I’m starved for real food by the end of work. And tonight’s special because I don’t have to think about whether what I want is something Jamie would eat. That’s a short list.”
He smiled. “You only have to consider yourself. How does that feel?”
Lisa took a moment to inventory her emotions. “Foreign. Even without Jamie here, I find myself craving mac and cheese.”
“His favorite?”
She nodded. “Fat grams and carb city. And something I serve only with steamed broccoli to salve my motherly conscience.”
“Sounds like a fair deal to me.”
She laughed. “Tell that to Jamie.”
The waitress arrived with menus, told them about the dinner specials, then asked if they wanted drinks. Lisa ordered a glass of Chardonnay, because she could. Kevin asked for a pint of ale.
“So do your parents ever watch Jamie?” Kevin asked after they’d both looked at the menu.
“Sometimes, but I don’t feel right handing him off since he already spends time at Courtney’s, plus three afternoons a week at preschool. And now, after last night’s talk about having me move back home, I’m even less interested in their help.”
The waitress arrived with their drinks. Kevin took a swallow of ale, and then said, “Maybe if you let them help more, they wouldn’t push so hard to have you move home. Sometimes you need to let people in just a little, you know?”
While she absorbed what he’d said, Lisa traced a rivulet of moisture coursing down the outside of her wineglass. Maybe he had been speaking in generalities, but she doubted it. His comment had been too much of a bull’s-eye. Though she made a point to be friendly and welcoming to one and all, that welcome extended only so far. She’d discovered that she fared better with her boundaries firmly in place.
“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” she eventually replied.
Kevin looked down at the table, then back at her. “Hey, I’m sorry. You know, I made a mental list of things I wouldn’t bring up tonight, and I’ve already hit number two on that list. Your relationship with your parents is none of my business, and it’s okay to tell me to butt out. It’s just kind of second nature for me to offer advice, even when it’s not needed.”
“So Courtney tells me…constantly,” Lisa said, softening her words with a smile.
He grinned. “Figures.”
The uncomfortable moment seemed to have passed. She took a sip of her wine, then said, “I know she’s an equal opportunity talker. What does she tell you about me? It’s a given that I’m a workaholic, but she must have shared something else with you.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Can’t go there.”
“Number one on your list?” she asked teasingly, then realized even before he spoke that number one was James, a topic they both had been tiptoeing around for years.
“Far from it,” he said. “It’s more about me than you, but just the same, it would be crossing into personal territory. Only mine, in this case.”
She nodded as though she understood what he meant, but really, she didn’t have a clue.
Kevin gave her a crooked smile, one that barely brought out his dimple.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Why don’t we take all the pressure off the evening right now?”
She had a laugh at that one. “You do that and you’re my hero for life.”
“Would you mind standing up?” he asked.
Though she couldn’t follow the connection, neither could Lisa see the harm in it. She did as asked. Kevin stood, too, and came around to her side of the table.
Just then the server arrived to take their order.
“If you could hang on for a second?” he asked the woman.
“Sure,” she said, and stepped back a few feet, but lingered. Lisa didn’t doubt that she was curious. Lisa certainly was.
“We’re going to make a brief detour to the end of the evening,” he said and then extended his hand.
“How?” she asked, feeling more clueless by the second.
“Trust me.” He thrust out his hand a little farther, reminding her that it was there. Because she didn’t want to be ungracious, she took it. His grip was warm and firm. She liked the fact that his palm was a little rough with calluses from his work. And she especially liked the way his warmth seemed to be crossing over into her, making her feel bright inside…lit by an exciting sort of vitality she hadn’t felt in ages.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time with you,” he said as he shook her hand. “But then again, I always do.”
The noise and laughter and even the curious waitress moved so far into the background of Lisa’s awareness that they might have disappeared. There was only this man.
“Thank you,” she replied.
“I have a confession,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Even though I told you that it wasn’t, I thought of tonight as a date. And I’ve wanted a date with you for a while now.”
Her heart fluttered in a very, very good way. “Really?”
“Truth,” he said with a nod. “You’ll always get the truth from me.”
Lisa found that more tempting than a promise of yachts and diamonds.
“Okay,” she said.
He briefly squeezed tighter on her hand, and the thrill of that warmth again rolled across to her. For all that she noticed their spectators, Malloy’s might as well have been a private island paradise.
“Is it okay if I kiss you good-night?” he asked.
She nodded her head in assent.
Kevin leaned forward and gave her a kiss so brief and yet tender that she wanted more. Much more. But with a broad smile and one word—nice—he let go of her hand.
“Now that we’ve gotten out of the way that killer question of how the night’s going to end, let’s enjoy the evening, okay?” Kevin asked.
Lisa nodded absently. When he pulled out her chair, she again sat. But as she ordered her meal, and as they ate, and even through the rest of their evening’s talk—which was admittedly much more fun for having gotten the kiss out of the way—one word haunted her.
Nice.
DINNER WAS OVER, AND THEY were closing the distance to Courtney’s house. Lisa, in fact, seemed to be taking on a racewalker’s stride, and Kevin wouldn’t bet against her arriving there one long-legged step ahead of him.
He knew he’d been taking a gamble by kissing her in the front window of Malloy’s. He wasn’t worried about the gossip. Hell, he invited it. They were both single, consenting adults, and he preferred that the other guys who hovered around her—not that she ever noticed—believe that the two of them had something going. All the same, he wasn’t sure he’d won the gamble. Lisa had relaxed, and he’d managed to keep his foot out of the general vicinity of his mouth for the rest of the night, but it had almost felt as though she hadn’t been paying full attention to him. Before, even if she’d been trying to avoid him, he’d been darned certain that she wasn’t apathetic toward him.
Courtney’s house loomed just ahead.
“You really don’t have to walk with me,” Lisa said for the second time since they’d departed the restaurant. He had no shortage of self-esteem, but she was beginning to make him worry.
“I know I don’t. I just