8 The date

Walking in, I look around and admire everything, from the exposed brick walls, the black dining tables and there matching high back chairs. The bar running along one wall in black with a mirror shelf behind it holding hundreds of bottles of alcohol. Looking around I see Kade sitting at a 2-person table near the windows that look onto the balcony with more tables and chairs. I start walking over to him, when he sees me approaching and stands up. Giving me a nervous grin, he pulls out my chair for me “hey Ro” I give him a big smile, nervous or not, I can’t help but smile whenever I’m near him. “hi Kade” I say before sitting down. Kade goes around the table to his chair and sits down, giving me a small smile while rubbing the back of his neck. I look around at the other people awkwardly. Hearing Kade clear his throat I look at him and give him a small smile “sorry I’m a little nervous, I never know how to start dates”. Chuckling I give him a smile, “me too. How about we just act how we always do?”. “I can do that” he says sitting up straighter giving me a big smile which I return.

“how was your day” he asks reaching for the jug of water and pouring me a drink. Laughing I shake my head, “when I said act like normal, I didn’t mean to be my bartender you know?” I tease. Frowning he looks at what he’s doing before realising and laughing out loud, more relaxed “I didn’t even realise i was doing it”. laughing I pick up my drink and have a sip before putting it back down “it was good, Madi and the kids come over today. The kids had a ball running around with all the animals. Hopefully it wore them out a little bit for Madi with bedtime but knowing her munchkins probably not”. We both laugh knowing that Madi’s kids will keep going even if they turn into zombies, while Greyson will be in bed at 9:30 at the latest. “they are like Nicholas, it’s funny how different him and Greyson are sometimes” laughing I nod my head, “yes! Greyson is so serous for a 5-year old were nick is full of energy and always playing around” I say laughing. “how was your day anyway?” I ask.

“yeah it was alright, did some paperwork at home before I had to do inventory.”

We talk for a little bit before decided to order dinner. “what are you thinking of ordering?” Kade asks, without looking up from reading over the menu, “hmm, I’m thinking the chicken parm with baked veggies. What about you?” I ask, looking up from my menu, I give Kade a smile when I notice him looking at me with a small smile on his face. “I’m going to get the lamb shanks with potato bake, but I’m driving tonight and working tomorrow so I’m going to stick with water for a drink.” I nod, looking at the drinks “yeah, I’m going to have raspberry soda, I have to drive home and I have Madi and the kids coming over tomorrow” I say, putting my menu down. The waiter comes over and we both order our dinner and drinks.

“I hear your going to have Luka and Nick over tomorrow?” I nod, giving him a small frown, “yeah, Sasha got hurt the other day so Madi decided she is going to come over tomorrow and have a look around the pen with me to see if we can find out where. But she decided to invite Luka and Nicholas as well. Madi’s mum is going to keep all the kids at Madi’s, that way no one has a chance to get hurt or anything.” I take a sip of my drink noticing Kade has a frown on his face, “why are you checking the pen? Is the fence broken or something?” he asks looking concerned, I shake my head “just trying to make sure that there’s nothing that can harm the Mini’s while they are in there, especially because I have a lot of kids who are gonna be born soon, and with Madi’s kids and Nicholas coming over all the time, I don’t want them to get hurt.” I say, I know I should tell him the truth, because Luka is for sure going to tell him why he is coming over, but I don’t want to ruin our date but having him worry about something he can’t control.

Thankfully, before Kade can ask any more questions, the waiter brings over out dinner before leaving to fill up our drinks. “this looks so good” I say looking down at my dinner, I look over at Kade to see him still looking at his dinner with a frown. I give him a smile and squeeze him hand softly, waiting for him to look up at m, “Kade, its fine honestly. I don’t want to talk about it on our date ok? I want to enjoy our time and get to know you better” I say, he gives me a small sigh before giving me a small grin and nodding his head “this looks delicious, but the parm looks so good too, maybe I should have got that” I laugh, cutting into my chicken I hold out the fork so he can try a piece. He wraps his lips around the fork, looking into my eyes before taking the chicken. He chews, giving a little moan, I just stare. Hearing him clear his throat I shake my head to clear it of other thoughts before looking at him again to see him holding out a piece of lamb on the fork. I lean forward and eat the it off the fork still looking at him, as I lean back, I notice his eyes goa darker shade of his normal grey colour, and swallow heavily. “it’s pretty good” I say, clearing my throat and downing half my drink in one drink

“So, favourite colour?” I ask trying to break the tension. Kade lets out a hearty laugh, leaning back in his chair grinning, smiling back I shrug my shoulders. We talk while eating asked each other random questions, I learn his favourite colour is dark blue, while mine is mint green. He had a dog named Carne growing up who sadly died when he was in high school. He hates salads, and thinks of them as rabbit food, which I laughed at but had to agree. His best friend is Luka and he spends most of his time either working or with Luka and Nicholas, and that he worked at a bar for 3 years before moving here to open Lou’s, which he named after his father.

After we finish dinner, we pay and head down to the ice cream shop down the road. Walking out of the village, Kade holds open the door for me, before holding my hand as we walk, we chat some more about random things before we get to I scream “what flavour do you want?” he asks already pulling out his wallet. I look over the menu to see what they have to choice from, “ ill have chocolate chips please” “cup?” he asks, I nod my head giving him a small smile, that was one of the things we talking about over dinner, how we both rather cups then cones. After Kade pays, we grab our ice cream before we walk outside walk across the street to the park where we walk around the lake and fountains.

Hearing my phone ring I ignore it, decided that I will just ring them back after. But when it rings again i frown, pulling my phone out, I see it is my neighbour “hey bill, what’s up?” I say looking up at Kade who is also frowning as he knows who bill is. “hey Rowan, look I don’t know what the hell happened by you better come to mine as soon as you can” hearing bill, Kade takes our ice cream and throws them in the bin, before coming back and grabbing my hand and fast walking back to my car. “what do you mean? What’s going on?” I ask, worried that something has happened, that something has happened to the animals or the house “they are out, your sheep and goats. Went outside to bring in Spot and seen them outside my house down the road.” I stop walking, making Kade stop walking too and look back at me with a even bigger frown “what the hell do you mean the animals are out?!"