Treacherous (Andy Barber)

Chapter 10

"Jake! We'll be home in a few hours!" Andy shouted as he led us towards the garage. "Okay! See you later!" Jake yelled back. Andy let the door shut behind us and opened the door to his Audi for me. "Thank you, Mr. Barber." I smiled at him and he groaned. "If you keep calling me that, we won't make it to dinner." I laughed as he jogged around the car and slid into the drivers seat.

"I'm happy we're doing this." Andy said as he grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers, before backing out of the garage. "Me too, Andy." I said softly. And I was. It had been a while since I've been on a genuine date. Nate's idea of a date was golfing, getting wasted, and then inviting the boys for poker and drinking more. It usually ended in me babysitting them and taking care of them once they inevitably got sick.

Andy drove us across town to a nice Italian place. He got out of the car and opened my door for me, leading me inside. "Hi! How can I help you tonight?" The hostess smiled at Andy and I as we walked in. "Hi, reservation for Barber. For two." I watched as Andy held up two fingers and the waitress looked at the tablet on the hostess stand. "Follow me." She led us through the restaurant and to a table. The restaurant was slightly dark with romantic lighting. Tables were filled with mostly couples on dates and a few families scattered around.

"Shall we get a bottle of wine?" Andy asked me as he picked up the wine menu. "Andy, we don't need a whole bottle..."

"Well we're getting a whole bottle so pick one." He passed me the menu and I took it, looking over. "Hi guys, I'm Madison and I'll be your waitress for the night. Can I get you started with anything to drink?" Andy looked over at me and I smiled. "Um, yes...can we get a bottle of the pinot Grigio? And two waters." She nodded and wrote down on her pad. "Of course! I'll get that right out to you." She walked away briskly and I picked up the food menu. "Pinot Grigio? I would have pegged you for a red wine kind of girl." Andy said. I smiled and shook my head. "Believe it or not, I'm not crazy about red wine."

The waitress came back with the bottle and poured us each a glass of the wine. She swiftly took our orders and retreated back into the kitchen. Andy reached across the table and took my hand in his. "Thank you for letting me take you out tonight." I smiled widely, "Of course, Andy. I'm happy to be hear with you." I brought the glass of wine up to my lips and took a small sip. "I also want to thank you for everything with Nate. Honestly if it weren't for meeting you, I'd still probably be with him." I smiled slightly and Andy squeezed my hand slightly. "You honestly deserve so much, Aurora. You're special. I knew that the minute you served me that glass of whiskey. That's why I came in the next day. I was hoping to see you again."

He paused and took a large sip of wine before sighing. "You were a breath of fresh air. Jake and I, we had a rough year back in Massachusetts. I was down in the dumps honestly, but meeting you...I can't explain it but I was just drawn to you." I ran my thumb across Andy's hand as he spoke. I could tell something was eating at him and I wanted to encourage him to open up. I wanted to know more about his life, I cared about him.

"If you're not ready, don't feel pressured to tell me, but can I ask?"

Andy sighed and nodded, "No, I want to tell you." He took a deep breath and went to open his mouth as the waitress came back to our table with our dinner. He paused as she set the plates down and asked if we needed anything else. She walked away and we let go of one another and started to eat the food in front of us. "I moved Jake and I here because the past year, Jake was accused of something that really affected us as a family. Something he didn't do." He paused again and took a deep breath. I squeezed his hand. "Andy, you don't have to if you feel uncomfortable." I reassured him but he shook his head.

"Jake was accused of murdering another boy. One of his classmates." I held back the gasp I so desperately wanted to let out. I was not expecting that. Jake is such a sweet boy. Andy watched my face carefully. I simply squeezed his hand again as our eyes met. "I'm sorry, Andy. That must have been really difficult." I whispered. He nodded and looked back down, poking at his dinner.