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He shrugged. “Tell me about your writing.”
“Has Amelia not told you everything? The girl seems to know my characters on a deeper level than I do and I created them.” I laughed at the memory of his little sister going on about deep seated anger and other weirdness about my two protagonists.
“Yes, but I want you to tell me.” He thanked the waiter for the drinks and handed me mine. I took it in both hands and settled back a little. Might as well try to relax and hope I don’t get too nerdy excited.
“Every time I go back and read my book I want to burn it.” I took a sip of my drink. It was phenomenal, but how could a drink named after the Beowulf monster not be? “I have no idea how it got picked up.” It was true, but I realized it would sound like I was fishing for a compliment. “I guess my writing has just improved a lot since then. Even though I can’t seem to finish anything.”
He nodded. “I can see that. But I have noticed your problem in a lot of debut novels.” Ewan had read my disaster of a book. Shit.
“Too much dialogue,” I finished his thought, and he nodded. “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m an accountant during the week, and I teach a women’s self-defense class on weekends.” He eyed my reaction and I nodded. Then I knew where the muscles came from, and Ewan certainly had a lot of them. “Your business seems to do well.” He took a long drink of his Holden Caulfield. Pretentious character, but I had to respect a guy who liked fireball.
“It does. Erica, my partner, and I really got lucky when we took the jobs there a few years ago. We were both hired to groom a week before the owner randomly decided to sell. We split the cost, and the rest is history. I went back to get my training certification last year, and added a whole new dimension. She handles the bulk of the grooming, and I pretty much do the rest.” We really were lucky. My partner and I both had a string of past grooming jobs, all left behind because of our inability to play nice with others, but Erica and I were almost like sisters with the ability to tolerate one another at work and play. Ewan gave me a slow nod and sipped on his drink. After a moment of silence, I had to ask, “Why did you ask me to dinner?”
He set his glass down. “I actually almost asked you after our impromptu training, but thought it too forward. Then when I saw you again at The Savant, I knew I wanted to get to know you.” I took a drink and mulled his words over. “For the record, my last date was well over a year ago and ended in my fiancée throwing a ring in my face.” I couldn’t stop the snorting laugh erupting from my throat. Who in their right mind would turn down Ewan?
“Wow, that is actually worse than my last date, but I have a year on you.” I watched him lean in to listen to my horror story. Once I was done with my awful tale of Chase the groper, I was rewarded with his rough laugh. He paid for our drinks and offered me his arm again as we left. We strolled through Market Square ducking in and out of shops on our way to the next destination.
“Have you been married?” Might as well clear the air, right?
“No, you?” Ewan let his long fingers graze a wind chime in a little store filled with incense.
“Yes.” I got up the courage to continue and he gestured for me to tell the story. “For two years about six years ago. We got married right after I graduated, but it obviously didn’t last.” Talking about Davis made me want to vomit, but I figured if my date knew the baggage beforehand, it wouldn’t be a surprise later. He dropped the subject, and we moved back out to the sidewalk.
“Have you always lived here?” Could he not tell by my insanely Tennessee accent?
“Born and raised.” I smiled up at him, making him chuckle as we turned another corner.
EIGHT
Ewan
Once we got to the bistro, we ordered and talked about hobbies. Jovie poked fun at my love for black and white American films and bashfully confessed her obsession with the BBC. That one I had fun with. She talked about her weird crush on Martin Freeman despite his age and the fact that he’s a hobbit, and I teased her rather relentlessly about her vast Doctor Who knowledge.
Then things got more serious, but if she was willing to talk about her ex, I could talk about my parents and Darcy. “I was in college, home for the summer, when they asked me to keep Amelia so they could attend a dinner. The next thing I knew, I was getting a call at one in the morning saying there had been an accident. My friend came to stay with Amelia, and I went to the hospital. My father had been too drunk to drive, as usual, and had run off the road. He killed the driver of another car and our mother. He went to prison, as he should have, and I fought in court to get Amelia. I was engaged to Darcy when Bernard got out and she seemed to think I would be sending Ams off to live with him. When I didn’t, she ended it.”
Jovie held a pained expression for a moment. “I’m so sorry.” I wasn’t sure if her empathy was about Amelia, or my mother, or Darcy, but it was genuine either way. We were quiet for a moment then I asked her about the marriage mentioned before. Jovie talked about getting pregnant right out of high school and getting married only to miscarry a few weeks later. Her ex wanted children, but she didn’t, but she didn’t file for divorce until she caught him sleeping with her best friend. She glanced up for my response, but my phone rang. It was beyond me how anyone couldn’t be madly in love with Jovie. Even after only a few hours, I knew Jovie was honest and beautiful, if not a little cynical. I slid out of the booth and outside to take Amelia’s call.
“How’s it going?” My little sister was way too excited.
“Really well, except for having to leave dinner to take a call.” I used my best fatherly voice and she laughed at me.
“Selene and I are going to Addie’s to stay the night, and they will take me to school tomorrow.” I agreed and hung up. Inside, I moved back in the booth to find Jovie with her head in her hands, looking overwhelmed.
Jovie jumped when I sat back down. “Sorry, Amelia was letting me know where she was staying the night. Are you all right?” She certainly didn’t look all right.
“Oh, yeah.” My beautiful date smiled, and my chest tightened. I had sworn off dating, sworn off feeling for anyone other than Amelia, but Jovie I could care for. Jovie could make me want it all again. I took her answer for what it was, but didn’t actually believe a bit of it and offered her a bite of my meal. She took it from my fork, nodding her approval, and making desire creep into me. It was something about the way she looked at me. I suddenly wanted to kiss her. I wanted to devour her.
“So what happened to all the offensive sarcasm I was promised?” I paid the check, cuffing my sleeves to listen to her talk. Her sweet Southern accent just intensified how bad I wanted to hear her cry out my name.
“You have made everything so pleasant I haven’t even had to use it.” Jovie giggled when I got cocky about her compliment. I signed our ticket, offered her my hand, and we left. It hit me that I would be taking her home, and I took the long way around to the car, passing packed clubs playing bad techno. I didn’t want to turn into a Chase the Groper, but I really wanted to back her against my car and kiss her until we were both breathless. I wanted to feel her hands on me and run my fingers through her hair. I opened her car door and we started the short drive to her place.
Then I did something incredibly daring. “You wouldn’t mind running to my place to let Clark out, would you? I only live a few blocks from you, but I doubt Amelia let him out.” I glanced over to see her indicate she didn’t mind. I really had no motives other than dragging out our time together. Her eyes took in the house as we pulled up, and I jumped out to get her door, “I swear this will only take a minute.” I let her follow me up to the porch and let her in.
“I have nowhere to be.” Jovie shrugged, stepping into the house. Clark started whimpering to go out, and I left her to look around while I let him out. We both laughed when Clark obviously fell down the steps into the yard. Jovie walked through the kitchen and into the dining room, studying everything. “Your house is beautiful.” Her words echoed in the quiet room. I propped against the door frame to watch her, trying to gauge her comfort level, and told her about how we ended up in the house after the accident. When Jovie walked to pass me, I touched her hand, and she stopped, letting out a slow breath.
“So was the whole date thing as bad as you anticipated?” I moved toward her, watching her look me over. I wanted her, every single bit of her. I had done my best to keep the date low-key and innocent, but I couldn’t hold back anymore.
