“Megan bought them for me.”
Aelin grinned. “I like them.”
“See!” Megan reached across the table and patted his hand, then turned back to Aelin. “Okay, Aelin, this is Colin. Colin, this is Aelin.”
Colin put out a hand, and Aelin shook it. “Nice to meet you.” He had a nice handshake. Warm. Firm, but not abrasive.
“You, too. I’m so sorry about last night.”
Colin waved her off as he pulled his hand back. “Please. I know how it goes.”
“You have kids?” Aelin picked up her glass of water and took a sip.
“Uh, no, not yet. But I have a niece and two nephews. My brother and I missed a Blizzard game at the Saddledome because of a lost blanket.”
Aelin laughed. “Sounds about right.”
“Yeah, and yours was a medical emergency. So please, don’t apologize.” Megan patted her hip. Aelin hadn’t told her the details of what happened with Ryan’s wife, but she was glad that it sounded more substantial than Colin’s example.
“So you’re a dentist?” Aelin searched her memory for anything Megan had told her when she’d been trying to convince her to say yes to a date.
“Yep, I own a practice in the Northeast.”
Aelin pointed between Colin and Megan. “And how do you know each other again?”
Megan took a sip from a glass that looked like it held something fruity. "Colin and I go way back. We went to the samechurch growing up, and our moms were in the same book club."
Colin nodded. "She was the annoying little sister I never had."
Megan gasped. "Hey, I was not annoying."
Colin raised an eyebrow. "You chased me around the church parking lot with a dead squirrel."
Aelin’s mouth dropped open. "You picked up a dead squirrel?"
Megan rolled her eyes. "I was nine. It was a phase.”
Tag picked up his menu. “Was it, though? You hid in the basement until I came down to get a Dr. Pepper yesterday. I almost shit my pants.”
Megan’s shoulders shook. “You’re just so easy to scare.” She turned to Aelin. “He did this thing with his hands, like he was going to karate chop me or something.”
Aelin laughed, then scanned the appetizers. “Have you been here before?”
Megan shook her head. “No, but we found out last night that Colin spent three weeks in Thailand on a humanitarian trip last November.”
Aelin raised an eyebrow. “Impressive.”
Colin shrugged. “A friend of mine found the opportunity, I just tagged along.”
“You were doing dental care?” she asked.
“Mmhmm, as much as we could. They retrofitted rooms in an abandoned school so we could set up equipment.”
Aelin nodded. “Wow. Was it totally free or discounted?”
“Free. It was almost all extractions. Pretty humbling to see how many people live with the pain of teeth and gum tissue that are rotting out of their heads. Maybe not the best dinner conversation.” He huffed a small laugh.
She wasn’t pretending to read the menu anymore. “Must have been rewarding.”
