“You said you were planning to let your kids choose your Halloween costume this year. I thought?.?.?. well, we both know where my mind went.”
“Ah. I can see where you might’ve thought I had kids.” He shook his head.
“Now that we’re talking about it out loud, the whole thing does sound pretty ridiculous.” She hung her head, giggling to herself.
“So you’ve been thinking about me that long?” Henry joked, pulling back out onto the road.
“You made an impression on me.”
“I have a confession to make. You made an impression on me too. I’ve been thinking a lot about the beautiful, funny, and obviously smartangelfor days.”
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.Me too. You’ve made me watch all three Indiana Jones movies.
Henry continued. “I’m just sorry I had to turn down grabbing a coffee with you. It’s not that I didn’t want to. It was more that I’ve been swamped trying to sort out some of the last-minute details for the festival. I agreed to take over organizing it this year.”
Hearing him say that left her momentarily speechless. “Wait, coffee? I didn’t text you. I don’t even think I have your mobile number. I scrolled through all my contacts.”
“I think that’s my fault. I should’ve clarified this earlier, but Henry isn’t my real name.” He blanched. “I told you it was at Hobby Land because I thought it was a fun nod to Indiana Jones.”
Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle started clicking together to reveal the full picture. There had been a person she’d texted about coffee. But it wasn’t Henry. It was another guy from the list Suzy and Mr. T had given her.
“You’re Tim,” Gemma said slowly.
“I am. You can call me Tim, Timothy, Timmy, or Mr. Lyons. I answer to pretty much anything.”
She face-palmed. “I do have your number.”
They both laughed.
“Our relationship definitely has gotten off to an interesting start, that’s for certain,” she said.
“You can say that again.” Tim glanced to his right.
“My friends are never going to let me live it down when I tell them what happened.”
“Oh, I bet they will, especially Suzy. She’s got an awesome sense of humor. She’ll probably say that it was the universe’s way of making your visit to town memorable.”
“You’re right. She will.” Gemma smiled. “I’ll have to call her in the morning. I wish I could tell her in person, but I’m flying out tomorrow.”
“Is your work flexible? Maybe they’d give you another two or three days if you worked your magic on them.” Tim wiggled his fingers. “Sprinkle a little pixie dust on their heads andpoof. More vacation is magically granted.”
“I wish it were that easy, but no, my work isn’t flexible about extra time off unless somebody is ill or injured. I’m a figure skater with Dreams on Ice.”
“Wow, an ice skater.” Tim let out a long whistle. “I bet that’s an awesome job. I can see where that could get tricky with certain cities and venues booking things way in advance and how you might only have so many people to take on certain roles.”
“That’s exactly it in a nutshell.”
“If it makes you feel any better, it’s that way with teaching too. We have subs when we’re sick or if an emergency comes up, but as a rule of thumb, any vacations we take have to line up with the school calendar.”
“What grade do you teach?” Gemma asked.
“Sixth.” His lips twitched. “I may be biased, but I think I won the lottery. My students are the best.”
Gemma winced. “Preteens?”
“You’re not the first one to give me that look.” Tim chuckled. “My kids really aren’t that bad. As a whole, they’re well-behaved. But then again, I have the permanent mind of a twelve-year-old. I share a lot of interests with my students, so I don’t usually have many problems.”
She cocked her head to the side. “What type of interests?”
