I did exactly as he said. I gave all of the children big hugs andkissesone at a time. They hugged me back but let me go, excited about their night with Emma.
I let him lead me to his car. He helped me into the passenger’s seat and then took his place in the driver’s. He had already told me that he planned to take me to dinner, so I had known what to expect.
“We won’t be out late tonight,” he said once we were driving through town.
“Okay.” I tried not to sound too disappointed.
His hand reached over and squeezed mine. “I want to ease you into this. I don’t want to scare you away.”
Something tingled down my spine. I couldn’t put a name to the feeling. There were too many mixing together for one to stand out.Fear?Maybe.Irritation?Possibly.
Anticipation?Definitely.
“You sound pretty confident. How do you know you haven’t already scared me away?”
He pulled up to a red light and turned to give me a very serious, very heated look. “It’s okay to be a little bit scared, Liz. We’re just getting started.”
I nearly snapped my neck turning to look out the window. “You’re so full of yourself,” I croaked.
His chuckle filled the car and wrapped around my skin.Oh, boy. I took a deep breath and let myself stay present in the moment.
If I thought about this too much I would fall apart.
But here, in this moment with Ben, I felt more alive than I had in a very long time.
He pulled up to one of the nicest restaurants in town and handed his keys to the valet. We let the waitress lead us to our table. When we were seated we glanced over the menu quietly.
Nerves jumped around inside of my body. I had only ever really dated one man in my life. There had been guys in high school, but it had never been like this.
And when Grady and I had started dating we were so young. God, it felt like a lifetime ago.
So now, on this date, with this older man, I had no idea what to do or say or think. I felt the tension start to creep back in and my muscles lock up. My breathing stopped functioning properly. I was a mess.
I tried to hide behind my menu, staring at it but not seeing a damn thing. His fingers appeared on the top of it and pushed it down so he could see me again.
“Liz,” he said in a deep rumble. “It’s just me. Nothing has changed.”
“Okay,” I squeaked.
He took my hand again and rubbed his thumb over my palm. “It’s wine night, alright? It’s just you and me and a bottle of wine. We’re just talking. You’re just being you and I’m just being me and we’re just going to have a conversation that will make us both smile. It’s going to be the best part of my day, just like all of our other ones. And I’m really hoping it’s going to rank up there on yours.Maybe?Right after the kids?”He closed one of his eyes, scrunched up his face and gave me an adorably hopeful expression.
“Maybe,” I agreed on a shaky laugh.
His face relaxed and he broke into a grin. “I like you, Liz. I’ve liked you for almost as long as I’ve known you. And every time I spend time with you, I just like you more. You’re an incredible woman that I can’t imagine not seeing every day, listening to your stories, listening to you laugh… listening to the bad things and the good things. I know this freaks you out. And it should probably freak me out too. But it doesn’t. It feels right. You and Ifeel right. So stay with me for just tonight. I promise to return you home in one piece, both inside and out. Can I have this?Just tonight?”
“Yes.” The word left my lips in a confession of feeling. Yes, he could have this night. Yes, we did feel right. And it did freak me out, but I couldn’t make it stop.
A soft smile played on his lips, “Will you tell me about your day?”
I looked into his dark eyes and felt myself center again. I felt tethered to something again.“My day?Oh, it was so boring. It started off withJacedumping a whole box of Fruit Loops onto the table and then moved on to getting a call from the cable company. Apparently I’ve forgotten to pay them the last two months and then it ended with Lucy gettingCheetoprints all over the first dress I tried on tonight.”
“Well, at least that’s something to be thankful for.”
“Why is that?”
“Thanks to Lucy, I get to see you in this. I don’t know what the other dress looked like, but I am pretty happy with this one.”
I resisted the urge to throw my napkin at him. “The other one was super slutty.Boobs everywhere.”I waved a hand in front of my minimal cleavage to demonstrate.
