She felt utterly foolish explaining this to Cadence.
“Underwhelming is I guess how I would describe it. But does that mean I’m being too picky? I guess I should go out with him again, since he’s asking for another date, but…” She sighed.
Cadence looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. I don’t think you’re being too picky. You’re allowed to want someone who really lights you up inside.”
“But?” Diana prodded, sensing that her friend had more to contribute.
Cadence shrugged. “I guess I’m just thinking that people deserve second chances. After all, look at me and Tyler.”
Cadence looked so happy and bright at the mere mention of her husband, with whom she’d recently reconciled after a painful separation, that Diana couldn’t help but give her a fond smile.
“That’s a little different,” she pointed out. “You and Tyler are married.”
“It’s not that different!” Cadence protested. “Tyler and I thought that we couldn’t go back to things being good between us, and it was that attitude more than anything else that kept us apart. If we hadn’t taken a moment to reframe how we were thinking about ourselves, each other, and our relationship, we never would have gotten to where we are now.”
Diana was still far from convinced that Cadence’s situation was similar to that of Diana and Blake, the high school chemistry teacher she’d joined for a single meal last week, but it was a pleasure to watch Cadence’s happiness.
“How is Tyler, by the way?” she asked, knowing it would set her friend off.
And indeed, it did. Cadence gushed for a while about how sweet Tyler had been since they’d gotten back together, and how seriously he took even the hard things about rebuilding their relationship, like the time they set aside weekly to discuss things that were important to them. Diana leaned back in her chair and basked in her friend’s happiness, adding the occasional “Oh, that’s so nice,” whenever Cadence paused.
Eventually, the two women decided that, as much as they were enjoying having a break, they did both need to get back to work. Diana thanked Cadence for coming by, then decided to try working on some inventory rather than diving back in to the financial mess that her bookkeeper had left behind. Normally, inventory was one of Diana’s least favorite tasks, but today it seemed far preferable to the alternative, so she made good time getting everything done.
When she’d finally checked the last box of a new shipment, she returned to her phone, feeling resigned.
DIANA: Hey Blake, thanks for reaching out! Dinner this week sounds great. Let me know your schedule.
She shook her head. She might not feel enthusiastic about another date, but Cadence was right. Giving this guy another chance couldn’t hurt.
Even so, she found herself frowning at the icon to the dating app as she set down her phone. Shehatedonline dating. It just didn’t feel natural. But she’d tried doing the bar scene thing, and had even gone to one disastrous singles mixer, which had been so awkward and contrived that she’d never tried another one.
She wanted to meet her person. She just wished she could do so organically. Was that too much to ask?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Eleanor was puttering around the bookstore, putting the finishing touches on a few displays and trying to ignore the big old pile of boxes that stood in the middle of the room, reminding her that her beautiful centerpiece bookshelf had been delayedagain.
The carrier had stopped even explaining why.
“I’msosorry, ma’am,” the customer service agent had said on the phone earlier that day. She sounded young and nervous over the phone, so Eleanor had held back any frustration that threatened to spill over. It certainly wasn’t this woman’s fault.
Still, though. It wasmaddening.
When her phone rang, she leapt on it, hoping that it was the delivery people finally giving her an updated delivery time.
Instead, it was her brother, Shane.
That might not have been the call that Eleanor wanted, but it was a delight nevertheless.
“Hey, little brother,” Eleanor greeted as she answered. Shane was thirty-nine to Eleanor’s forty-two, but Eleanor thought that calling him “little brother” only got funnier as they got older. After all, Shane was half a foot taller than her. There was nothing “little” about him.
“Hardy har har,” Shane grumbled, although she knew it was part of the running joke; she could hear the smile in his voice. “You busy? I have a little time before I have to go in to my next meeting, so I thought I’d say hi, but it’s nothing urgent if you’re up to something.”
“No, I’m not busy,” Eleanor said, even as she frowned at her watch. It was past eight o’clock in the evening in Magnolia Shore, which meant it was after five in California, where Shane lived and worked as a computer programmer. And his meeting hadn’t even started yet. “Late night in the office?”
Shane sighed, and there was a genuine weariness to it, one that Eleanor had detected more and more in her brother recently.
“Aren’t they all?”
