Free All In by Marta Brown

opening his closet. “And
I’m not sure what ‘old school’ means, but you have to at least wear
a tie, no matter what ‘school’ you belong to.” He chuckles. He’s
sharper than he lets on some days.
    “But…”
    “Here.” He holds out a grey silk tie
with wide white diagonal stripes on it. It’s nice. I knot the tie
then check myself out in the full length mirror covering his
sliding closet door. The tie works, and I don’t look like a waiter.
Much.
    I run my hands through my hair
nervously, messing up the style I just spent twenty minutes on. I
quickly fix it back into place and face Grandpa again. I’m as ready
as I’ll ever be.
    “Well, how do I look?” I ask surprised
by how nervous I am.
    “You look like you like this girl,” he
says knowingly and he’s right.
    …
    While on my way to meet
Ashley at the club, after a quick stop at the local florist shop to
pick up a bouquet of roses, I can’t help but laugh at myself. The
entire time Ashley and I were looking out at the town from the top
of the lighthouse I was trying to man up enough nerve to ask her
out. Car races, sure. Fist fights, no problem. Asking a girl out,
no, asking this girl out on a date, total wuss.
    Even though Ashley
technically asked me out, I called ahead and made a reservation at the club for
dinner. Madison was happy to give me the best table in the house,
the corner one overlooking the water. I want to show Ashley I can
give her what she’s accustomed to.
    I wipe my sweaty palms on my pants one
last time and try to act like I’m not stressing out when she pulls
up and gets out of her car.
    She looks stunning. Her long dark hair
is pulled up in a high ponytail, and I can’t stop staring. I let my
eyes follow the curve of her neck down to the sparkly tank top
she’s wearing and then to the short black shorts she has on,
showcasing her long toned legs, the whole outfit topped off with a
pair of heels. High ones.
    Damn.
    “Hi,” she says, a beautiful smile
lighting up her sunburned cheeks. Or is it a blush? “Thanks for
meeting me here, my parents are hosting a dinner party tonight at
the house, it’s complete chaos.”
    “No problem.” I nod pulling out the
bouquet of flowers and jutting them out at her like an
idiot.
    “Thank you,” she says, delicately
taking in their scent.” They’re beautiful.”
    I stand there staring at her like a
fool. Those flowers have nothing on her.
    “Well…should we?” Her voice jolts me
from my thoughts. She starts to walk around to the passenger side
of my car before I stop her.
    “Um… I actually got us a reservation…
here,” I say.” If that’s okay?” I add quickly.
    She glances at the
entrance of the club and then back to me. “Oh. Of course. That was
so thoughtful of you,” she says sweetly, but I wonder if it’s the
truth. I hadn’t actually considered she might not want to be seen
with me at her country club until this very second. Gregory may not be the
only one to accuse her of ‘slumming it’ because of me.
    “We can go somewhere else,” I offer as
my mind races for a restaurant that’s nice enough to take her to,
but one I wouldn’t need a reservation at on such short
notice.
    “No, Lane, this is great.” The smile
she gives me calms my nerves until I walk into the lobby of the
club as a guest and not for work.
    Mr. Billings sees us from across the
lobby and quickly makes his way over to greet Ashley. He turns his
attention to me next and speaks under his breath, “Lane, I don’t
have you on the schedule tonight, and you’re a little over dressed
for dish washing.”
    Dish washing? You’ve got to be kidding
me. I obviously didn’t think this decision to bring Ashley to the
club for a date thoroughly through. “Sir,” I whisper back, trying
to keep my voice so quiet Ashley won’t hear, “I’m on a
date.”
    Mr. Billings straightens up and looks
at Ashley who is politely ignoring us, but I can tell she’s heard
the entire exchange by the way