“Oh, I love the idea of an awkward competition,” Clarice said with a giggle. “That’s one I could take a gold trophy home from any day.”
Bruno didn’t think about his ex again the whole evening, or worry about analyzing Clarice. She was a delightful dinner companion, a perfect mix of silly and serious, matching his energy at every turn.
She was a middle child between two sisters and had grown up outside of Las Vegas. Bruno was an only child with distant parents.
“I’ll trade you,” Clarice offered. “Mine want to be involved in everything. I’m not sure Montana was far enough to move. I should have gone to Alaska.”
They talked about traveling, agreeing that the idea was nice, but it was much easier to stay comfortably home. Bruno had been to Hawaii a few times, Clarice had driven through Canada.
“What made you decide to be a therapist?” Clarice wanted to know after their meals had been served.
“I’ve always wanted to help people. My dad was on the city council and my parents wanted me to be a politician, but it only took a semester of student body in high school to realize that the higher you go, the more ineffective you are. This seemed like a more personal way make a difference.”
“I bet it sort of isolates you at the same time, though,” Clarice said, picking up a shrimp by the tail delicately. “Because you have to be professional all the time.”
Bruno gazed at her in surprise. It had taken him a long time to realize that his career, while fulfilling, had always felt like it set him apart from others and incapable of being a friend. “I bet you’d be a good therapist.”
Clarice laughed, wiping her fingers on her napkin. “I’d be awful at it. I’m too nice about everything. Sorry! Not that you have to be mean to be a therapist, I’m not saying that, oh, see, I’m making my own point! I would apologize all the time and never make anyone do anything hard like a therapist should. Not that a therapist should make thingshard.Oh no!” Her ears were flushed and Bruno knew that she’d caught her own accidental innuendo.
With every little smile and laugh, he found himself more and more sure that she was someone he’d been waiting for. Someone who complemented him perfectly. She was funny and thoughtful. All her physical cuessuggested that she found him interesting and attractive, and he certainly reciprocated that feeling. She was so curvy in all the right places, and her face was so expressive. He could drown in those eyes, and he was dying to kiss those red lips.
19
CLARICE
“This was wonderful,” Clarice said, for probably the third time. “I had such a good time.”
She had insisted on paying her half, to the amusement of Theo, and Bruno had given only a token protest. “I’m not some kind of macho man who will crumble in the wake of a woman paying her own way,” he said, when he conceded.
He did insist on holding the door for her, and on walking her to her car. It was cold out, and their breath steamed in the parking lot lights.
“Do I have to wait for a third date to ask for a kiss?” Bruno asked, his dark eyes dancing behind his fogged up glasses. Clarice only remembered that she was wearing contacts because her own lenses hadn’t frosted up when she walked outside. Veronica’s coat was definitely not equal to the weather and her ears werefreezing. Was her hair even worth this?
“I think that’s sex,” she said boldly. “And anyway I’m not sure how to count house showings.”
“I think each one should count as a half-date at least,”Bruno said. He was standing very close to her on the curb by her car, neither of them making a move towards their vehicles. “So we’re up to two and a half dates.”
“Is that your professional opinion?” Clarice teased.
Bruno laughed, and then it was completely natural to lean towards him as he swept in for a kiss.
It was not a long kiss, but it was a good kiss, neither rushed nor drawn out. Bruno’s mouth was warm and his lips were strong. The mustache wasn’t as uncomfortable as she’d feared, but it had a pleasant prickle. Clarice had a second to hope that what was left of her lipstick didn’t taste too bad to him, and then he was drawing away and she felt entirely bereft.
“Wow,” she said, genuinely speechless.
“Worth another date?” Bruno asked hopefully.
“You could skip straight to the third for that one,” Clarice said brazenly. Wearing makeup made her brave. Unfortunately, it didn’t make her warm, and Bruno noticed that she was shivering when her teeth chattered.
“You’re freezing!” he exclaimed. “I shouldn’t be making you stand out here in the cold.”
“I’ll get in my car,” Clarice said, slipping through the snow in her useless heels. “Let’s do this again sometime.”
“Soon,” Bruno agreed, catching her when she might have fallen. He helped her to the driver’s side and Clarice unlocked the car and got into the driver’s seat. She wondered if she should invite him over to her place, then remembered that she lived in The Tails, and couldn’t bear to. And he had a little boy at home acting as a block for first kiss follow-ups. The only thing to do was say goodbye.
“Thank you,” she said, gazing up at him as he smiled down on her. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” Bruno said wistfully. Was he wishing thesame thing she was, that they were younger and more flexible and that sex in a cold car wasn’t so uncomfortable?
