Avery rolled her eyes. “That was a dad joke.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it was.” Having kids was supposed to keep him young. So why did it make him feel so old sometimes? “Let’s get going.”
They stepped off the bus to find blankets scattered, one in each color, over a meadow of grass so green Ireland would be jealous. A playground with wood chips was off to the left, and a line of trees so thick the Brothers Grimm would be inspired ringed the far edge of the park.
“Hey, look. Mrs. Croft is on the blue blanket. Come on.” Savannah took off at a sprint toward her new favorite human.
Mrs. Croft could do no wrong. Mrs. Croft was so nice. And wasn’t Mrs. Croft beautiful? Wait. Savannah had never said that. But as Ben walked slowly to the blue blanket, he couldn’t deny that Avery looked especially good in a pair of tight jeans and a light sweater that hung perfectly over her curves. She was busy removing items from the large basket in the middle of the blanket. Her son sat on the farthest edge away from her, scowling.
She handed him a sandwich and released him with a smile. He took off to be with his friends, who had climbed a tree and were eating in the branches, their legs dangling in the air. Savannah followed after him at first, but when she caught sight of where he was headed, she peeled away to go to the playground, where a group of girls her age had congregated.
Around the park, parents gathered together. They were all couples. All of them. It looked like date night in the park. His face burned. He hadn’t known he was supposed to bring a date. Avery kept her head down. Perhaps she was feeling the weight of her single stature as well.
Ben dropped to the quilt, his knees bunching the fabric.
“You’re in the blue group?” Avery asked, her tone tight.
He stuffed down another bad dad joke about the band name. Instead, he took the opportunity to be petty and throw her words from their ill-conceived date back at her. “Hey, it’s no picnic for me either.” He swallowed his self-consciousness, noting that he’d lashed out at her because he felt inadequate. He needed to do better.
“I beg to differ.” Her hand swept over the basket. “This is literally a picnic.”
He laughed. Savannah would have called that another dad joke. He enjoyed it. “Touché.”
She chuckled with him. “Sorry. I’m a little tense.”
He got that. Instead of assuming she shared his reasoning, he wanted to know why she was tense, wanted to know more about her, wanted to see if he could get a whole laugh out of her. “As a mom or as a secretary?”
“Mom.” She handed him a sandwich with his name on the baggie. It was several inches thick and made on artisan bread. There were also individual containers of fruit, a salad, flavored sparkling water, and cake.
“The non-hugger giving you trouble?”
“He was my buddy for so long—now I’mlame.”
“At least you still have your brains. Apparently, I lost mine when she turned 12.”
Avery leveled him with a look. “One word: unicorns.”
He pulled his head back. “In my defense, a person needs a passport to go into that department. I don’t speak cup size.” He dropped his gaze, mortified that he’d used the termcup sizein public and in front of a beautiful woman.
Avery laughed—a true, relaxedhey, we’re having a conversationlaugh.
His stomach warmed and his body tingled with an awareness of her that hadn’t been there before. “How long have you been divorced?”
The laughter trickled away like a stream in the August heat. She plucked at the corner of her sandwich, pulling the bread apart. “I, uh—that is, Luke died five years ago.”
“Sorry,” he muttered. He always said the wrong thing around Avery. The awkward silence that filled the space had the two of them looking in different directions.
She took a small bite of her sandwich. “You’re divorced, then?”
Grateful she’d asked instead of him volunteering the information like a girl sayingI’m free Friday night,he did his best to make normal conversation. “Eleven years.”
“Eleven? So Savannah was an infant?”
“Yep. She has no memories of me and her mother together—which is probably good for her emotional development.” He joked, but the truth outlined his words.
“Aaaand, you’re still single?” She regarded him as one would a stranger at the mall who was trying to sell a cellular phone.
He didn’t like that one bit. “You don’t sound surprised enough,” he countered—well, more like challenged.
