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“Great! Thanks, Asher. I think this is the only way I’m ever going to try dating again!”
“I’m sure the next time will be great. For the both of us.” Speaking with more confidence than he felt, Asher lifted his wine glass in Willow’s direction. “To our double date.”
Gently Willow clinked her glass with his. “May it be a success,” she added before finishing off the rest of her glass.
Letting his eyes linger on her, it took Asher a moment to look away. Shaking his head to himself, he turned his attention to the fire, breathing out slowly as a sudden realization hit him square in the forehead.
None of these dates are going to be a success. Not for me. How can I date someone new when I know I’m already in love with Willow? All I’m going to do is compare them to her and tell myself that they will never match up.
Throwing back the rest of the wine in one gulp, Asher set down the glass on the table a little too hard.
“Wow.” Willow turned wide eyes toward him. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m fine.” Struggling to even force a smile. Asher got to his feet. “Just a little chilly. Let me go grab a hoodie from inside. I’ll be right back.”
“Sure, no problem.” Her hand caught his, and it took all of Asher’s strength not to tug his hand away. “Would you mind bringing me out another bottle? Maybe a red this time.”
“Sure, no problem.” With a heaviness in his heart that Asher had never expected, he trod back inside, his shoulders drooping.
I should never have agreed to that double date idea. It’s going to be even more of a disaster than being stood up.
7
“Where are you heading to next?”
“Um…” Willow glanced down at the schedule. “The wine tasting, I think.”
Asher nodded. “Great. I’ll come join you in a while. I’ve got to go make sure the cigar rolling is going okay.”
He’s not smiling so easily these days.
It had been a week since their disastrous dates, but since then, the idea of a double date hadn’t been brought back up. In the last few days, Willow had been emailed by two different guys offering her two very different dates, but they had both been far away from Windy Lake, and she didn’t want to drive too far from home—not after the last disaster. And she hadn’t asked Asher about his dates, andhehadn’t brought them up, either. For whatever reason, Willow got the impression he didn’t really want to talk aboutNow and Forever. Whenever she’d mentioned the app, he’d clammed up.
“Great, see you there.” Throwing a glance over her shoulder, Willow’s brows knitted together.Maybe he hasn’t matched with anybody else, and he’s embarrassed about that.Biting her lip, she shook her head to herself.But that doesn’t make sense, either. Asher’s handsome, sweet, kind, funny…
“Hi!”
Willow smiled and brushed the frown from her forehead. “Hi, Sammy. I didn’t expect to see you at the wine tasting!”
Sammy grinned, his brown eyes sparkling like the sunshine dancing on the lake. “I’m the activity coordinator for Camp Windy Lake, Ihaveto come to the wine tasting. It’s expected!”
“And delicious,” Willow put in, making Sammy laugh. “Asher’s went over to the cigar rolling class. I’ll take a few photos here and then head over to get a couple of shots of that.”
“You could come and get a bird’s eye view of the bungee jumping?” Sammy suggested, making Willow shiver. “There’s bound to be a way we can strap that camera to you so you don’t lose it.”
“Absolutely no way.” Willow held up both hands, her camera gently swinging around her neck. “There is nothing you can say to convince me to ever go bungee jumping.”
“How about the zip line? You could shoot a video going all the way down!”
Grinning, Willow shook her head. “Sorry, I’m the photographer, not a videographer.”
“Poor excuse,” he teased.
“Averypoor excuse. What’s wrong with zip lining?”
A guy Willow didn’t know appeared beside Sammy. He had an open expression and one raised eyebrow, but a bit of irritation bit in Willow’s cheek.Can’t you see you just interrupted a conversation?
“Exactly what I was going to ask.” Sammy shot a hard look toward Willow. “What’s wrong with zip lining? It’s one of my favorite activities.”
