Page 28 of Stay this Christmas
“Dead-on rescued your night is what I’m hearing.”
I laughed so loudly, I startled a woman two tables over. Being with Sam certainly proved a good antidote to getting stood up. Or pre-emptively dumped. Whatever you wanted to call it, Sam made the situation much more bearable.
“So,” he said, a grin splashed across his face. “What was wrong with Mr. Break-up Text?”
I ran a finger through the condensation on my water glass, mentally picking over my encounters with Travis. Not much stood out one way or the other, positive or negative. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. “Nothing’s wrong with him. He’s nice.”
Sam looked unimpressed. “Burn on that guy.”
“What? Nice is a good thing.”
“Nice is the bare minimum. My grandpa’s nice, but that doesn’t mean you should date him.”
“I’m going to tell Glen you said that.”
He smiled but leaned back, hands raised. “I’m just saying. Nice is a pretty low dating bar.”
Agreed, but I really wasn’t in the mood to get into the specifics of my sorry dating history with Sam. I’d dated a little bit in college and grad school, but those relationships hadn’t gone much better than the one with Travis. Nice guys who’d seemed like a match on paper, but in person, I’d felt a whole lot of nothing for.
For a long time, I’d thought something must have been wrong with me. Maybe my heart had been permanently damaged, and it couldn’t work up more than a mild interest anymore. Maybe I would just have to live with lukewarm romance for the rest of my life. Become the queen of tepid dating.
But judging by the way my heart hurtled around in my chest with Sam sitting across from me, it wasn’t so broken, after all. If only I could redirect its frenzy to someone I could trust to actually stick around.
TEN
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I’d never crasheda date before, but for a first-timer, I’d done pretty well.
The waitress wouldn’t stop shooting me dirty looks, and I figured I stood a forty percent chance somebody had spat in my food, but aside from that, a successful night.
Harper savored a bite of her pasta. “So glad I didn’t burn this place down.”
“You would have regretted it the next time you wanted four-cheese ravioli.”
We ate our meals, the sounds of the bustling restaurant humming around us. Even if she hadn’t told me anything about the guy who hadn’t showed tonight, I knew enough. Dude must have been completely ignorant to not know what he had in front of him. She practically glowed. Kicking a guy to the curb looked good on her.
The thought of her dating anybody right now left me a little queasy, but seeing her utter indifference to him? Perfection.
Stumbling upon her here was great, but I needed a way to spend more time with her beyond crossing paths at Fiesta Village or a random restaurant. Wasn’t entirely sure yet if she’d welcome a scenario like that. She’d defrosted to me some after the long overdue apology, but asking for more still seemed a stretch.
Not that I didn’t want to ask for more at every opportunity. Just needed to find the right one.
“Howarethings going work-wise?” she asked.
That question poked a tiny pin in my joy-balloon over my good fortune of running into her.
“I’ve picked up several yoga sessions at the studio, but it’s still just part-time.” Would not mention crashing with my sister until absolutely necessary. Shouting about my status as a couch-surfer would kill the buzz of this spur-of-the-moment date.
“Are you looking for something else?”
I set my fork aside, already more stuffed on pasta than I normally let myself get. Still wasn’t the health fanatic Dad thought, but this dish held more cheese than I typically ate in a week.
“I’m looking, but it’s, ah—”I couldn’t stop my sheepish grin. “It’s slow going. Finding work here is different than other places I’ve lived.”
She nodded, staring down at her plate, and I had the feeling I’d said the wrong thing. It reminded me of the way she’d looked in the yoga studio when Eliza wanted to talk about traveling the world. Just one more indication of all the time I’d spent away from Magnolia Ridge.
Time I’d spent away from her.
