Jacob grinned and took a swig of his beer. “It went fine.”
Fine? What does that mean?
“Do you care if I hang my picture on a wall?” Jacob asked.
“No,” I said, genuinely surprised. “I didn’t know if that would be your thing or not.”
He gave a short laugh. “If you’d asked me that before I attended the class, I would have said pass. But I really enjoyed myself.” He smiled and took another drink. “You’re very talented.”
I felt heat creep into my cheeks. “Thank you. But you should see Kieran’s work. It’s really amazing.”
His eyes never left mine. “I’m sure it is.”
Kieran chugged the last of her wine and set the glass down on the cobblestone. “I’m exhausted. I think I’m going to head out.”
I tried giving her my big eyes but she ignored me. “I got an early day tomorrow.”
She hopped up and practically sprinted out of the backyard. Silence engulfed us, and I felt immediately on edge.
“Where did you learn to paint like that?” Jacob asked.
“I’ve always loved to paint, and I took art classes in college.” I bit my lip. “Do you have another date tomorrow night, or are you going to see Francesca again?”
“No.”
I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath.
“No what?” I laughed shakily.
“No I’m not seeing Francesca again, and no I don’t have a date tomorrow night.”
“Oh.”
I wasdyingto ask more questions, but I didn’t want to seem overly eager.
He drained the last of his beer and stood up. “Since we are both free tomorrow night, do you want to go out?”
“Go out?”
He gave a short laugh. “Yeah. You know, leave the house, be seen out in public.”
Am I ready for that? Are people in the community ready for that? Stop overanalyzing!
“Sure. Maybe we can have dinner or something.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “How about I plan something? Are you okay with that?”
“Hints?”
He gave me a wicked grin. “Nope.”
My heart thudded painfully in my chest. “Do I wear jeans or a dress?”
“Jeans,” he said. “We’re gonna get physical.”
Chapter 12
“He didn’t tell me anything.” I had Kieran on speaker phone as I poured a small glass of wine. “He just asked me out and said for me to wear jeans because we were going to do something physical.”
