Page 26 of Never Let Go

“Wow. High praise,” he teased. “Thanks. You sound pretty normal yourself. What do you want to know?”

“Well, how you ended up here, I guess. I’ll even go first. I signed up because my best friend recently met her fiancé through this program and she convinced me it was a good idea.”

“You don’t sound very convinced,” he commented. “Strangely, I’m here for much the same reason. My brother and his fiancée went through this not too long ago, and since they won’t shut up about how I need to get a girlfriend, I agreed to give it a shot.”

“I’d raise my glass for a toast if I had a glass,” I said. “And if I could see where to hold it.”

Another one of those sexy chuckles rang out and I had to admit, a tingle ran through me at the sound. “Well, at least we know we’ve got one thing in common. Tell me about yourself.”

“I just asked you to do that.”

“And I told you what you wanted to know.”

Despite the dark, I smiled. “Fair enough. What do you want to know?”

“Why don’t you just tell me about your life? You don’t have to give me details that give too much away, but just in general, what makes you tick? What do you enjoy doing? What do you hate?”

I chuckled but settled in, then gave him random snippets that, all by themselves, wouldn’t tell him much about my identity but that would clue him in to who I was. “My parents have been married almost forty years. Happily so. I’m really close to them and I value their opinions even if I’m well into adulthood by now. I love my job and my few close friends. I’m not an extrovert and the worst thing anyone could do is to throw me a surprise party.”

He let the words sink in for a moment before he replied. “I’m close to my family too. I also value their opinions, but my own tend to be pretty strong and I’m not easily swayed. To a certain extent, I’m an extrovert. I enjoy people and crowds, but I don’t need them. Like, I don’t feed off the mutual energy or anything like that.”

A tiny part of me deep down inside that had remained tense relaxed. This date really wasn’t too bad and Tyler seemed like someone I had known for a while. It was just easy to talk to him. Maybe he would make for a good wedding date.

Our drinks were served as we kept talking about random things and our sandwiches came next. By the time a red light came on in the corner, I couldn’t believe our first hour was almost up.

“So, Amanda,” he said. “This is the part of the night where we have to decide whether we want to keep this going. What do you say, would you like to go out with me again?”

Taken aback by his directness but feeling a flare of excitement shooting through me at the same time, I nodded. “I’d like that very much, Tyler.”

We said our goodbyes shortly after and I went home on cloud nine, thinking that the date was exactly how I’d always imagined my first date with Foster would be. I knew Tyler wasn’t him, but it’d been so easy to connect with him that he was the first guy since Foster that had made me feel hope. Like there could be something between us that might just go the distance. If not all the way, then at least to the wedding—and that was all I needed it to be.

13

FOSTER

The little rubber ball came flying at my face again and I swung my racket, connecting with a soft thwack and sending it back to Kane. My friend started forward, arm flying in a wide arc before he hit it, and it came back to me.

“You’re getting better.” I returned the ball and glanced at him. “Did you take my advice and get some lessons?”

He smirked and flipped me off. “Those are fighting words for a guy whose brother has been setting him up on dates.”

I shook my head at him and lurched forward to hit the ball. “Nothing you say is going to bring me down today, man. It was Hope who set me up with this girl, though. Not Porter.”

“How is that better?” He laughed. “Your brother’s fiancée has possibly found you the love of your life.”

“I’m okay with it.” I swung and missed this time. “Fuck. That was a good game. I wish I had time for one more.”

“You have to head out?” he asked as he bent over to scoop up the ball. “I want to hear more about the girl before you leave. All you’ve really said is that it was a great date.”

“It was a great date.” I tossed him a grin before resting my elbows on my knees and trying to catch my breath. “This Amanda girl is amazing. I’ve got to give it to Hope. She said she would do better, and she really did. She brought her A-game and that makes me a very happy client.”

He chuckled. “No baby voice?”

“Nope.”

“Random facts?”

I shook my head. “Nothing out of place.”