Page 22 of Then Came You

“There ya go! You have a dog too!”

“Yes, I know.”

“Well, ask her if she wants to walk her dog with you and Rocky.”

“I met her at the dog park once.” Little tidbits of information kept leaking out without his permission.

Her eyebrows raised.

“It was by accident. We just happened to be there at the same time.”

“Okay. So, now ask her to go there with you on purpose. It’s perfect!”

He sat up straighter. “You know what? You’re right.”

“I must have wax in my ears. What did you say?”

“You heard me.”

She laughed. “Does this mean you’re going to take my advice?” She was practically jumping up and down in her chair.

“Yes, dammit! I’m going to call her up and ask her to go with me to the dog park.”

“That’s the spirit. Oh, and one more thing. Save the swearing for the cop shop. Gillian might not appreciate it.”

He chuckled, feeling better than he had in days.

On his way home, he considered calling Gillian and asking her out, but then he remembered he didn’t have her number. He’d have to wait until tomorrow and call her at the store, although she might not even be working. Still, it was worth a shot.

Now that he had a plan, he was anxious to execute it, and he hoped like hell (Sorry, sis!) that she wouldn’t turn him down.

Chapter 9

Gillian had gone home from the restaurant with a pizza and a heavy heart. She’d been surprised to see Sam there with a date. Not that she should have been. He was a handsome, single man, and he probably had his choice of women who wanted to date a hot cop. Still, seeing him there had caught her off guard.

She had to admit she was curious about Sam’s date. The woman had been pretty in a fresh-faced, wholesome sort of way. Gillian wondered how long they’d been dating, because they seemed comfortable together, like they’d known each other for some time.

The woman had been touching Sam’s arm and staring intently at him when Gillian had noticed them sitting there. She found it puzzling that Sam had motioned her over when he was on a date. Why had he done that?

She sighed and shook her head. Maybe she’d misinterpreted the gesture, and he’d been waving hello. Regardless, he’d seemed more interested in what she was doing than his date.

She tried not to slip into woe-is-me mode, but it was hard not to. Of all the nights of the week, she felt the loneliest on Saturdays. In the past, Saturday nights had been “date nights” for her and Owen whenever he hadn’t been on duty. They’d taken turns deciding what to do, whether it had been going to a movie, out to dinner, or just curling up on the couch together.

Her thoughts drifted back to Sam. Had he taken his date home afterward? Would they have sex?

Stop it. Don’t even go there! Sex wasn’t something she’d given much thought to since Owen had died. Sometimes she reminisced about making love with him, but it usually made her cry, so she’d pushed the topic to the back of her mind and resolved not to think about it.

Besides, she’d never been one to have “casual sex,” and she wasn’t about to start now. It was fine for other people, but not for her. She needed to be in a relationship to even consider it, and who knew when that would be? Right now, she couldn’t even imagine getting naked with a man who wasn’t Owen. It sounded more daunting than exciting, and that confirmed what she already knew—she just wasn’t ready.

However, when she crawled into bed that night, she lay in the dark and wondered what it would be like to date again. Even if she wasn’t ready to have sex, it would be nice to have someone to go out to dinner with on a Saturday night, just like Sam and whatever-her-name-was had.

It would also be nice to have someone to talk to other than the people she talked to all the time, namely Lauren, Savannah, and her family. After Owen had died, she’d narrowed her life down to what she’d considered the essentials: work, family, friends, and Cocoa. She’d been in survival mode, and dating hadn’t even factored in.

Now she was breathing a little easier, and she supposed it might be possible to let someone in again, at least for dinner and a show. Still, she hated the idea of starting from scratch. The awkwardness of meeting someone new and testing the waters to see if you were compatible ranked right up there with having a root canal.

She loathed the idea of a blind date, and she’d never pick up a stranger in a bar. So, where did that leave her? Who did she know that was around her age, single, and a decent human being?

Ohmigod, NO! She sat straight up in bed, her heart beating wildly. The first name that had popped into her head was Sam! But that was impossible. There were a million reasons why it would never work, starting with the obvious—he was a cop.