Chapter 6

“Well, it certainly smells good in here,” he said as I took the bottle from him. “That’s a promising sign, right?”

I nodded. “Right.”

“So everything went okay?”

“Everything went fine.”

“I’m glad. I was afraid I’d come here and find you with your head in the oven or something.”

I was afraid of that, too, I thought.

We had some wine and then sat down for dinner. As much as I tried not to watch Clay and read his reaction to the food, I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to be able to tell if he liked something or not. At one point during dinner, he put his fork down and said, “Stop watching me, Patrick.”

“I’m not!” I lied.

“Yes, you are and it’s making me nervous. The food is fine. I like it. No complaints, okay?”

“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“No. Believe me, if I didn’t like it, I’d tell you, okay?”

I started to relax. “Okay.”

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