Page 14 of Heavy Petting

“As my kids always say, no glove no love.”

I burst out laughing. “Renee!”

“I’m just saying, dating is new to you. Be careful unless you want to end up with a little sister or brother for Esmerelda.”

“I’ll be careful, thanks for talking me down.”

I spent the rest of the day alternating between telling myself this was just a friendly dinner and worrying that it was a date. I hadn’t dated anyone in over twelve years, and I was totally out of practice. Should I dress up or something?

In the end, I decided to wear something cute and casual like I usually did. I’d stand out if I dressed up to go to Starlight Pi anyway.

At six o’clock I walked into the restaurant, Esmerelda in the bag on my shoulder. I saw Joshua right away. He was wearing jeans that hugged his thighs like a dream, and a neatly pressed white button down that he’d left untucked. When he saw me, he pulled me into a quick hug. He smelled really good.

“You look nice,” he said.

As usual I was wearing a dress that cut in at my waist and stopped just above my knees. I’d carefully chosen a dress that highlighted my cleavage and fit me like a glove, this one a deep red that went great with my complexion. I’d paired it with black cowboy boots, several rings, and a line of silver bracelets.

“Thank you.”

We ended up being seated in the same booth as we’d had last time. Once I’d gotten Esmerelda settled and we’d placed our drinks order with the server, I decided to take the bull by the horns.

“Um, I just need to know. Is this a date? I’m sorry to ask, but honestly I wasn’t clear, and I haven’t dated in so long I wasn’t sure how this even works if it is a date. Or maybe you just wanted to have dinner as friends and I’m being weird?”

As usual when I was nervous, my words rushed out in whoosh.

“I mean it’s fine if it’s not a date, I won’t be offended, I just… I didn’t know.”

Joshua’s lips quirked, something that I noticed happened a lot. I wasn’t sure if it meant I amused him or he was trying not to tell me that I was nuts.

“It’s a date, Mabel,” he said firmly. “If that’s okay?”

I stared at him for a long, heated moment, glad that I’d clarified what was happening.

“It’s okay,” I nodded.

My sense of relief was quickly replaced by a sense of anxiety about what happened after dinner. Would he want to kiss me? Would he expect sex? Should I have shaved my legs or something? Oh my God, was I wearing nice enough underwear?

I guess my turmoil was showing on my face because Joshua reached across the table and placed one of his big hands over both of mine, stopping my shredding of the napkin that I hadn’t realized I was doing.

“Let’s just have dinner and see how things go, okay?” he said, his eyes surprisingly tender.

I wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of tender looks.

“There’s no pressure. We can just keep getting to know each other and take things as slow as we want. I have no preconceived expectations for tonight, I promise.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry if I’m being a weirdo, I haven’t dated since my divorce and I’m out of practice.”

“You’re not a weirdo,” he reassured me. “And if it makes you feel better, I haven’t dated in a while either, so I was a little nervous about asking you out. I guess that’s why it wasn’t obvious this was a date.”

I wondered if he was normally one of those small town heartbreaker guys, but it felt rude to bring up, so instead I asked, “How come you haven’t dated in a while? I know you’ve got a lot of admirers here in Starlight Bay.”

It was true. Apparently several people had seen us having pizza together last week. When I was out and about in town this week, total strangers had felt compelled to stop me and comment on how hot Joshua was.

“I took over the Veterinary Hospital two years ago,” he said. “My mentor James started the clinic. I did my internship with him and after I got my DVM he hired me on as a full-time doctor. When it was time to retire I decided to buy him out rather than have to work with a new boss. But being a staff doctor is much different than being the owner. There’s paperwork. So much paperwork. No one ever mentioned all the damned paperwork.”

I nodded. “Running your own business is tough. I worked for my ex-husband and his father at their law firm for years and I was astounded by everything that went on behind the scenes that as a regular employee you have no idea needed to happen. Just doing the payroll is a ton of work, let alone everything else.”

Joshua smiled. “Yeah, so anyway, it hasn’t left me a lot of time for anything besides work.”