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“Hi again. We met at the school ceremony,” she said with more confidence in her voice than she felt in her heart.
“And they’re not here by accident,” Dakota said, “because Dena and/or Jacy texted them the moment they left our booth.” He looked up at his parents. “Am I right?”
His dad did a lovely impersonation of a stunned person… for about three seconds, then his mom wiggled her cell phone. “They both texted us.”
“So you decided you suddenly had a craving for pizza?” Dakota drummed his fingers on the table and stared at his parents.
His dad rubbed his stomach. “A man’s gotta eat, Dakota.”
“Yeah, and a man could have chosen Chinese food instead.” Dakota flapped his hand between his parents. “Leah, you’ve had the pleasure of meeting my parents, William and Chennie Brenton.”
Leah shook their hands. “Yes, I have. Teaching in that beautiful school your sawmill’s generosity made possible is so wonderful. I particularly like the barn door style on all the closets.”
“Ah, someone who enjoys the details.” William beamed a smile.
“Those doors were Dakota’s idea,” Chennie said.
“Oh, sure,” William said, “make him look like the genius.”
Chennie patted her husband’s arm. “And where did he learn to be such a construction genius, honey?”
William put his arm around his wife. “This is why I married you.”
“Great, now let’s leave these two kids alone.” Chennie nudged William into a walk. “I was promised pizza.”
“Nice seeing you again, Leah,” William said over his shoulder. He put his arm around Chennie and the two of them bent their heads together as they sat at the bar.
“See, right now Mom is telling Dad she thinks I have extraordinary taste in women,” Dakota whispered.
“Is that right?” She watched them for a minute more as they laughed with Kyle. “Are you sure she’s not wondering if I’m crazy for being out in public with you?”
“Careful,” Dakota warned. “Wound me again and you’ll owe me another date.”
Leah motioned him closer with a curl of her finger. “Not exactly a punishment.”
****
This is going well.At least Dakota thought so. Aside from nearly the entire town making a pit stop at their booth, the chemistry between him and Leah was definitely brewing. If he were to go through a date checklist, Leah would score high marks.
Laughed at his jokes. Check.
Smiled when she looked at him. Check.
Not repulsed by the amount of pizza he ate. Check.
Tolerated—maybe evenliked—his sisters and parents. Check.
Flirted. Check, but he could tell she was holding back a bit. Did it have something to do with the way she’d looked at his family? As if she was glad to meet them, but also a little… sad? He wanted to dig into that a bit, but a first date that otherwise was moving along nicely wasn’t the place for soul-bearing discussions.
And she’d agreed to another date…
Of course, the entire town would be at that date too, but at least everyone had beeninvitedto that affair. If Leah consented to the birthday bash though, couldn’t he get her to go on another date? Wasn’t he on a roll here?
God, he hoped so.
After they squared up the bill, Dakota walked her out to the parking lot. It was only 9:00 and he was in no way ready to be rid of her.
“It’s such a beautiful night out,” Leah said. The glow of the restaurant’s floodlights cast her in ethereal shadows and while yes, the night was beautiful, nothing could compete with her.
