He raised an eyebrow. “Awfully presumptuous of you.”
“Well you’re the one who offered to take me to dinner. And I have a monthly Ford Bronco payment burning a hole in my bank account. But I’ll pay for the second date.”
“Second date? Even more presumptuous.”
I started to make a joke about how Rhett had said he takes things slow, but stopped myself. I didn’t want him knowing Rhett and I had talked about this date. That might lead to Cole askingwhywe were talking about the date, and… other things.
“Well, you know, first dates are for all the bullshit questions,” I said. “Second dates are where youreallyget to know a guy.”
“I think we’ve covered a lot of bullshit questions,” Cole pointed out. “We know where we both work. We know what cars we drive.”
“Hmm. Good point. Anything else I should know?”
He furrowed his brow. “Let’s see. I don’t believe in horoscopes, but I like reading mine anyways for fun. Pisces, by the way. I’m also allergic to peanuts.”
“Peanuts? I would’ve starved in college without peanut butter.”
“Yeah, I’mdeathlyallergic. Have to carry an EpiPen around with me.” He patted his pocket. “There are only about ten restaurants in town that I know don’t use peanut oil in their kitchen.”
“Yikes. Any other deadly information I should know?”
“Hmm. I think that just about covers it. Should we jump straight to the second date, then?”
“Excellent idea,” I replied. “Our first date was great. I really like how you walked me to my door.”
“What can I say? I’m a gentleman.” Cole smiled and leaned forward on the table. “I like how you took the initiative and kissedmeon the cheek.”
“I’m a modern woman.”
We ordered two appetizers when the waitress returned, and nibbled on them while chatting about other basic stuff. I already knew Cole was from Vancouver, so I told him my backstory. Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina. Going to the University of Georgia, and becoming one of the athletic trainers by the time I was a senior.
“That basically covers all the first date questions we might have missed,” I said. “What are some good second date topics?”
Cole immediately grinned. “I’ve got a good one. We got into a huge argument about it in the locker room the other day.”
“On Tuesday? When you guys were shouting at each other? I wondered what that was about.”
“It might lead to us arguing,” Cole warned.
“That’s okay,” I said, nodding solemnly. “Better to find out now rather than in ten years when we’re married and have two kids.”
He blinked in surprise, then chuckled. “All right, here we go. The big topic that almost broke up the team…”
I drumrolled my fingers on the table as he pulled out his phone. When he showed me the screen, I had to lean forward and squint to see the photo.
“Is that a bracket? Like for March Madness?”
“Yes, but it’s not sports teams,” he said. “This is a bracket of the best chairs.”
I stared at him. “Best chairs?That’swhat the entire team was fighting about?”
“Just wait,” Cole assured me. “Let’s go through the matchups. At the top of the bracket, we have Rocking Chair versus Office Chair.”
“Rocking, no contest.” I said.
He nodded, tapping on the screen. “Next matchup. Lawn Chair versus Recliner.”
“Recliner.”
