Being taken to their table by the manager Hunter pulled out Stephanie's chair for her and allowed her to take her seat before he pushed her seat in and sat opposite her. Just as they got comfortable in their seats the manager passed them the wine list, "your waiter will be with you in a moment with your menus. Please enjoy your meal."

Smiling politely they watched as the manager walked away before he looked down at the wine list, "so do you want something to drink? I can't because I'm driving."

"You never used to drink, don't tell me the divorce made you turn to alcohol."

Laughing he shook his head, "I didn't drink then, I still don't drink now to be honest. I didn't want you to feel like you couldn't drink just because I'm not so I thought if I pretended that it was because I was driving that I'm not then if you wanted to drink you'd be comfortable drinking."

Appreciative of his thoughtfulness she didn't want to drink anyway, she wanted to keep a clear head, "no you're okay thanks, I don't really want to have a drink anyway so I'll be happy with some soda or fruit juice assuming they cater like that for the non-drinkers."

Looking at the wine list he couldn't see any options for those that didn't want alcohol so he just shrugged his shoulders, "we will have to wait and see when the waiter arrives."

Smiling softly Stephanie grabbed her purse and had a quick look inside checking her phone for messages before she put it back in her lap.

Watching her check her phone he wasn't really surprised as she said she'd not been out since she'd had Mikey so it was only natural she'd want to check on it from time to time. His attention was drawn away from his date when the waiter arrived talking in Italian Scowling a little as he looked up at him he held out the wine list, "do you have any soft drinks please?"

Taking the wine list the waiter nodded his head, "yes Sir. We have a couple of different types of soda or some orange juice. What would you like?"

Looking at Stephanie he nudged her slightly when he saw her looking a little glazed over, "what would you like to drink?"

Shaking her head she tried to clear her head, "I'm sorry what were the options please?"

The waiter turned his attention to her, "there are a few different types of soda or orange juice or of course there is water if you'd prefer that."

Shrugging her shoulders a little she wasn't bothered, "I'll take some ordinary soda that's just plain or lemon or lime flavoured please."

Nodding his head the waiter turned to Hunter, "and you Sir?"

Smiling politely he nodded his head, "I'll have the same as the lady please."

Writing it down on his notepad the waiter passed them each a menu, "here are your menus to look at whilst I get your drinks."

Taking the menus they both opened their menu and started to look at them to see what they wanted to eat.

Lifting his head from his menu to look at Stephanie he saw her sneaking another look at her phone, "is my company really that bad?"

Looking up at him she raised her eyebrow, "what are you talking about?"

Pointing to her menu he felt bad saying this but he had to know, "well that is the second time you have checked your phone in as many minutes so either you're worried about someone or you're counting down the seconds to get away from me."

Laughing she shook her head, "it's not you or your company, I'm just worried about Mikey. I know he's with my parents and he'll be fine but it is the first time I have left him with them to go on a date and I feel guilty."

His face fell hearing her talk like that, "oh, I see. If you want me to take you home I can?"

Shaking her head she didn't want that, partly because her parents would kill her and partly because she was genuinely enjoying his company, "no it's okay, I'm sure he's fine and they'll ring if anything is wrong."

"If you're sure. Just say the word though if you change your mind."

Smiling softly she put her phone back into her purse, "I will, I promise."

Looking back at his menu Hunter tried to work out what it said but it was all in Italian so may aswell have been gibberish, "well I officially have no idea what any of this food is."

Laughing at him she could only pick up little bits here and there, "I am not much better. Why don't we just tell the waiter what we fancy and see what he suggests and then he is the one doing all of the work."

Nodding his head Hunter shut his menu, "sounds good to me."

Shutting their menus they waited for the waiter to come back with their drinks before they used his suggestions to choose their meals.

As soon as the waiter had left Hunter picked up his drink and had a sip, "this is actually really nice. I'm not a soda kind of guy but whatever it is it tastes good."

Tilting her head a little she looked at him oddly, "if you're not a 'soda kind of guy' what kind of guy are you? Don't tell me you still live on water."

Smirking he nodded his head, "guilty as charged. Don't tell me you still live on coffee."

Laughing she nodded her head also, "yes I do. I am pretty sure I drink even more coffee now than I did before."

Raising his eyebrow he wondered how that is possible, "shit. With all of that caffeine running through your veins I'm surprised you ever sleep."

"Well with a toddler sleeping is a rarity anyway so caffeine becomes a necessity to get through the day."

Nodding his head he understood, "it has to be the most rewarding job though."

She smiled at the thought, "it most certainly is, I wouldn't change it or him for the world."

Talking about Mikey made her thinking about him a lot so she looked down at her phone again to see if her parents had messaged or called her about him.

Seeing that she was checking her phone yet again he decided to just put her out of her misery, "why don't you give your parents a call and see how Mikey is and if he's still awake maybe talk to him? You're clearly not going to relax until you check up on him so why not do it before the food arrives and then hopefully you can relax and enjoy the rest of the evening."

Looking at him sceptically she wasn't sure if he was testing her, "are you serious? Is this some sort of trick to see how serious I am about this?"

Laughing he shook his head, "God no, I hadn't even thought about it like that. My only concern was the fact that you keep checking your phone and you clearly want to check up on him so I was trying to be nice to offer you the opportunity."

Seeing as he seemed genuine she nodded her head even though she knew her parents would be a little upset she needed to do it anyway, "I won't be long, I promise."

Nodding his head he smiled softly, "take as long as you need."

Grabbing her phone and her jacket she got up from her seat and made her way outside of the restaurant to call her parents.

Watching her as she walked out of the restaurant it was hard not to see the spring in her step at the thought of talking to Mikey. It all gave him a deeper understanding of what it meant for her to be a parent and he wanted that bond with Mikey himself and to feel like she did.