walk home drunk and alone wasn’t going to happen.
They could argue about that later though.
Right now, another drink sounded damn good to him.
“Another scotch for me—make it a double,” he said.
The waiter nodded and walked away, leaving them both to sit silently, eating their meals.
He wondered if she was going to talk to him again like she had before he took Yonker’s call.
He really should have let it go to voicemail or gone to the men’s room to have a private conversation, but hindsight was twenty-twenty.
The waiter brought them both their drinks and left again.
Reacher took a drink of his scotch, and Brandi did the same with her martini.
“Are you going to talk to me again at some point?” he asked.
He wasn’t trying to sound like an asshole, but he did.
“I’m sorry, that didn’t come out as I planned for it to.
Brandi, if I’ve upset you, I’m sorry. Give me another chance.
I didn’t come out to dinner with you because Gloria forced me to.
I wanted to be here tonight. Hell, I’d love to even consider tonight a date, and you don’t know this about me, but that’s a big deal for me. ”
“It is?” Brandi almost whispered.
“Yeah—you told Gloria that you don’t date, and I don’t either.
But there’s something about you that I just can’t shake.
” He took a long sip of his drink and could feel the fiery liquid go all the way down to his stomach.
His father used to like to call it liquid courage, and he sure could use some of that about now.
“I see,” she breathed, “well, let’s say that I call this a date. Will you do so also?” He thought it was pretty damn cute the way that she was so polite with him. Reacher was beginning to think of her as the hot principal, and he was the naughty schoolboy.
“Yeah,” he said, “I’d like to call this a date—but only if you promise to give me a second date, Brandi.”
“A second date,” she squeaked.
“Yes, but this time, we don’t tell Gloria because she’ll tell Yonkers and I don’t want to have him calling me up on our second date to give me hell,” he said. Brandi giggled and it sounded magical. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh,” he said. “I like it.”
Her blue eyes darted up to meet him and she smiled. “I’m not sure what to think of you, Reacher,” she admitted.
“What do you mean by that?” Reacher asked. “I’m an open book.”
She laughed again and he smiled, “Okay, open book,” she said, “I’ve shared my sad story about my failed marriage. How about you share your story?”
“Well, there isn’t too much to tell,” he said.
“My mom took off when I was just a baby and my dad raised me. He did a pretty good job, even if I do say so myself.” Reacher puffed out his chest as though bragging about how he turned out, and Brandi rolled her eyes at him.
While he told her about his past, she finished her dinner and ordered another martini.
He decided that another scotch sounded pretty good to him, and did the same.
By the time he got to the point in the story where he rolled into town and met the guys at the Royal Bastards, they were another two drinks in, and he was beginning to lose count, and his train of thought.
The waiter came back to their table with the check and Reacher took it from him.
“I’m afraid it’s closing time, and we will need you to settle up,” the guy said.
Reacher felt bad for him when he checked his watch and realized that they had been sitting there for almost three hours.
“I’m also going to have to insist that you let me call you both an Uber,” he said.
“That won’t be necessary,” Brandi insisted, “I only live four blocks from here and can walk home.”
“Oh, from what I’ve been told, you shouldn’t walk this neighborhood alone after dark,” the waiter said.
“I can walk her home,” Reacher offered. He looked across the table at Brandi, trying to decide if she liked his idea or hated it.
“How will you get home if you walk me back to my place?” she asked. “You can’t ride your bike. You’ve had more to drink than I have.” He wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but he did know that he couldn’t ride his bike anywhere in his present state.
“I’ll call myself an Uber,” he promised.
She looked him over, and the suspicious look on her face was nearly his undoing.
“Come on, Brandi. If Gloria trusts me, why can’t you?
” He handed back the check and his card to the waiter who was standing at their table, watching them go back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.
“Okay, I trust you, Reacher. I’d appreciate you walking me home. If you want, I can give you a ride back here tomorrow for your bike. Just tell me your address and I can pick you up in the morning before I head over to Gloria’s.”
“No need,” he said. “I’ll have one of the guys down at my club pick up my bike and get it back to me. Yonkers probably wouldn’t mind at all—unless he’s still sore that I went on a date with his mother’s nurse.”
“I’m sure that he’ll get over it,” Brandi said. She had no idea how long Yonkers could hold a grudge, but he was pretty sure that they were both about to find out. “Besides, there are no rules about me dating my patient’s son’s friend. At least, I don’t think that there are.”
“Good to know,” Reacher said. The waiter brought back his card and waited for him to sign the receipt as though he didn’t trust Reacher to complete the simple task.
“Are you both sure that I can’t call you each a ride?” he asked.
“We’re sure,” Reacher insisted. He stood from the booth and stumbled just a bit, making Brandi giggle again. He smiled down at her and held out his hand. “Ready?” Reacher asked. She nodded and stood, taking his hand to steady herself. “You okay?”
“About as good as you,” she teased. “I think that between the two of us, we’ll manage walking back to my place, though.
” He wasn’t so sure about that, but he liked her spunk.
Reacher just hoped that she was right because the last thing he wanted to do was break a promise to her—and he promised Brandi that he’d get her home safely.