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But now? Now my nerves were running rampant, as wild as they’d been on my wedding day.
“Hey.” Kyle hooked a finger under my chin, gently forcing me to face him. “Your thoughts are louder than your words.”
What the heck was he talking about? “I haven’t saidanything.”
“I know. That was my point.” He smiled at me from the driver’s seat. “If you don’t want to do this, I can?—”
“No,” I stammered. “It’s not that. I just…”
What? That I have no idea what to do on a first date ’cause I haven’t been on one since I was barely old enough to drink?
“What is it?”
“I don’t—I mean—you know…” I shrugged.
“Well, since none of that was a complete thought, I do not, in fact,know.”
I glared at him. Dammit. I didn’t want to admit that I was nervous because I hadn’t been on a date with anyone but my deceased husband in over twelve years, but by the way he was side-eyeing me as he drove, it was obvious he wasn’t going to let this go.
I sighed. “I haven’t done this in averylong time.”
“You mean have a nice quiet dinner with only adult conversation? I get it. With little ones, that’s probably hard. I’ll walk you through it. See, first we’ll go in, and when our table is ready, the hostess will seat us, preferably in a nice, quiet part of the restaurant. Then we’ll order drinks, maybe an appetizer? If I’m not a total bore, I assume we’ll get dinner and dessert too.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, but I couldn’t hold back the laugh. “You’re a nut.”
He shrugged. “Are you still nervous?”
I cocked my head. “No, I guess not.”
“Mission accomplished.” He pulled into the lot at the restaurant and parked near the building. “You ready?”
I nodded, and forty minutes later, I was in tears. Not the sad ones. No, these were thecan’t stop laughing, eyes wateringkind. I never would have guessed the grump would be so funny. He wasn’t even trying, but the stories he was telling about the trouble his siblings had all gotten into growing up were hilarious.
“So you’re the level-headed one?”
“Yup.” He brought his fork to his mouth and chewed before speaking again. “I was constantly keeping all of them out of trouble.”
“Except Ashley.”
“Well, yeah. Like I said, I tried, but her attitude is what always got her into trouble. I’d remind her that if she just kept her mouth shut, she’d get in less trouble. But nope, she never listened to me.”
“So you never did anything wrong? Ever?”
“I didn’t say that.” The side of his mouth twitched. “I said I rarely got in trouble. I’m the smart one out of the bunch.”
“And apparently the cocky one, too.”
Listening to him talk about his siblings sent a tendril of jealousy through me. I was an only child, and as a kid, I longed for siblings. I told him that, and from there, we dove into talking about my childhood.
“I didn’t realize you and—” He paused and took a deep breath. “Levi grew up together.”
His choice of words caused confusion to niggle at the back of my brain. We’d only talked about Levi in passing. And the way he hesitated mid-sentence was strange as well. But I brushed it off and moved on.
“Yeah. We lived in the same neighborhood outside of Wilmington. We were high school sweethearts. After graduation, he enlisted, and I enrolled at UNC Wilmington.”
We were so young, and I didn’t think I could handle a long-distance relationship, especially with someone who would be spending time overseas and could one day not make it back home.
“So you two…didn’t stay together?”
