“Fl—Chase Ryder.”
“Sounds fake.”
“Right?”It fits him, though.
“Two.”She’s holding up two fingers.“Where’s he from?”
That’s a good question.“No idea.I assume a big city.”
“You shouldn’t assume.”She shakes those fingers at me.“But why do you think that?”
“Dress slacks, shirt, and shiny shoes.”
“So?”
“To a construction site.”
“Ah.Good point.I recall he was wearing a suit jacket this morning, which did make him stand out like a sore thumb.”
“Yep.”
“I think you answered number three.You met him at the house?”
“He showed up last night.Scared the shit out of me.”Boy, did he.“He startled me and ended up with stain all over his fancy-ass shirt.”
“Oh.”Bella places her hand over her mouth.“That’s a meet-cute.”
“A meet-what?”
“A meet-cute.Someday, you’ll be able to tell your children about the day you met and threw wood stain all over the love of your life.”She laughs.Cackles is more like it.
“Fuck you.”I frown.“That’s not funny.”Nothing about my love life is funny.
“Stop.”She places her hand over mine.“I was teasing you.I know how much you hate all this romance crap.”
I don’t hate romance.I’ve never experienced it for myself.I take that back.I thought I had something that resembled romance, but that turned out to be an illusion.
“Keep going.”
“He showed up this morning with some of your treats and coffee.I showed him around the house, after which time, he asked me out.”
“Finally.A man who appreciates a hard-working woman.”She nods at me.“An amazingly talented woman.”
“Uh.Huh.”Now, she’s merely stroking my ego after the teasing.
“Where’s he taking you?”
“Norma’s.”
“Norma’s?Why?”
I shrug.“I picked it.”
“You should go to Excelsior, to arealrestaurant.”Excelsior is a larger city about a half hour from here.“A restaurant where everyone won’t be staring at you trying to eavesdrop on your date.People who won’t try to get into your business.”
I think about her words and frown.“I should have… but I needed to be done with the date by seven.Besides, tonight is meatloaf night.”I love Norma’s meatloaf.
“You’re going to eat meatloaf in front ofthatman?”
