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Besides, she was grateful she had an excuse fornotinviting him to her house. While he seemed perfectly safe from the standpoint Talulah was taking, having Jordan stay at a motel gave her just enough space that she might actually enjoy his visit.
Her phone buzzed before he could reach her. Talulah had sent her a text.Is he there yet?
He was. And he looked about as benign as a guy could look. But she didn’t have time to write Talulah back. Jordan was too close.
“Happy to finally meet you,” he said.
Ellen smiled. She’d made sure her pictures were accurate representations, too, so he’d known who she was without confirming. But, to play it safe, she’d dressed more conventionally than usual in a brown off-the-shoulder sweater and faded jeans with boots. Although she would never admit it to Talulah, she really hoped this worked out. It would be nice to have someone she could care about who also cared about her. “Same here, except...you look even more conservative in person.”
About six feet tall, he had a slender build with short dark hair, brown eyes and round, wire-rimmed glasses. He had no tats or piercings she could see. Dressed in a blue button-down shirt and a pair of chinos, he came across as a soft-spoken, educated professional. The only thing missing was a tie. Since most men she knew wore jeans, boots, T-shirts and denim jackets, she had to admit he didn’t fit in. But he’d relocated to Libby from Portland only last year. That was probably why. He was a city boy who’d recently moved to the country.
“Are you sure I’m what you were expecting?” she asked uncertainly. She’d hate it if he suddenly had regrets, but his eyes crinkled at the edges as he laughed.
“The pics you posted made it pretty clear what to expect.”
“And you still wanted to meet me?” she said disbelievingly.
“I did. There was something about what you wrote in your profile that appealed to me. You were so real, so transparent, saying you could be a little standoffish, you didn’t trust easily, you weren’t willing to put up with much bullshit and you didn’t want to hear from anyone who was insincere. It wasn’t a fluffy sales pitch, unlike so many of the others who talked about loving travel and the outdoors.”
She hadn’t wanted to sound like everyone else because she wasn’t like everyone else and felt she needed to be honest about that.
“I admire a woman who is obviously her own person,” he added and surprised her by offering to take her hand.
She thought it was a confident move, as well as a nice gesture, so she slipped her fingers through his as they started toward the entrance.
A dentist, she thought, gazing down at his loafers. She’d never dated anyone like Jordan. White-collar dudes didn’t typically show much interest in her. First of all, there weren’t a lot of professionals in the two small Montana towns where she’d lived. There were many more farmers, ranchers, welders and that sort of thing. Chase, the guy she’d dated on and off for years—from high school through college and beyond—had been a cement contractor. It wasn’t until he’d spent three years in prison for drug trafficking and pulling a knife on a man in a bar, and started to get more and more controlling ofher, that she’d cut him off for good.
But the next guy she’d dated wasn’t a whole lot different. For some reason, she tended to be attracted to reckless, devil-may-care, adrenaline-fueled losers, and those antisocial types didn’t make good marriage material. According to Talulah, she didn’t have her expectations set highly enough, and maybe that was true.
But moving to Coyote Canyon and not dating anyone for the last couple of years had allowed her to clean the slate and regroup. Now that she was older and had a stronger sense of who she was and what she wanted her life to be, she was determined to raise her standards and go for a guy who had his act together—like Jordan.
“Is the food good here?” he asked as he let go of her to be able to open the door.
“It’s not bad,” she replied. “I like the veggie burger.”
He cast her a sidelong glance. “Don’t tell me you’re a vegetarian...”
She would’ve gotten a similar response from any of the blue-collar guys she’d dated in the past, so she supposed Jordan wasn’tentirelyunlike them. “Would that be a problem?”
“Not really. I knew you and I were going to be different from the beginning.” He winked at her. “And that’s okay. Different makes life more interesting.”
The band was so loud as they walked in that Ellen didn’t bother screaming above the music just to tell him she wasn’t a strict vegetarian.
The place was crowded; they had to wait for a table. Fortunately, it didn’t take long. After about ten minutes, the hostess sat them and handed them each a menu. They were close to the bar, which wasn’t ideal since there were so many people trying to get a drink, but she figured they were lucky to get in at all tonight.
“You any good at billiards?” Ellen asked, once Jordan put aside his menu. She’d been hoping they could play after dinner.
“Not really,” he said. “I don’t have much experience. You?”
Chase had taught her how to play on an old table his stepfather kept in the back of his sandwich shop. They’d hung out there so often in high school she’d gotten good enough to be able to make money in college hustling guys who assumed they could beat her. But she didn’t want to overstate her talents. “I’m decent. What about darts?”
“Not my game, either.”
“What do you like to play?” she asked.
He studied her for several seconds. “I can play a mean game of chess.”
Fortunately, she liked chess, too. “Then tomorrow morning, I’ll take you on at chess,” she said. “We can meet at the dessert diner down the street for a breakfast bun. My friend owns the place, and her breakfast buns are legendary and a highly sought-after item on Saturday mornings. If it’s warm enough outside, we can play on one of the tables on the sidewalk. Talulah puts out some chess sets, and you’ll occasionally see some older guys hanging out there and playing on weekends. But it’s still chilly in the mornings so it shouldn’t be crowded quite yet.”
