by Nella Tyler
“I already ordered the calamari, too,” Peyton said. This time she took the few seconds to soak her next chunk of bread into the herb and olive oil mixture before devouring it. I followed suit immediately afterwards with my own piece.
“This is why we’re such great friends,” I replied, and she laughed. “So, how’d things go with Mr. Right Now?” she asked. I’d told her about going out with Drew again last Saturday, but we’d both been so busy we hadn’t spoken since then. She had things going on at work on top of her crazy wedding planning. We’d messaged back and forth, but I hadn’t shared any details that concerned my newest Drew developments, preferring to wait until we could talk about them face to face. I really wanted to get her opinion on a few things that had been bothering me the more I thought about them.
“They went really well, actually.”
“What did the surprise date end up being?”
I grinned as I reached for my wine. “He took me rock climbing.”
Her eyebrows came together slightly as she watched my face, waiting for a punchline that didn’t come. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“No, I’m serious. We spent hours at an indoor rock climbing gym.” I still had the muscle soreness to prove it, but I’d had an amazing time and couldn’t wait to go back. They offered classes, I found out, and I intended to check them out. From the way my body ached, I could see that climbing those rock walls was one hell of a workout. I couldn’t believe Sophia climbed as much as she did. She seemed so small and delicate, but she was clearly made of some pretty hardy stuff if she managed hours at the adventure park every weekend with her dad.
Speaking of her dad, I still wasn’t able to get the sight of him on the wall out of my mind. The rippling muscles in his back, shoulders, and arms — much to my delight, he’d peeled off his sweater before getting on the wall for ease of mobility — his powerful legs propelling him up the wall faster than what seemed humanely possible. The round shape of his ass outlined in his jeans that kept drawing my eye and keeping it. I swore he knew exactly what he was doing. And the shameless way I was staring at him made me turn bright red when I realized that he’d probably been staring at me the same way when I was on the walls. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing.
I explained the rest of the date, how nice it had been getting to know more about Drew after we finished climbing.
“We talked for hours after we finished our meals. It was really nice.” I smiled again because it really had been such a relief to confirm that he wasn’t the jerk he’d seemed at dinner the week before. “I felt a connection with him.”
The waiter returned to our table to deliver the calamari appetizer and take our meal orders. We got the same things we usually did, of course, and then descended on the appetizer as though the waiter might change his mind at any moment and decide to take it away from us.
“To be honest, the strength of that connection scared me.” I bit my lip before saying the next part, knowing it was going to disappoint her. Hell, it disappointed me. “I ran away from it.”
“What?” Peyton hissed, her blue eyes flashing. She leaned over the table to keep her urgent words from escaping our two seater table. “Are you kidding me? You’ve been talking about finding a decent guy nonstop for the last year!”
“I know,” I replied, holding up my hands in the universal sign for don’t shoot. She was absolutely right. Nothing she could say would be anything I hadn’t already said to myself. I’d spent the rest of the weekend beating myself up over not agreeing to go out with him again. It felt like I’d let a great opportunity just slip through my fingers after spending years in search of someone like Drew.
“But it scared me. We drove back to his place and he asked me out again. I wanted to say yes, but just couldn’t. Instead, I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that maybe dating the father of one of my students was unprofessional. I don’t want to make the school or myself look bad. I know I started this, but it just worries me.”
“It’s not like he’s married or anything.” She took a sip of her wine. She narrowed her eyes as she watched me. I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face, which drew a smile from her, though hers was much slyer than my own. “Is dating one of the parents of your students really an ethical dilemma? It’s not like you’re dating a student or patient of yours or something.”
I wrinkled my nose at the thought but couldn’t hold back my giggles. “My students are about twenty years outside of my preferred age range for acceptable dating standards. But it just felt wrong, you know?”
She popped a piece of marinara drenched calamari into her mouth and managed to look very severe as she chewed it. She swallowed and said, “Please tell me this isn’t where the story ends.” Her eyes were moving all over my face, her gaze like a shovel trying frantically to get to the thoughts inside. “You look too damned happy right now for that to be the end.”
I grinned guiltily, my cheeks blazing.
“That’s what I thought. You’re glowing.” She rolled her eyes in mock disgust. “I’ve never seen you look this radiant. Well…maybe when the calamari first arrived.” We both laughed, the noise drawing eyes in the dining room. Once we quieted down, Peyton’s expression turned serious again, as though an internal switch had been flipped over, casting out all of the lightheartedness in a single second. “So, spill it. What’s going on now? Turning him down can’t be the end of the story, unless you somehow met another panty-drenchingly handsome guy between Saturday and now.”
I laughed again and felt even lighter. The last few days had been a rollercoaster that only kept going higher and higher. “No, there are no other guys. I was at school with the kids, and all of a sudden, one of the ladies from the front office came back with a bouquet of white roses that had just been delivered. I pulled out the card to see who sent them. It was Drew.”
“Of course,” Peyton interjected.
“He told me that he really wanted another chance to go out. If I felt the same way, he told me to wave at him that afternoon while I was outside with the kids in the car loop. I can’t even describe how much that lifted me up. Just seeing what he’d written on the card wiped away all of the arguments I’d made against dating him. It’s hard to explain, but there it is.”
“So, you waved at him that afternoon?”
I nodded, my eyes so wide it felt like they were about to pop out of my head. I was excited all over again just at the telling of this story. I didn’t want to know what kind of basket case I would be when the time came to go out with Drew again. Something about his tall, muscular frame and smoldering good looks just undid me. But it was more than looks, too. He was different. I had a feeling about him, and my gut wasn’t wrong very often.
“I did. And, he waved back, right there in front of everyone! It was like a secret code.”
Peyton gave her tinkling laugh at that, but I could see she was happy for me. “Do you know where you’re going on this next date?”
I shook my head as my smile dimmed. “We’re going out on Saturday night for dinner, but it’s another secret.”
She rolled her eyes, but her smile was amused. “This man and his surprises.”
“I think it’s sweet.” I chewed my bottom lip again as my most anxious thoughts crowded back into the forefront of my mind now that all the good news had been let out into the open. “What do you think about all of this, Peyton? I’m serious because I’m still worried that this might not be okay, given my job. I don’t want to do anything improper.”
She took a moment to think while I nervously chowed down on the last of the calamari. I reached for my glass of wine only to find it empty. Damn it.
“I think you should go for it,” she said with a shrug. “You like this guy and he likes you. The academic year will be over in a few months, anyway. If it really bothers you to be dating the father of one of your students, just keep the relationship on the down low until the summer. Then what could anyon
e say? He doesn’t have any other kids who might be in your class next year, does he?”
I shook my head.
“I really don’t think you have anything to worry about. You should see the way you light up when you talk about him. If you feel half as excited as you look, you’d be crazy not to keep seeing this man.”
I was still anxious, but Peyton’s words helped. I trusted her way more than I trusted myself. She was levelheaded and saw things clearly. If she said to go for this, I should listen. Not that I’d actually back out of the date at this point. I wanted to see Drew more than anything.
“Are you good?” she asked me, one eyebrow arched.
“I’m great.”
She grinned and so did I. The waiter picked that exact moment to arrive with our steaming hot entrees, making a good night even better. He set them down in front of us, and I breathed in deeply, relishing the smell. We asked for refills on our wine and then dug in, the conversation turning naturally to other, less emotionally-fraught subjects.
Chapter 17
Drew
Saturday
I was rushing around, trying to get ready for my date with Abigail, who I needed to pick up in about twenty minutes, and also trying to get Sophia into the bath, which she was oddly resistant to doing tonight. We’d spent the morning and early afternoon at the adventure park, climbing the intermediate walls together. She was getting damned good. It was amazing how much power she had in her tiny arms and legs, not to mention that she felt zero fear when she was on the wall, no matter how high up she climbed. Before long, she was going to be on the advanced walls.
Brian arrived right on time, and Sophia still wasn’t in the bathtub. They were going to order pizza and watch movies tonight. I told Soph it was okay for her to fall asleep on the couch if she wanted, as long as her teeth were brushed first.
“Ready for the big date?” Brian asked, grinning wickedly as he waggled his light eyebrows.
I ignored the suggestiveness of his expression and simply responded with, “Yeah.”
Sophia ran past me and dove into his arms. He picked her up and spun her around while she screamed with laughter. He slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes while she kicked her legs in pretend dismay and giggled breathlessly.
“She hasn’t taken her bath yet,” I told him.
“No wonder you’re so stinky!” Brian exclaimed and used his free hand to tickle Sophia’s sides. She screamed shrill laughter that threatened to burst our eardrums. He set her down, and she pushed her hair out of her red face. “Go bathe, smelly!”
Sophia glanced at me, and I nodded my agreement. “The water’s in the tub. Go wash up and change into your pajamas.”
She slumped her shoulders, and I pulled her into a hug. “I love you, monkey. I’ll see you later tonight or tomorrow morning when you get up. We’ll do scrambled eggs.”
That drew a smile from her. “Bye, Daddy. I love you, too.” She ran upstairs to get her bath.
“Don’t be in any rush to get home tonight,” Brian said. “Sophia is in good hands. You need to stay out all night if you can. Have fun, get laid, have more fun, get laid again.”
I shook my head, smiling at his advice and glad he hadn’t brought up the fact that she was Sophia’s teacher agian. “I plan to have a good time, but I’ll be home tonight at some point.” I left shortly thereafter, not wanting to hear anything else about the possibility of sleeping with Abigail. I’d been thinking nonstop of the shape of her body as she climbed the rock wall. I couldn’t deny that I wanted to trace those ample curves with my fingertips, followed by my lips. I was open to anything tonight. I just needed to know how open she was.
I hopped into my truck and drove over to her place, using the fifteen minute drive to plan out the evening. I’d made reservations at one of the nicer restaurants in town, which was across the street from a beautiful park lit up romantically with strings of white lights. The weather was cold, but not brutally so. We could take a short walk and buy some hot chocolate or mulled cider from one of the vendors in the park. There was a small ice skating rink, as well. I’d see how Abigail felt about that, but I was game if she was.
I pulled into her driveway, parked, and hurried up the walk to her front door. I’d no sooner knocked than the door flew open. I took a step back, surprised, and Abigail grinned.
“Sorry about that,” she said. “I just happened to be putting on my coat right here by the door and heard you pull up.”
“Are you ready to go?” I asked, looking her up and down. She was dressed in a dark pair of tights and a thick sweater dress, her winter jacket on, but unzipped. As I watched, she zipped it up and reached for her purse, which was sitting on a small table next to the door.
“Yep, let’s go.” We stepped outside, she closed and locked her door, and we walked to the truck. “Where are we going to eat, anyway?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
She laughed. The truck smelled like powdery flowers now that she was inside of it. “You are all about the surprises, aren’t you?”
I chuckled, too, low in my throat. “Must be from hanging out with Sophia so much. That girl loves a surprise.”
We kept the conversation rolling along as we drove across town to the steakhouse. I’d been many years ago with Chelsea when she was first pregnant with Sophia. It seemed like a great place to take Abigail now. I wanted to create new memories with her at places I used to enjoy. It wasn’t about erasing my time with Chelsea, but reopening my life to new possibilities. I’d been shut off for much too long. Finding Abigail was like breathing in a breath of fresh air after being locked in a stale closet for years.
She made an appreciative noise as we parked in front of the restaurant. “I’ve always wanted to try this place.”
“Told you it would be a good surprise,” I replied, drawing a laugh from her. It was thrilling that I had the ability to make her giggle, like I’d suddenly learned a valuable magic trick after thirty years of living on this earth.
We linked arms and walked up to the entrance. I stepped back to let her enter first, my hand sneaking onto the small of her jacketed back. I gave the hostess my name, and she took us right back to a waiting table. They were quite busy tonight, and I was thankful I’d thought to make the reservation, not that sitting at the bar and sharing a drink with Abigail would have really been that bad.
The waitress arrived immediately to take our drink orders and then left to get them. We looked over the menu, deciding pretty quickly what we wanted to eat and even agreeing on an appetizer. I wasn’t a huge calamari fan, but the way her eyes lit up at the sight of it on the menu won me over.
“Tell me something you’ve never told anyone else,” Abigail said, her green eyes widening as she watched my face. If I could live in this moment forever, with her sitting across from me smiling prettily and the rest of our lives stretching out beyond where we were right now, I would.
I thought on that a minute. It was an odd request. I started talking without having a clear idea of what I was going to say, but it ended up being right.
“When I found out I was going to be a father, I almost broke down in tears. I was terrified at the thought of being responsible for another human being. I still felt like a kid myself, but now I was about to have my own kid. That fear changed me. It made me better. And, every day since with Sophia has done the same thing. I can’t imagine my life without that little girl. I’m glad I let that terror wash over me and then grew the hell up instead of running away.”
Abigail seemed shocked by my words, not doing much more than blinking her suddenly watery eyes. She pulled her cloth napkin out of her lap and dabbed at the corners of her eyes while she smiled, embarrassed. Her cheeks had reddened attractively.
“Wow,” she said. “That is the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard come out of someone’s mouth.”
Now it was my turn to blush. “Oh, come on,” I laughed as her smile widened.
“I mean it
. The love you have for Sophia is inspiring. I grew up without a father, and seeing how close you are to her really touches me.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I thought about bringing up the fact that Sophia was growing up without her mother, a thing that terrified me still, especially as she got older. What would happen when the time came to have the sex talk? Would she be mortified if I tried to have it with her? What about the conversation about her impending womanhood? These were things that didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, but I didn’t want to embarrass her or mess up the delivery. These were the times I missed Chelsea the most. She had been a natural at raising our daughter. But, I didn’t want to infect tonight with any more memories of my former wife. This date was about Abigail and me. I made a conscious choice to keep things light and fun.
“Okay, now it’s your turn.” I said, forcing a large grin as I pushed the thoughts of the past out into the nether regions of my skull. “Tell me something about yourself that you’ve never shared with anyone.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her pretty eyes drifting up to the ceiling as she thought hard enough to crease her forehead. “Hmmm, that’s hard. You weren’t supposed to turn this on me.”
I chuckled at that.
She sat up a little straighter, her eyes jumping down to meet mine, the light in them almost too bright to stare at for long. “I’ve got it. When I was a little girl, I watched everyone else with their dads and wondered where mine was. Mom didn’t talk about him, nothing good, nothing bad, so it was up to me to decide what kind of person he was and what he was busy doing that kept him away from me. For some reason, I got it into my head that he was Indiana Jones.” She held that note for a few seconds while I stared at her, trying not to laugh. She finally smiled. “You can laugh.”
I did, so deeply it hurt my stomach. She joined me, her jingling laughter caressing my ears. I made up my mind to kiss her at the end of this date, no matter what else happened.