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“Tucker Adams.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. You can stop with names.”
I realize I’ve been a tad irrational, but I’ve also seen what the death of a spouse looks like. My father was a firefighter. Thirteen years ago, his crew responded to a school up in flames. He saved several children’s lives that day and was killed when the building collapsed. His death left a gaping hole in my life—and my mother’s.
For years I lay in bed at night and listened to my mother cry. She cried for hours until her sobs turned into hiccups, and she’d eventually cry herself to sleep. A few times I snuck into her room afterward to find her clutching a picture of them on their wedding day.
I was constantly reminded of how much she lost. I lost my father—a man who had been a solid presence in my life for sixteen beautiful years. But Mom lost so much more than her husband. She lost her best friend, her confidant. She lost the person she ran to every time something good or bad happened in her life. They had twenty years of marriage between them and ten years of dating on top of that.
He was her hero—still is.
He’s also a town hero, a household name around these parts, and I miss him every single day. He looked out for Mom and me like we were the most precious beings in the world. I can still hear my father’s voice in my head telling me to be safe. It didn’t matter if I was going to school, outside to play, or the movies with friends.
Just be safe, Claire Bear. Whatever you do, use a level head and be safe.
I’ve carried those words with me, and somewhere along the way they morphed into so much more than a memory. They’ve become the golden rule in my life—one I try to live by every single day.
I could never survive that sort of loss and pain again—and I want to make my father proud—which is why I’ve made a conscious effort to follow his advice, even when it comes to dating. That’s why I date men whose jobs lean away from hazardous and more toward pencil pusher.
“Are you sure?” she says, laughing. “Because I’ve got several more I can throw out there.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t need you to remind me of all the gorgeous men I’ve let slip away. But just because I prefer to date guys with nine-to-five desk jobs doesn’t mean I have a perfect little box.”
I’ve never been one to discriminate. I like men of all shapes, colors, and sizes as long as they have a job on my approved-occupation list.
“Fine, you don’t have a box.”
“Thank you. Now, I have to go because I’m almost to the restaurant.”
“Wait. You’re meeting him there? He didn’t come pick you up? Asshole. Just wait until I—”
“Whoa there, Fido. Calm down. He offered to pick me up, but I felt more comfortable meeting him since it’s our first date and all. You know him, but I don’t, and I’ll feel much safer knowing my car is in the parking lot if something goes wrong.”
“Good call. Although I don’t think anything will go wrong. Where are you guys eating?”
Oh boy. “Dirty Dicks.”
“What?” she screeches. I cringe, her voice piercing through the speakers. “Are you kidding me? He’s taking you to Dirty Dicks?”
“What’s wrong with Dirty Dicks?”
Not only does our best friend, Cooper, own the local tavern, he’s also the twin brother of Mo’s boyfriend, Rhett. The four of us were inseparable growing up, and while Mo and Rhett eventually ended up together romantically, Cooper and I did not. I couldn’t be happier for the lovebirds, except for the fact that now they think I need to be just as deliriously in love as they are.
“It’s a bar.”
“It’s a restaurant.” My argument is weak, but Mo is ruthless, and I’ll take what I can get.
“It’s a tavern, Claire. There will be drunk people everywhere, a DJ set up in the corner, and ten different sports playing across the TVs. That is not a good location for a first date. He should’ve taken you somewhere romantic, with low lighting and a corner booth.”
“I picked Dirty Dicks.”
There’s a pause. A long pause.
I look at my phone to make sure the call didn’t disconnect, and then Mo speaks.
“Of course you did,” she says, flatly.
I blow out a harsh breath as I pull into the parking lot. Putting the car in park, I shut off the engine and rest my head against the headrest. “I don’t like those stuffy restaurants for a first date. They hold too many expectations when I all I want to do is have fun and talk.”
