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“Goodnight. Jake here,” he answered and she nearly swooned over herself at the relaxed eloquence of the deep voice on the other end.
She lost her ability to speak for a moment.
“Hello?” he questioned.
“Ahh, hi,” she finally answered knowing she sounded like a complete idiot but unable to do anything about it.
“Yes? How can I help you?” he asked. She could hear the annoyance in his voice but it was subtle enough to be respectful while being clear that she had better identify herself and her cause quickly or she might be introduced to Mr. Dial Tone.
“Sorry for calling so late. I got your number from Laura,” she said not sure how to tell him she was the lost cause her friend was trying desperately to save and he was to be her life jacket.
“Oh yes!” he piped up and she could hear the enthusiasm in his voice that sent relief washing over her. “Ashley is it?” he asked.
“Yes, that would be me.”
“It is nice to meet the vocal you,” he said with a little chuckle. “I am sorry she hadn’t given me a number for you so I didn’t know who it was on the line.”
“Oh okay,” she said unsure of where to go from there. She really was not good at this blind date thing.
“So I am guessing I must give you a brief synopsis of my repertoire for you to decide whether I am worth meeting or not?” he asked.
She couldn’t help but smile at that. “That would be nice but for the love of whatever you love, do not recite the same rubbish you might have had on a dating profile.”
“Damn it!!! There went my game right out the window!”
She laughed at the sarcasm in his statement and was instantly put to ease.
“Don’t worry,” he continued, “I feel the same way, so I will tell you this much. I am a gynecologist, native to Maine but I wanted a change of scenery so I move up here last August and feel in love with the place. I am mostly a stay in guy, half the time I would rather be in the gym working up a sweat then home watching Netflix or cooking.”
“You cook?” she asked interrupting his introduction. She had always wanted a man who would put on an apron and charm her through her stomach, but had never met such a man before.
“Yes! Does that mean you will go out with me now?”
“Depends on whether or not anyone has yet died from having one of your dishes,” she teased.
“Well there was the case of explosive diarrhea my grandmother suffered after my casserole, and the hour of vomiting my mother did once she was done tasting my pepper pot soup and my cat up and ran away after I fed him my specially prepared tuna a few days ago, but no, death has yet to visit any of my patrons. So I would say you are safe.”
“Or I could be the first,” she interjected.
“Well, you will never know unless you go out with me so how about Friday?”
She smiled. It was so easy to banter with him and he had not bothered to attempt to kill her with the mundane, so yes, she figured he was worth a shot. Maybe Laura wasn’t such a bad matchmaker after all, but it was early days yet.
Chapter 3
She did not speak to Ryan again until Friday morning when he called to double check that they were still on for the date Laura had arranged for them.
“Yes, we are,” she said smiling and turning to face Laura whose eager ears drooled to be let in on the action.
“Do you want me to pick you up?” he asked. She was definitely not up for that; he couldn’t know where she lived until she was certain he wasn’t going to go all Ted Bundy or Hannibal on her.
“No, I will meet you there,” she responded before they agreed on a time and hung up.
“You are going to love him,” Laura said in an excited squeal rubbing her hands together as she did.
Ashley went back to her work trying to get ahead of the week she knew she would have coming, but even while she worked her mind kept wandering to the sexy voice of the man she was to spend the nice getting to know. She tried not to be too expectant, that was always like setting herself up to be disappointed.
At the end of the day, Laura came home with her to help her choose her outfit.
