Page 27 of Dream a Little Dream

But he was.

And he was wearing the blue shirt as ordered, paired with a casual pair of jeans, and kept his hair down, having washed it earlier after the gym. His date outfit was a littleout-of-date, though. He hadn’t used it for a long time and he entered the bar with the apprehension one might expect of someone who was a little rusty.

The rustic saloon bar, serving decent home-cooked food over dulled candlelight, with a roaring open fire and a sweeping beer garden dotted with outside heaters, was one of the more intimate places on the outskirts of town where couples came to dine rather than prop up the bar. A middle class hangout, with a decent selection of independent ales and fine wines.

A far cry from a seedy nightclub in central London.

Adjusting his collar to show a bit of skin and chest hair, he scanned the tables and found a woman, brunette, red dress,sipping on a glass of white wine on a table for two by the window.Heather. The photo Dominic, a fellow lecturer at the uni who’d set them up, had shown him hadn’t done Heather justice. She was way more attractive. She looked how he imagined Jessica might. And that thought unexpectedly pinched him behind the eyes and made him regret agreeing to this even more. He wasn’t surewhyhe had. Other than to try for some modicum of normalcy. And, maybe, if he delved really deeply inside his own psyche, which he never liked to do all that much, he was hoping this might lead to giving his mother what she pined for before she left the world for good—physically or mentally.Grandchildren. Since her chances had abruptly reduced by half twenty-six years ago, he felt some responsibility to at least try. For her. Even if it wasn’t normal.

What was normal, anyway?

Certainly not dating someone who reminded him of his sister.

As he approached, Heather glanced up, offering a smile that lit up her delicate features. In her late thirties, with a body kept trim, but with the hallmarks of having birthed the child she’d had in her previous marriage, she was as Dominic had described her.Wholesome. Someone to take home to mother. To bear children. To be awife.

Kenny dug deep to find his attraction to her.

Nerves were evident in her eyes as she shuffled out of her seat. “Dr Lyons?”

“Kenny.” Kenny shook her hand, then kissed her cheek, and they both sat on either side of the table as a waitress drifted over. “I’ll have what she’s having.” Best way to counteract nerves was to order the same. It meant they could share later if this all went well, and she’d feel a sense of validation. As if they had something in common already.

It didn’t matter that he’d prefer a whisky.

When the drink arrived, he held his glass up, and they clinked. “To first dates.”

“To mutual friends.”

“How do you know Dom?”

“We were at primary school together. He held my hair when I threw up after being pushed on the roundabout too fast after eating an entire packet ofRefreshers. That sealed our fate of being just mates.”

Kenny laughed. That small addition of an amusing anecdote had told him enough about who she was and how she felt at ease when she talked about herself. So he steered the conversation to her.

“Dom tells me you’re a teacher?” He didn’t much feel like divulging too much about himself, anyway. He was a far better listener. As he was so often told.

“I am. Teach year six.”

“Blimey. Take my hat off to you. I’d take university students over eleven-year-olds any day.”

“You might be right there. They can be a handful.”

“And you have a daughter?”

Heather swallowed her wine. “Yep. Alice is thirteen, nearly fourteen, but going on twenty-one. Quite the madam. I blame the divorce. She’s not handling it well.”

“They never do. It takes time to adjust.”

Heather smiled, cocked her head. “You have any children?”

“No. No. Lucky, really. I think I’m more of a fun uncle, anyway.”

She chuckled. “Are you an uncle?”

Damn. He walked right into that one. “Sadly, no.” He changed the subject before it could sit too comfortably on his already heavy shoulders. “Do you share custody of Alice?”

“Yes. Although, I think she’d prefer to live with her dad. She blames me for the divorce. Even though it was him who cheated.”

“Sorry to hear that. Must have been tough.”

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