“I’ll miss him, but I need to be positive. There are lots of good things about him being at college. I can have dinner whenever I want and visit my friends without letting anyone know where I'm going. But, best of all, I can watch every romantic movie on Netflix.”
Joseph took the picnic basket and blanket off the back seat and smiled. “I don't watch romantic movies, but I know what you mean about dinner and friends. Adele and I try to cook healthy meals, but her idea of a nutritious meal is having mushrooms on her pizza.”
Shona laughed. “That sounds like Nate. They have a lot in common.”
Thinking about their children made him even more nervous about discussing their future. Whatever happened would have to include Nate and Adele. Even though Adele was happy to spend more time with Shona, he hadn’t spoken to Nate. If he was even slightly apprehensive about his mom being in a relationship with Joseph, it wouldn’t work.
Shona walked along the shore to a group of trees that were closer to the lake. “Do you want to sit here?”
“Sounds good.” He left the picnic basket on the ground and unfolded the blanket. “I saw the Facebook posts Mabel made about the opening of your store. They were great.”
“I thought so, too. Andrea and Paris had a lot of people visit them yesterday, so, hopefully, all the advertising is paying off.” She opened the picnic basket and grinned. “I’m impressed. It must have taken a long time to prepare all this food.”
“Would you be disappointed if I told you I bought most of it from Andrea’s café?”
“You're safe. I'm still impressed.”
Joseph hoped she still felt that way after they’d finished lunch. He handed her a plate and took the lid off some of the dishes. “Help yourself to whatever you like. There are chicken pot pies, a green leafy salad, sandwiches, and cookies.”
Shona reached into the basket. “And you brought knives and forks. You're more organized than I would’ve been.”
“That's because you have a lot more happening in your life at the moment.”
“You're busy, too. You’ve been helping me so much over the last few weeks. Have you had a chance to spend time with your other friends?”
“I work with most of my friends, so I see them each day.” He took a chicken pie out of the basket. “When Adele stays overnight with her friends, I try and make the most of it. But nearly all my friends are married and have teenagers. Their social life is about as interesting as mine.”
“We should start a club for parents. Sometimes, having another adult to talk to is worth its weight in gold.”
Joseph cleared his throat. If he didn't ask Shona about dating him, he wouldn't get the chance before she had to go back to work. “I wanted to ask you something.”
She took a sandwich out of the basket and frowned. “That sounds serious.”
“It is, but not in a bad way.” At least, he hoped not. “I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to blurt it out.”
Shona left her sandwich on the blanket. “Okay.”
“The thing is, I like you. And even though starting a new relationship was the last thing I wanted, I'd like to spend more time with you. What do you think?”
“About spending more time together?”
He nodded, too worried about her confused frown to do much else.
“Does this have anything to do with when I kissed you?”
“Only partly. I've always been worried about falling too deep into a relationship. Whenever I've loved someone, I’ve felt as though I was giving up something of myself. With you, it's different. You take me as I am and don't worry about things that don't matter. I like spending time with you.”
“I like spending time with you, too.” She looked across the lake. “Before I met you, I didn’t want a relationship with anyone else. Chris has been gone for nearly four years. I loved him, and it’s scary even thinking about being part of someone else’s life.”
Joseph moved the picnic basket out of the way and sat beside her. “I didn’t have the type of marriage you had, but I understand. You get used to thinking about yourself with one person and nothing seems right when they aren’t there.”
“Did you miss your ex-wife when she left?”
“I did, but not for the reasons you might think. Our marriage was on rocky ground for years. But I was so preoccupied with my career that I never noticed. When Hillary left, Adele was four years old. I had no idea what to do.”
“You must have done something right. Adele’s a wonderful little girl.”
“Most of that has to do with her. She’s more resilient than anyone I know. My dad was amazing, too. He stayed with us until I could organize something with work. We took Adele to a speech therapist, and her stutter slowly improved. It wasn’t until I was negotiating our divorce settlement that everything disintegrated.”
