Page 24 of Then Came You

“A double date?”

He laughed. “Something like that.”

She had to hand it to him. Throwing the dogs into the mix was a smooth move. It sounded less official that way. Plus, it was only eleven a.m., so not exactly prime date time. Since he’d been out with someone else the night before, maybe this wasn’t a date at all, but just to clarify…

“Before I answer, I feel obligated to ask you a question on behalf of all women everywhere.”

“Wow. Okay.”

“If I say yes, will I be breaking someone’s heart, such as the woman I saw with you last night?”

He was quiet for a few beats, and then he burst out laughing. Gillian held the phone away until he quieted down.

“Why are you laughing? It’s a legitimate question.”

“Yes, it would be if the woman wasn’t my sister!”

“Your sister?” Why hadn’t she even considered that?

“Yes, and I’m sure Kristina will laugh just as loud when I tell her about this.”

“Or you could not tell her and save me the embarrassment.”

“What fun would that be?”

Gillian couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a goofball conversation, but she had to admit it felt good.

“Now that we’ve established that I’m not offending all of womankind, will you go out with me? To the dog park, I mean.”

“Sure.” She glanced down at Cocoa, who was lying by her feet with his snout between his paws, dozing. “Cocoa says yes too.”

“Great. Can we pick you up?”

Her breath caught, and she glanced around the living room to see what kind of shape it was in. Now that she lived alone (Cocoa notwithstanding), she didn’t spend quite as much time on housekeeping as she used to. Not that she was a slob, but with nobody there to see her shoes lying around or a discarded candy wrapper on the table, it was easy to let things slide. Even so, it would only take a few minutes to straighten the place up.

“Okay, I guess.”

“I just thought it would be easier to get the dogs in and out of my truck than your car.”

He’d obviously thought of everything. “I guess you’ll need my address, then.”

“Please.”

She rattled off her address, feeling somewhat strange about giving it to him, not because she feared for her safety, but because it had been so long since she’d given a guy her address.

“You’re not going to believe this.”

“What?”

“We only live one mile apart.”

“Really?” Her adrenaline was buzzing, and she held out her left hand and saw it was trembling. She’d only had one cup of coffee with breakfast, so she knew that wasn’t the cause. It was him.

“I guess you won’t get lost, then,” she added with a nervous titter.

“Not likely.”

“What time will you be here?” She hoped it would be enough time for her to calm down.