Page 21 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

He could see she was typing again. He liked chatting to her, it was nice and easy, comfortable. Her reply came through.

I have a date tonight actually. I haven’t been brave enough to ask anyone myself but he asked me so I figured it was probably a good time to dip my toe into face to face meetings.

He tried to think of some good advice to give her. There was a fragile quality to Twilight and it reminded him of Meadow and her decision to date even when she wasn’t really sure she wanted to. But before he got a chance to impart some pearls of wisdom another message popped through.

Sorry, is that weird telling a man I potentially might date in the future that I’m dating someone else?

He quickly replied.Not weird at all. We’re on an online dating site, of course we are going to be chatting with and dating multiple people. I have one tonight too. If we get to the stage where we’re dating seriously, then I would expect a monogamous relationship, but until then we can chat about this kind of thing. I think the important part of any relationship is honesty. I also think a great start to a relationship is a good friendship. If we were friends in real life, we’d tell each other about our dates so feel free to talk to me about this stuff.

Thank you. I am a bit nervous, it’s been a long time since I’ve done any kind of dating. I’m not sure what to expect.

Bear rubbed his hand across his chin and then sent back a reply.Just be yourself, relax and try to have some fun. Tonight is just about finding out whether you want a second date, whether there’s something about this man that makes you want to find out more. So if you get stuck for something to talk about beyond the weather, which is a must on all first dates, ask him questions about himself. Men love nothing more than talking about themselves.

Thanks for the tip. And if I get really stuck I can ask him my snowman question.

He grinned.Why the hell not? The fact that your first message to me had that question was something unique and different and I really liked that. If he doesn’t get your sense of humour then he’s probably not the man for you.

Thank you. I better go and get ready. Hope you have a fabulous night too. I’ll message you tomorrow and we can compare notes.

Look forward to it. Good luck Twilight.

And you xx

He watched her little online light go out and sat back. He really liked Twilight. He hadn’t wanted to date for a while now but for the first time in a long time he’d found someone he wanted to get to know better.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Meadow was running around her treehouse trying to get ready for her first date. She was wearing a pretty blue satin dress that had sequins and embroidery around the bust and she just hoped it wasn’t too over the top. It was the first time she’d worn it after spending weeks measuring, sewing and embellishing it. She was really proud of it. She had been going to wear the silvery sandals with it but she could only find one, so she’d resorted to putting on a pair of black sandals instead. She had her favourite earrings in though, little diamante octopuses that crawled around the ear. She had seen them in a jewellery shop in the local town when she had been with Bear and fallen in love with them. The next day Bear had given them to her. He was so thoughtful like that.

She looked at her watch, she still had plenty of time, she didn’t know why she was in such a flap. She just needed to do something with her hair and she was ready to go.

‘Mummy, you look really pretty,’ Star said, from her position on the sofa, cuddled into Heath’s side as they read a book together.

‘She’s right, you do,’ Heath said.

‘Thank you. Do you think it’s too much?’

Just then there was a knock on the door and Bear stepped inside.

He stopped when he saw her and just stared.

‘Hey, you all right?’ Meadow asked.

‘Meadow… you look… sensational,’ Bear said, softly.

The way he was staring at her made her feel warm inside. Not just warm, hot. He looked like he wanted to pin her to the nearest hard surface and make love to her. She mentally shook her head. She was seeing what she wanted to see. He was probably just admiring the dress.

‘Bear, you’re looking at her like a groom would look at his bride walking down the aisle,’ Heath said, interrupting their little reverie.

Christ, Heath had seen it too.

Bear looked away, brushing his hand through his hair in embarrassment.

‘Bear, why don’t you come into the kitchen for a second,’ Meadow said, keen to get him away from the teasing of his brother. The kitchen was tucked up round the corner away from the view of the lounge. Bear followed her inside.

‘I won’t keep you, I’m leaving to meet my date now,’ Bear said. ‘But I’ll see you there. I just wanted to wish you good luck. But I can see that you are absolutely going to knock him dead. You look magnificent.’

She looked down at the dress, feeling a huge element of pride in his words. ‘Do you think it’s over the top?’

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