He could pat his stomach all he wanted, but it looked rock hard beneath his shirt…Not that she’d noticed.
They continued down the road toward her home. When they got there, they climbed the front steps and stood with the low glow from her front porch light pouring over them, making a warm, inviting circle around them.“I had a nice time tonight.”She smiled at him. It had been a fun, relaxing evening.
“I did too. I was wondering…would you like to do it again? I mean go out again?”He gave her a conspiratorial wink.“You know, now that we know tonight was an official date. At least according to the Jenkins twins.”
She didn’t have a chance to answer—which was good because she didn’t know what she wanted to answer—because they were interrupted when a car pulled into the drive and Emily got out, waving bye to her friends as she approached.
“See, made curfew with minutes to spare.”Emily looked from her to Austin and back to her, with questioning eyes.
She glanced at her watch.“You sure did.”
“Hi, Austin.”Emily stood on the steps, the quizzical look still firmly in place.
“Hi, there.”Austin took a tiny step back.
“Austin and I…we had dinner at Jimmy’s.”
Emily raised an eyebrow.“Oh. Did you run into each other there?”
“Ah, no. We made plans to meet.”
“Like a date?”Emily asked plainly.
“Em, why don’t you go on in? I’ll be inside in a minute.”
Emily gave her a long, hard stare.“Sure. Night, Austin.”Emily slipped inside the house. Bright light spilled out onto the porch as she switched on the lights inside.
It broke the intimate circle of warm light that had surrounded them. Broke the spell. The coziness that had encircled them.
She took a step back, sharply feeling the distance between them now.“I should go in.”
“I take it she didn’t know we had a date.”He tilted his head.
She couldn’t tell if she saw hurt or confusion or just questioning in his eyes.
“No, I hadn’t mentioned it to her.”Or to anyone. She looked down at her pretty red sandals for a moment, noticing she could really do with a new pedicure. She finally looked back up and found him staring directly at her, waiting. She shrugged.“It’s difficult for me. I’m always trying to protect her. I don’t like to bring people into her life…and have them leave.”
“And I’m just here for a bit while I work.”He nodded.“Maybe it’s best if we don’t try the dating thing. I understand. You have to think of Emily first.”
“And I’m really busy at the cafe.”The excuse sounded lame, even to her.
“Okay, well, I’ll probably see you around.”He turned and climbed down the stairs, then swiveled back and gave her a small smile.“I did have a good time tonight.”Then he disappeared down the street as she stood watching.
A strange feeling of regret filtered through her. Had she been ready to say yes to going on a second date with him? They’d never know now, would they?
She sighed and went into the house, bracing herself to face a million questions from her daughter.
And Emily did not disappoint.
Chapter 10
Donna entered Sea Glass Cafe. Olivia had finally settled on that name for certain—it was painted on the front window. She liked the name her daughter had picked. It was cute and beachy and fit the coastal decor Olivia had found for the cafe. She’d even given up some of her glass jars of sea glass and placed them on shelves around the room. Cute wooden signs saying things likethis way to the beachorflip-flop zoneadorned the walls.
She hurried through the main room of the cafe and found her sister busy stocking the cabinets.
Evelyn turned and smiled at her, though a look of exhaustion hovered in her eyes.“Most of the supplies are in.”She pointed to a checklist resting on the counter.“We should be all ready to open on the date Olivia picked. Two weeks from now.”
“That’s great.”She wasn’t sure if the exhaustion in Evelyn’s eyes was from working so hard to get the cafe ready or more stress from her impending divorce. Either way, she was worried about her sister.
