Page 11 of The Moment You Know

“Good for you. She was a big bullet.”

“The date after that is the one that drank a lot. She had three Appletinis to my one beer—”

“Say no more. She’s a bullet for drinking Appletinis.”

“Wait. I hadn’t gotten to the part where she’d obviously had a few drinks before meeting up with me.”

“Nice.”

“My tenth date … let’s just say she was late because she was coming from another date and let’s also just say it seemed likely that some form of sex had been involved.”

“Eew. Really?”

He nodded. “She was a little, um, how do I say this? Disheveled?”

“Bullet,” she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Then, her expression clearing, Paige quickly added, “Although, you’d probably have gotten to first base with her.”

“After someone else had already hit a home run? Pass.” Hale shook his head. “And that brings us to my last two dates, which were no-shows, so now you have all the ‘proof’ you need.”

Paige turned serious as she looked at the man in front of her. She was now understanding why he was still on the market and knew it had nothing to do with him. “I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all that. And I want you to know that if this date goes ‘smoothly’ and it leads to another one, I will absolutely let you open the door for me and then buy me dinner.”

“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“Nope.”

Hale was looking at her like she was a unicorn. “Why wait? Let’s just do it now,” he suggested.

“You want to skip right to the second date?”

He nodded. “It’s too late to open the door for you, but we could definitely have dinner.”

Dinner! She pretended to consider his offer, trying to act like someone who received dinner invitations all the time and didn’t eat at home with her cat most nights. “I could eat,” she said, as if making a huge concession.

“Great.”

His white teeth flashed in a smile that ramped up the tingles a few notches.

Since their plans had changed from having a drink in the bar to having dinner, she and Hale went to go check on the availability of a table with the hostess. After finding them one, she grabbed two menus and motioned for them to follow her. As the hostess started leading them into the main dining room, a man and a woman came out, obviously leaving.

And even though it had been four-and-a-half years, it took less than a second for Paige to recognize them.

David.

Ashley.

Everything around Paige seemed to fade away—from the music coming out of overhead speakers to the chatter of patrons in the other room as they ate and drank—and without realizing it, she came to a stop. In what felt like a really horrible scene in a movie that she couldn’t turn off, her eyes tracked the couple as they slowly passed by her, unaware of her scrutiny and pain.

David was dressed in dark-washed jeans and an untucked, white button-down shirt, both of which fit him very well. His six-foot tall frame was still muscular, his shoulders as broad as she remembered and it was clear he hadn’t let himself go at all.

His eyes were the same hazel that she used to get lost in and had one day hoped to pass on to their children. There were a few more lines around those eyes, but instead of detracting from his looks, they enhanced them, adding character and maturity to his handsome face.

His thick hair was still mostly a dark ash-brown, but now the ash undertones were more noticeable, turning it into an even sexier color than when he was younger, if possible. It was also quite long, falling just past his shoulders in glorious, haphazard waves that begged to be played with.

Perhaps the most dramatic change was the short, neatly trimmed beard he was sporting and she found herself liking it very, very much, although it hid the cleft in his chin that she’d always adored. It was slightly lighter than the color of his hair, with more concentrated ash colored streaks fanning out from around his mouth and down to his chin, making him look both rugged and provocative at the same time.

She didn’t know if David was legitimately sexier than he’d been when they were together, or if her sexual radar was now just functioning properly, but he looked good.

He looked better than good. He looked fucking unbelievable.

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