“I don’t know if we’re going out,” Blaise said. “We might be staying in.” For all she knew, they were. Brick hadn’t said.
Evan cleared his throat. “Mom, are you dating someone?”
She didn’t want to lie to her son, but this wasn’t his business and in all honesty, she and Brick were really just friends. So far. “We’re friends, sweetheart. He’s a nice man that lives nearby and he’s a widower.”
“Well…have a nice time then,” he said.
“Thanks.” She couldn’t help but smile. That would give Evan something new to think about for a while. “Talk to you soon. I need to get going.”
After they hung up, Blaise closed her laptop, smoothed her dress, and went into the bathroom to check her makeup. She touched up a few shiny spots with powder, brushed her hair, which had gotten a little windblown on the beach, then reapplied her lip color.
Beau wagged his tail like he knew exactly what came next. But Brick hadn’t said to bring Beau. He also hadn’t saidnotto bring him. She shook her head. “I think you’re staying home tonight, little man. But if Brick says to come get you, I will.”
She grabbed her purse, locked the door behind her, and went through the backyard gate and up to Brick’s sliding glass door. It was her usual way, but it always made her think she ought to go around to the front.
She lifted her hand to knock but Brick was already headed toward her. He was still in jeans, but he’d swapped his T-shirt for a button-down.
He slid the door open. His gaze swept over her sundress, the earrings, the careful touch of lipstick. His gaze eyes softened and warmed all at once. “I’m glad you didn’t change. That dress looks like summer itself,” he said with a slow smile.
She felt heat touch her cheeks. “Thank you. I know I’m probably overdressed but I already had this on so… Um, are we staying in or going out?”
Brick shook his head like a decision had just been made. “With you looking like that, we’re going out.”
Blaise blinked. “All right then.”
He nodded and gestured behind him. “Come on through.”
She followed him in and right back out the front door to the driveway. His old Ford pickup, polished and gleaming like it had rolled right out of a country music video, waited in the slantedsunlight. He opened the door for her, then went around to the other side.
“You don’t mind going out, do you?” he asked with a hint of caution.
Blaise’s smile got a little bigger. “No, not at all.” This actually felt like a date now. Not that she’d be telling Evan about it.
Brick started the engine and backed out. Soon they were headed inland, windows cracked to let the breeze in, warm air tinged with the scent of salt and marsh. The sun was moving lower, streaks of gold gilding the waterway they followed.
She’d never been out this way. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. Almost there,” Brick said, turning onto a narrow dirt road flanked by scrub palms and grass.
They pulled up to a rustic fishing camp that looked like it had been built a century ago. The wood on the building and porch was weathered gray and spotted with lichen. Strings of Edison bulbs draped from the eaves gave the place a homey glow. Laughter and the smell of something delicious drifted on the breeze.
He came around to get her door and then went inside, the front porch planks creaking underfoot.
Near the entrance, the menu was handwritten on a chalkboard. They had fried fish, gator, frog legs, chicken, shrimp. Just about every protein you could want. If you wanted it fried.
A server passed by carrying a tray holding red plastic baskets lined with checkerboard waxed paper. A bluegrass band played on a tiny stage in the corner. One man played a mandolin, another a banjo, and a woman worked a fiddle like she’d been born to it.
Blaise scanned the surprisingly busy dining room. There were families talking and laughing, young couples leaning close,retirees tapping their toes to the music. It felt like exactly what she hadn’t known she needed.
Brick leaned in. “Not your kind of place, is it?”
She shook her head and looked up at him. “No, but maybe it should be. I love it.”
He grinned and they headed to a booth. The server brought them tall plastic cups of ice water and they gave her their order. Crispy shrimp for her, gator bites for him, corn fritters to share.
Those came first and they were sprinkled with powdered sugar. Brick watched her take a bite like it was a test he wasn’t sure she’d pass.
“Well?” he asked.
