Page 32 of From Rivals to I Do

Maybe he forgot, I tell myself, trying to calm myself down. I mean, he couldn’t have gotten that good of a look at me, right?

“Mm-hmm, that’s me,” I say as I take his hand in mine, and I’m surprised when he gives it a gentlemanly peck, causing heat to crawl up my neck as he lets go and sits down across from me.

“Nice to see that they were able to clean up that dress for you,” Eli says.

Aw crap, he does remember, I think to myself as my stomach does flip-flops. Lucky me.

“Yes! Well, the guy said I did the right thing by getting some dawn dish soap on it immediately.”

“He’s a miracle worker,” Eli says with a chuckle, his smile crinkling the corners of his eyes.

“Sure is,” I say with a smile.

It’s awkwardly and unnervingly quiet for a moment as he fidgets with the salt and pepper shakers before picking up a menu from the basket on the side. His eyes scan it, and I bite my lip as I look down at my own, unsure of what to say.

This is so much different than being behind a screen. . . all that false confidence is gone. And now that I know, he knows I’m the pie girl. . .

“Well, y-you look beautiful,” Eli stammers, and I realize quickly that he’s just as nervous as I am. Maybe the pie thing isn’t such a big deal, I think to myself as I sit up straight. I want to ooze confidence. First impressions may be everything, but maybe I can redeem myself.

“You know, I am truly sorry about all of that,” I say. “I was having a really bad day.”

“I kind of figured when you told me off on behalf of mankind,” Eli says with a chuckle.

“Ugh, I’m so embarrassed,” I reply with a snort, feeling the tension ease up a little. “It really had nothing to do with you; my ex showed up, and, well, it didn’t go well.” Alright, Darla, reel in the ex-talk. If he can joke about it, so can I. “But hey, at least you’re not a bad egg.”

“Mm-hmm,” he says, and I realize that it’s possible that he’s just playing nice for niceness’s sake. “They do say, though, that one bad egg spoils the whole bunch.”

“Well, so far you don’t seem like spoiled goods,” I insist, and Eli laughs.

“I suppose not, but I suppose time will tell, huh?” Eli replies, and I’m not sure what he means, but I’m taking it as a good omen. I mean, if he wasn’t at all interested, he wouldn’t be sitting here still, would he? If it were me and I saw the lady that cursed me out in a store over a pie, I might run.

But not Eli. He’s. . . different.

We order our coffee, and by the time it gets there, we both realize that we’re starving.

“What’s good here?” I ask.

“Well, everything is good to be honest,” Eli says. “But I always settle for the sunny side-ups with bacon, sausage, and toast.”

“Hmm. . .” I say as I look at the menu again. “I don’t know, these fruit covered waffles sound good.”

“The Belgians? Yeah, they’re pretty great,” Eli says. “Best around, I’d say. Nothing like that I-Flop.”

We both laugh as the waitress comes back around, and we order our food. It’s not perfect by any means—we are both still a bit nervous—but I don’t want this to end up a disaster for either of us.

“So, your ranch,” I say as I push through a bit of silence. “How long have you had it?”

“Mmm. . . well, I’m fifty-four, so. . .” Eli pauses for a moment to think, and while he does I can’t help but notice how handsome he is. For fifty-four, he sure doesn’t look it. His tanned skin making him look like a golden God. And though he has flecks of white in his dark, ebony hair, he still doesn’t look a day over forty. Possibly even younger.

“I’d say about thirty years, or close to it,” he replies finally. “Give or take.”

“Oh wow, that’s a long time,” I say.

“Yeah, well, I grew up the son of a farrier, and I was just used to that sort of life, you know?” Eli says. “My daddy gave us our first little group of cows. Let me keep my horse, and we went from there.”

“That’s so amazing that your father would do that for you,” I reply.

“Yeah, he’s quite the man, I’ll say,” Eli says. “Now we’ve got so many cows, I don’t know what to do with them. Then there’s the horses. We got our own, and we boarded other people’s horses, let them ride on the property. We have some pigs and chickens as well. . .”

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