Page 61 of Suddenly Dating
“Honestly!” Lola exclaimed, as if she was exasperated... but she didn’t take her hand from his.
Seventeen
The boat—or what Lola thought might be a small yacht, but didn’t want to be the bumpkin from the group to ask—was crowded with drunks in expensive clothing. She and Harry mutually agreed they needed air and pushed through to the upper deck as the captain piloted slowly out onto the lake. They accepted champagne from a waiter who was passing them out in plastic flutes, and stood at the railing, looking at all the lights twinkling back at them from million-dollar lake houses on the shore.
But as they moved into deeper waters, Lola began to shiver in her barely-there dress. “Here,” Harry said, shrugging out of his suit jacket.
“No, you keep it,” she said. “I’m fine.”
“Sure you are,” he said, and draped it across her shoulders anyway. It smelled like man—spicy and fresh, with a twinge of cigar smoke. She was grateful for the warmth and pulled it closer around her body and smiled sheepishly. “You keep surprising me with howniceyou can be.”
“Gee, thanks,” he said, chuckling a little. He braced his forearms against the railing and looked out at their surroundings.
Lola studied him. She took a sip of her champagne and then, because she couldn’t help herself after that kiss and the longing that was starting to bake in her, she blurted, “Why did your ex dump you?”
“Sorry?” he asked, shifting his gaze to her.
Lola swallowed more champagne.Shut up, Lola. Shut up, shut up.“Just curious as to why you, ah... broke up.”
Harry groaned. “I prefer not to think of that right now, if you don’t mind. It’s a long, complicated story.”
“Fine,” Lola said.
He sighed. “Let’s just say she didn’t share my vision of our future. She didn’t understand that there would be failures along the way...” He paused and shook his head. “Maybe she was right about that,” he said ruefully. “There have been more failures than I anticipated, that’s for sure. But there have been victories, too. It requires a lot of patience and fortitude.”
“I can relate,” Lola muttered under her breath. Had Will ever really wanted what she wanted?
“I can’t really blame her,” Harry said. “But I couldn’t work for someone else all my life. I need to make my own way.”
Lola puffed out her cheeks at that. “Working for others is highly overrated,” she agreed.
One corner of his mouth tipped up. “You’d be surprised how many people believe security is the goal.”
“I used to think I could work for someone else,” Lola said. “I thought it would be okay to give up goals I had because others depended on me. To be fair, I also thought my job was a depot stop until Will and I started a family. But...” Lola winced, reminded of the disappointment and heartbreak again. “Here I am.” She looked up at the moon. “Funny how things go, isn’t it?”
“Yep,” Harry said. But he was looking at her.
What was funny was that she and Handsome Harry had more in common than she would have thought.
The boat ride turned out to be the best part of the party for her, really, floating around on the lake with Harry’s coat on her shoulders and the fizzy feel of champagne and martinis in her head, and the memory of a super-hot kiss still tingling on her lips. Her humiliation in front of Birta Hoffman quietly receded.
When the boat docked, Harry said, “Ready to go? I’ve a lot of paperwork to do tomorrow.”
She wasn’t really ready, but she nodded, swung his coat off her shoulders, and handed it back to him.
“You sure?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said automatically, and smiled. But she wasn’t fine. If she’d had her druthers, she would have stayed wrapped in that warm wool piece of him all night. It was an old habit, a trait she’d learned as a little girl—say you’re fine and smile. Never let them see how you really feel, or they might take you away. Will had once accused her of being emotionally closed off. Lola wondered if that problem wasn’t bigger than she’d ever allowed herself to see.
She and Harry walked down the little gangplank and across the dock. He was holding her hand again, but Lola didn’t say anything, because she really liked the feel of his big, rough hand surrounding hers.
They said good night to Mallory and made their way to the drive and waited silently for the valet to bring Harry’s truck around. Neither of them said much on the drive back to the lake house, either.
When they finally reached home, Lola felt slightly nervous. She wasn’t sure how to end this evening. So she went to her comfort place—the fridge—and took out a plate of cheese and grapes. She set it on the bar and popped two grapes into her mouth.
Harry divested himself of his coat and stood across from her, his hands on his hips, his expression inscrutable.
“That was insane, right?” Lola said, popping more grapes into her mouth. “There is so much money up on that road.”
