She lifted a questioning brow. “Free therapy?”
“Nah, that’s actually fun for me. I mean…I did the reunion, re-met the family, picked up where we all left off.” He reached for her hand and guided her to her feet.
She frowned, still not following. “Was that an effort for you?”
“Oh, no. It was awesome. I love being here, same vibe from thirty years ago, just more gray hair. What I meant was I know that was the proper thing to do before…”
“Before what?” she asked, vaguely aware of his strong hand holding hers.
“Can I ask you out on a proper date now?”
Oh. She literally felt a little tilt in her world. “A…date?”
He laughed softly. “It’s a thing single, unmarried, and mutually attracted people do. Usually includes dinner, maybe some awkward eye contact, a few confessions, and, if we’re lucky, a kiss goodnight. And to be honest, you’d be my first in a long time, so it might also involve some patience on your part.”
And the world tilted some more, making her wonder if she might fall off.
“I always thought you…well, that I wasn’t your type.”
“You’re everyone’s type, Tessa,” he said on a chuckle. “But mostly, Eli put a wall of protective ownership around you, and he was one of the few decent guys here who could stand me. Most of my friends were losers, as you might recall.”
She did, but didn’t say anything, letting him continue.
“So I kept it friendly out of deference to a kid I really respected. I still do,” he added quickly. “But he seems to be into Kate, so I take it the coast is clear and I can ask you out. Yes?”
She hated that the little speech left her breathless. She was almost fifty years old, for heaven’s sake. She shouldn’t be breathless. But there was something so real and so different and so wonderful about this man.
Drunk, bad, wild Dustin Mathers…who was none of those things anymore.
When she didn’t answer, he stepped closer, close enough that she could smell the faint salt from the sea in his shirt, feel the steadiness in his posture.
“So is that a yes?”
Tessa tipped up her head. “Yes,” she said on a whisper.
He exhaled in mock relief. “Thank God. I was terrified of rejection.”
“Oh, Dusty,” she joked as they walked out of the room. “I don’t think you’re terrified of anything.”
“Then you’d be wrong,” he said, walking with her to the bottom of the stairs. She placed her hand on the rail, paused, then turned back to him.
“And by the way? That thing you said to Jonah? About not needing the grief to go away to feel joy? I’m going to write that one down. I’ve struggled with that since my dad died.”
He smiled. “You don’t have to write it down. You’re already living it.”
She gave him a grateful look, then climbed the stairs with a heart that felt lighter than it had in months.
The interior of the Toyota SUV smelled faintly of Vivien’s perfume mixed with Jo Ellen’s drugstore hand sanitizer and…fear. That last one was all on Maggie, who tried not to grip the wheel and say very unladylike things at the horrific traffic and really stupid drivers.
“It’s like maneuvering a school bus,” she muttered to Jo Ellen, who, of course, was clutching that bar above her window like they were chasing tornadoes instead of looking for a decent place to have lunch after a shopping excursion at TJ Maxx.
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t drive here from Atlanta. You’d have your own car,” Jo Ellen said. “It’s a pain to borrow Vivien’s every time we want to go anywhere.”
“I had my reasons,” she said, although chief among them was Maggie’s bone-deep terror of interstates. “I had to rush down here to get to the event where my granddaughter was the star. Flying made more sense.”
“Yes, the wedding fashion show,” Jo Ellen recalled. “But then you stayed. Couldn’t someone have gotten your car here? Meredith or Eli? Maybe Crista could drive it down and fly back?”
“Crista’s pregnant and everyone wants their own car and I’m fine borrowing this one.”
