Uh…
Hang on a second.
“Mebeing a baby?”he asked.
“And we’ll need to work on your apparent addiction to theword ‘babe’—”
“Archie—”
“But Iwannaknow you too.I’vebeen waiting a long time.So we’re doing this.And I’ll warn you, I’m notconventional.”
He was getting that.
“I’m not either,” he pointed out the obvious.
“So who cares if our first date is at your brother’s?”
“With his woman and my ex,” he reminded her.
“With his woman and your ex.”
It was then, Jagger got serious.
Very.
“Honey, that might be a lot and yougottaknow you’re ready for it.”
“Jagger, I wouldn’t tell you I’m good to go if I wasn’t goodto go.Something to know about me, I don’t bullshit.I don’t lie.I don’t playgames.I don’t have time for any of that.I became a mom and a wife when I wasfourteen.It sucked but I learned a lot.And that’s part of what I learned.”
There was a lot to unpack there, but now was not when theyshould get into it.
Now was for him to say, “We’ve waited a long time to behere, and I’d like our first date to be something special.”
The area around her mouth got soft, which brought hisattention to it, and how gorgeous it was, and she used it to say, “So he can besweet.”
He tore his focus from her mouth and said, “I’m a lot ofthings.”
Another light hit her eyes as she started, “If you don’twant me to go—”
He cut her off, fast.“I do.”
“I have a feeling, whatever happens, dinner at yourbrother’s might not be special, but it’ll be memorable.”
He couldn’t argue that.
“Come pick me up before.We can talk on the way.And we cantalk on the way home.That’ll be our special,” she offered.
“Right, I’ll need your address,” he told her.
She pointed up.
He looked up.
Then he looked at her.“You live over your shop?”
She nodded.“I semi,kindaown thebuilding.”
“What’s the ‘semi,kinda’ part ofthat?”
