Page 53 of Too Good to Be True

“Would you outsource the training or provide it yourself?”

“Good question. I’ll have to do some research, and I should probably run it by Fran since I’m still in the process of training Nick.”

“I know. We were just talking about you.”

Her eyes went wide, and she shifted uncomfortably.

“Not to worry. It was all good.”

She refrained from asking what they’d said and went back to the business at hand. “Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

“Actually, there is.” Eric interlaced his fingers and rested his hands on the desk. “I was wondering… Geez…this is harder than I thought. Would you go out with me this weekend?”

His question was so unexpected she didn’t immediately respond.

“You don’t have to give me an answer today. Later this week would be fine. I just wanted to give you some time to think about it.”

“Oh. Okay.” She’d had an inkling that Eric might be interested in her, but she hadn’t had much interaction with him since that night at the bar. Mostly they’d exchanged pleasantries when they’d passed each other in the halls.

“Just let me know about the training and the date.”

“I will.”

“Whatever you decide, I’ll be cool with it. But I hope you’ll say yes.” He flashed her another smile, and this time, a dimple popped out.

She’d never noticed it before, probably because she’d never looked that closely. She gave him a brief smile in return and went out the door, clutching her notepad to her chest.

As she was walking down the hall to the stairs, she passed Rob’s office. His door was open, and she saw Nick sitting there, his head bent over his notepad. She thought she’d be able to slip by undetected, but his head popped up, and their eyes met. It was impossible to know what he was thinking, but he looked wounded. She averted her eyes and kept going, anxious to return to the safety of her office.

Once she was in the stairwell, she heaved a sigh of relief. As if worrying about Nick wasn’t enough, now she had to decide whether to go out with Eric. Dating Eric would be much less complicated since he wasn’t Fran’s nephew. Plus, she and Eric were closer in age.

Their coworkers and managers wouldn’t bat an eye if two divorced employees from different departments dated. Technically, there was no reason to turn Eric down. On the contrary, it would probably be fun. At least she knew him, so it wouldn’t be a blind date, and she already liked him, so there was that. Even if they didn’t have chemistry, they could still be friends, as he’d intimated. Plus, going out with him would take her mind off Nick, who was off-limits in more ways than one.

By the time she reached her office, she’d made up her mind. She closed her door, picked up the desk phone, and dialed.

“That was fast!” he answered.

“I didn’t want to keep you in limbo.”

“Thanks, I think.”

He had such a self-deprecating sense of humor it was impossible not to laugh. “My answer is yes.”

“Since I don’t want to alert the entire office, pretend this is me shouting, ‘Yay!’ Is Saturday night okay?”

“Sure.”

“Great. I can pick you up, or we can meet somewhere. It’s up to you.”

Having gone on a few first dates since her divorce, she understood how this worked. She’d usually opted to drive herself in case she wanted to make a quick escape. She’d also had to consider her safety, especially with blind dates. Since she knew Eric, she decided none of those rules applied.

“You can pick me up.”

“What’s your address?”

After she rattled it off, he said, “I thought we could start with dinner. Is six o’clock okay?”

“Fine with me.”