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A few minutes later, he’s knocking on the door and I rush to answer it. I pull it open with a smile on my lips, watching his eyes as they move down my body and back up, fully taking me in.
“Wow, you look…” he seems lost for words. “Amazing.”
“Thank you.” I step out, closing the door behind me. “Are you ready to go?”
He shakes his head clear. “Um yeah…yes.” He holds out his arm for me to take.
It feels awkward and forced, but I slide my arm into his and he leads the way to his driveway where his truck sits waiting. “It seemed weird to drive next door, but I’m realizing that I’m making you walk across the grass in heels. I should have thought this through.”
A nervous laugh escapes. “It’s fine, Lincoln.”
He opens the passenger side door for me and nods. “Does this feel weird to you?”
“I mean…It does feel a little forced.”
“Yes, thank you. Why is that? I mean, it’s not like this is the first night we’ve spent together.”
“No, but it is our first official date. Maybe we’re just putting too much pressure on ourselves.”
He takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay, I can fix this.”
I step up to him and our eyes lock. “It’s just me and you and all we have to do tonight is have fun. Nothing else.” I lean in and kiss him softly. I pull away before either of us are ready, but if I don’t, we may never leave. I slide into the passenger seat of his truck and he shuts the door behind me. Moments later, he’s climbing behind the wheel and we’re off on our very first date.
Twenty minutes later, we’re being seated at a quiet table in the darkened corner of a small restaurant in town. We’re handed two menus and we each get a glass of wine before we’re left alone. I take a sip of the wine before smiling up at him. “This place is really nice.”
“Yeah, my mom actually told me about it.”
I laugh. “Really?”
He nods, smiling. “I told her I had a date and she was beyond happy. She’s been on me about finding someone to spend my life with.”
“She sounds like a great mom.”
“She is.” He clears his throat. “But I guess that’s another thing we need to talk about.”
“What is?” I feel my brows pull together.
“How do you feel about the possibility of settling down, in the future, with a man who already has a kid?”
“Oh,” falls from my lips. It’s something I haven’t really even given much thought to. I love Ava. Her and I have gotten close at daycare. I guess in the evenings when I’ve been seeing Lincoln, I never changed how I looked at her. I haven’t been looking at her like my potential, future daughter. I’ve just been looking at her like she was one of my students.
“You’re young and don’t have any kids of your own. Even if you love kids, you might not want to raise someone else’s.”
I swallow down the panic that’s now bubbling up in my throat. “I honestly haven’t thought that far ahead yet, but I love Ava like she’s my own already. We’ve gotten really close from daycare and the evenings we spend together. I know you’re worried about this not working out and her getting hurt, but I could never leave her, Lincoln.”
He reaches over and takes my hand in his. “I know you won’t.” I see a flash of something in his eyes, but I’m not sure what it means. And as fast as it appeared, it’s gone. I don’t mention it as the waiter approaches the table to take our dinner order.
Dinner is amazing. The food is delicious and the wine is sweet—it goes down easy and after a glass or two, it seems like we’ve both stopped overthinking the date and are just enjoying it. We share dessert and when we leave, he opens my door for me like a gentleman. On the ride home, he holds my hand, his thumb gently skimming back and forth across my skin. He parks his truck in the garage and he kills the engine before looking over at me.
“You want to come inside or do you need to run off?”
I can’t help but smile at his words. We’ve had the perfect first date. If he thinks I can walk away after that, he has another thing coming. “I can come inside.”
He climbs out before opening my door. Taking my hand, he helps me to my feet before leading the way to the door. The second we step inside he’s spinning me around and pressing my back to the door. His hand cups my cheek and his mouth moves to mine. Excitement fills me as I realize just how we’ll be spending the rest of the night.
14
LINC
