I clamped my mouth around my next outburst and tried to cool my temper. Picking up the dropped cup, I salvaged what I could of her drink, apologized to the barista, and taking Hayley gently by her shanking hand; I handed her the cup.
She looked down at it like I had handed her a snake.
“Shall I get you a fresh cup, miss?” the waiter asked as he finished cleaning up the spill.
Hayley looked at him. “Yes…I mean, no. I’ll have hot chocolate. I hate coffee, it’s disgusting.”
Why didn’t she say anything earlier?!
Staring at her and the distant look she had on her face, I felt embarrassed. My feelings were only made worse when the barista looked over at me and raised his eyebrows, seeming to indicate that I was rude to not get my date what she wanted. But she had never said anything.
I sat down, trying to get my mind off of my annoyance, but it was hard with wet pants and everyone still staring.
This was probably a bad idea. I wasn’t good with women. I should have ignored what Ann and Vicky said. Hayley would never make a good fake fiancée for Carl’s wedding. The girl obviously could not stay calm, and there was no way we could get along.
It was the hot chocolate that was the final proof. Not the fact that she preferred that to coffee, which could admittedly be pretty disgusting, but that she didn’t even bother to tell me. How could I deal with a woman who wouldn’t even talk?
To be fair, she also hadn’t said a word since we had left Ann’s office. It was a form of selective mutism I had seen before, generally brought on by trauma, or at least intense fear. I didn’t know what she had heard about me, but it was a safe bet that it wasn’t good. It was a mistake to ask her out, cute as she was.
“I won’t bite,” I said after a few moments of silence.
“I-I know,” she said, still not looking me in the eye.
“What’s wrong, then? Your shaking like a Chihuahua in a thunderstorm.”
That actually got a giggle out of her, which was a nice surprise. I really hoped I wasn’t as scary as I seemed.
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, then immediately looked back down at the table again. “I-I’ve just never been on a date with a rich man before. Y-your also really s-sexy, it’s, you know, intimidating,” she managed.
Her words hit me hard. On the one hand, I was happy that she thought I was sexy. On the other, did she only think I was sexy because of my money? I wasn’t really interested in a gold digger, even if it was just supposed to be for one night. Women like that were hard to get rid of.
“Well, thanks for the compliment, but you don’t have to be scared,” I told her calmly. “I have money, yes, but it hasn’t really changed me that much.”
We paused as the waiter brought over her hot chocolate and set it on the table before giving me another judgmental look. I tried to ignore him.
“I’ve heard of that, I think,” Hayley said when the man had gone.
“Self-made men?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said, looking down at her new cup.
As I waited quietly, she blew on the cup a little to cool the liquid, then took a hesitant sip. It must have been fine because she settled in her seat a little. However, she still wouldn’t look at me.
It didn’t appear that she was going to say anything more. Conversation with this woman was almost impossible.
“Did you hear something about what I did in the war?” I asked.
“No, not really, just that you were there and then parlayed your military training and a keen mind for tactics into one of the most successful security companies in the nation.”
Wow. A full sentence.
Too bad it wasn’t an original thought that was hers.
“You read my write up in Forbes.” She had quoted it almost word for word.
“Yeah,” she said blushing.
“You memorized it?”
“No, I just remember things. I don’t know why.”
Okay.
“Must be useful in your line of work,” I said, trying to keep the conversation going, not that it had ever really started.
“Yeah,” she said.
And that was it.
I could tell she was winding down, closing off again. I couldn’t read minds, not really, but I could read people, and more to the point, their feelings. It was a skill I’d always had that had only gotten stronger during my service.
It was clear the whole fake fiancée thing hadn’t been a good idea. At least to try and do it with Hayley. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt or scare her. The evidence told me I was doing at least one, if not both of these things.