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Now it was my turn to hesitate. “Um… yeah, a little? I mean,yes, I am. I’m excited. Just… maybe a little nervous, too.”
“Don’t be nervous,” both girls said at the same time, causing all three of us to laugh.
“Seriously, though,” Janessa continued. “You don’t have anything to be nervous about tonight. Cole obviously thinks you’re hot, or he wouldn’t have asked you out in the first place.”
“Yeah, but what if it’s awkward once we’re alone at dinner? Or what if he decides he doesn’t actually like me once he gets to know me a little? What if I don’t likehim?”
She shrugged. “Who cares? It’s not like you have to ever see him again if you don’t want to.”
“Right.” Becca nodded. “We’ll be going back home soon enough. You probably won’t see him again after we leave even if tonight goes perfectly.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” I said. Though if I was being honest, the prospect of having a great date and then still never seeing him again didn’t sound particularly romantic.
But whatever.
Tonight would be fun, just like Janessa had said. I’d go out. I’d have a good time. I wouldn’t set my expectations too high.
And then when the time came to leave town, I wouldn’t get my heart broken.
* * *
The diner in town wasn’t anything fancy, but it was bright and clean, and the food was… well, it was surprisingly good. Amazingly good.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had this kind of a home-cooked meal anywhere except… home,” I said between bites of my country-fried steak and mashed potatoes. “And the portions are insane. Does anyone ever finish a whole meal here?”
Cole looked down at my plate and grinned. “I’m glad you like it. I wish there was somewhere in town that was a little more… well, you know… better for a date.” He gave a little shrug. “But this is the best we’ve got within twenty miles.” He grinned again. “Unless you want a sandwich from the bait shop, that is.”
I almost gagged on my potatoes. “No, thank you. Don’t get me wrong—they have cute hats and boots there, but I think I’d rather stick with food that isn’t sold right next to live worms.”
He laughed. “That’s probably for the best. So, are you still in school? You said that’s how you know Janessa, right?”
“Just finished my nursing degree,” I said. “And yeah, that’s how Becca and I know Janessa. She was only on campus with us for a year, but we all had a really great time together. She’s a good friend.”
“It was really a shame that she had to cut her schooling short when her parents passed away,” he said. “I know how badly she wanted to get away from here for a while—to feel all grown up in the big city, you know? It was just a tragedy all the way around.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to block the memory of the day Janessa got that phone call. The day that changed her life forever. It was the most painful thing I’d ever seen in my life up to that point, and it still made my heart hurt to think of the terrible time my friend had gone through.
“Seems like you know Janessa’s family pretty well, then,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back to an easier topic. “Or is it just part of your job to know what everyone in town is up to?”
He smirked. “That’s part of it, I guess. But look around—you can’t help but know everyone else’s business in a town this size. A traffic jam around here is three cars behind a tractor.”
I laughed. It was funny because it was absolutely true. It seemed sort of nice, though—that sense of belonging. It was probably a little annoying to have strangers in your business all the time, but they weren’t reallystrangersin a town like Bliss, were they?
They were just… neighbors. Friends.
I’d take friends and neighbors over strangers any day, even if it meant giving up a little bit of my own privacy.
Outside the window, the police cruiser drove by slowly. “See what I mean?” Cole nodded in the car’s direction. “He already knew I’d be here with you tonight, even though I didn’t tell him.”
“The sheriff?” I watched as the patrol car moved down the street and then turned the corner. “Are you going to get in trouble?”
“For going out to dinner with a pretty lady?” Cole shook his head and laughed. “Nah. Prescott might be a little jealous that I asked you out first, but he isn’t an asshole.”
Wait, what had he said?
The sheriff was jealous that Cole had asked me outfirst?
“Are you saying that the sheriff would have asked me on a date if you hadn’t?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around the idea. “He looked like he wanted to lock me up yesterday when he came into the store.”
