“Well,” Teddy said, “I guess that sums it up.” She felt slightly put out, even though she felt the same. She’d never been turned down for a date and frankly she didn’t really like this guy. And even though she didn’t want a blind date, she wanted to be the one to make the decision to end the night. “I suppose we should just shake hands and return to our lives.”
She waited again for him to do something, but he seemed to be waiting for her. She stood up and extended her hand. He stood and took it.
“It was nice meeting you,” he said.
His voice was perfunctory. There was nothing nice about the meeting, but Teddy was relieved she wasn’t going to have to sit through an awkward getting-to-know-you discussion.
“Sorry it didn’t work out.” She wasn’t really sorry, but the words seemed appropriate. And she wouldn’t have to call Diana for rescue. As she picked up her purse, her stomach growled.
“It wouldn’t have worked anyway,” he said. “You’re not my usual type.”
“What type is that?” For some reason Teddy’s back went up. She’d never been dismissed before she even got a chance to prove herself.
“You’re too tall, too intelligent.”
Teddy blinked. Was he real? “You can tell my intelligence level from a couple of sentences?”
“My mother gave me a little information,” he explained.
Teddy’s mother had told her nothing. “I see. You’re looking for arm candy. Petite, long wavy hair maybe, big brown eyes. The kind you could get lost in.” She paused, giving him a moment.
“Someone who isn’t very smart, but good in bed,” he admitted.
Not to be waylaid by the good-in-bed comment, Teddy asked, “So I’m being dumped because of my height?”
“Not exactly dumped,” he said.
Teddy took a breath and calmed down. She smiled sarcastically. “You’re right. I am not the one. I’m not arm candy and I don’t want a man who is. No matter how good-looking you are, I prefer a man I can talk to both before and after sex.” She hooked her purse farther up on her shoulder. “And I am not just good in bed, I’m great in bed.”
Pivoting on her high heels, she moved away from the table. She’d only taken a step when he called her name. “Theresa?”
She turned back.
“I probably shouldn’t have said that. It’s been a long day and I’ve forgotten my manners.”
“Is that an apology?”
He nodded.
She had the feeling that he rarely apologized. He was a man in command. She could tell he was confident and obviously chose his own road. This date orchestrated by his mother and her mother was outside his developed character.
“Teddy,” she said. “Everyone calls me Teddy.”
“Teddy,” he repeated. “Since you’re obviously hungry, and we’re already here—” he spread his hands encompassing the room “—we might as well eat. That way I can answer truthfully when asked how my night went.”
“It hasn’t begun on a high note. You sure you don’t want to stop here? If we go on, things could get worse.”
He laughed. The sound was deep and infectious, but Teddy refused to join in. She kept her features straight and unsmiling.
Teddy shrugged and returned to her seat. Undoubtedly, she’d be questioned, too. They ordered, and as she cut into a prime rib so tender she could have used a butter knife, Adam opened the conversation.
“While I was arguing with my...” He stopped. “I hear you’re in the wedding business.”
Teddy didn’t like his tone. She nodded. “I design wedding gowns and I’m a partner in a wedding consulting firm.”
“So you believe in orange blossoms and till death do us part?”
She refused to rise to the obvious bait. “Orange blossoms would be very expensive on this coast. But there are some brides who insist on them.”
He raised a single eyebrow and sipped his drink.
“I take it you are a nonbeliever?” Teddy asked.
“I’m a realist. I’ve seen too many of my friends walk down that aisle only to end up hating the person they vowed to love.”
Teddy was in trouble. She should have taken the opportunity to walk out the door when she had it. Now she was as stuck here for as long as the meal lasted.
“You’ve been married,” she stated. He had all the earmarks of a man who’d been hurt in a relationship, but his tone regarding orange blossoms told her he’d been down that aisle himself. His nod was barely perceptible.
“And you hate her now?”
He shook his head. “Quite the opposite. We’re very good friends.”
She frowned. This was an exception to the rule of divorce. “What happened?” she asked, realizing it was probably the wrong question, but it was already out.
He spread his hands and hunched his shoulders. “We were too young. We got married for all the wrong reasons. Mainly, we didn’t know each other, didn’t understand that our dreams weren’t the same.”
“What was her dream?”
He smiled. Teddy liked it. It was the good-memory smile, the one that appears when a person looks back and only he understands the happy place he’s entered. She was glad he had good memories of his marriage. She’d seen her share of people who only remembered the wedge that separated their relationship and not what created it.
“Her dream was to be an actress.” He took a moment to eat some of his steak before continuing. “After our divorce, she moved to L.A. and got a part on a soap opera.”
A light dawned in Teddy’s brain. Chelsea Sullivan? She rolled the name around in her mind. “You were married to Chelsea Sullivan?”
He nodded. “She kept the name.”
Chelsea Sullivan was the lead actress on the top daytime television program. From what Teddy read in the entertainment magazines, she was about to move her career to feature films.
He sat back in his chair. “And you? What did you dream of being?”
“I have my dream. I wanted my own design business.”
He smiled fully. “Then you’re ahead of most of the world. You have everything.”
Not everything, she thought. Her partner, Diana, married last year, and while the two of them had been friends for years, Teddy wondered at the happy changes she saw in her friend. There was a newness, a happiness that hadn’t been there before. While they both loved the
