“I like you a lot, Sutton. And if you like me too, I’m hoping that you might want to go on another date again.”
I take a deep breath, holding it. Trying to calm down the nerves inside of me. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a chance on someone. Since I did something for me.
The last time, it blew up in my face and ended in a divorce.
I don’t know why I’m thinking so far ahead, but it’s what I do. I can’t just think of myself. I have to think of Lydia too.
My mother’s words ring in my head.
Do something for myself.
“Yes.”
“Yes?” Derek asks. “You want to go on another date?”
“Yes.” I lean closer, whispering against his lips, “and maybe we could follow it up with breakfast.”
Derek kisses the corner of my mouth.
“Breakfast, huh?”
“Mmm.” I turn my head to capture his lips. “The most important meal of the day.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I make excellent pancakes.”
Chapter Seven
SUTTON
“Honey, I need deets.”
Jameson swats my thigh as he sits down at the small cafeteria table for our lunch break.
“What deets?”
“Deets about the man that is making you smile so big.”
I fight the smile as I stick a fork into my salad. It’s hard not to when I think of Derek.
“I’m not smiling.”
Jameson rolls his eyes and he dunks a carrot into a ranch cup. “Puh-lease. You look how I looked when Gunnar?—”
I hold a hand up, stopping his train of thought. “Babe, I don’t need to know how good the orgasms are. Especially when I’m not getting any.”
Jameson gasps. “You’rethishappy and he didn’t make you come? You’ve got it bad.”
I drop my fork, covering my face. “Ugh, J. I don’t want to feel these things.”
“Why not?” He leans back in his seat, eyeing me with one of his looks. One that says he’ll get the truth out of me whether I want to share it or not.
“Because what if I get hurt?” I give voice to my biggestfear. “I’m so tired of putting myself out there and then it not working out.”
Sure, I don’t have much experience with men. Right after my divorce, I tried the dating apps. One too many ghosts later, I deleted them all from my phone.
Having a then four-year-old didn’t make me the most desirable person. And if they can’t handle me having a kid, they don’t deserve me.
“Isn’t that always the case? I don’t go into all of my dates thinking the worst.”
