Page 16 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“There,” he said. “I don’t picture you the type that is afraid to speak your mind. Not sure why you didn’t just now. Unless you think I can’t afford it.”

She laughed. “I don’t ever want to be that person that goes on a date and orders the lobster dinner with a side of wagyu beef.”

He laughed. “If it’s what you like, then do it.”

“I would if the guy didn’t get so pissy about me paying for my half. If I say I’m doing it right away or paying for the dinner, then they are the ones to load it on. I’ve had men load it on before while I keep it in the middle then at the end want it split. There is no winning if you ask me.”

He snorted. “No big meals here,” he said. “Drinks and some frozen appetizers.”

“Yet you come here often so either you don’t have high food expectations, which stinks, or you don’t know how to cook.”

“I can cook,” he said. “I normally come here for a beer and might get a snack. Having a lonely beer at home isn’t much fun. Though maybe I should look into this pen pal thing you’re talking about.”

She liked his dry sense of humor. He wasn’t doing a lot of laughing or smiling. More like grunting and snorting.

Before getting Frankie she didn’t realize how adorable those noises were.

Even coming from the sexy guy across from her, it wasn’t a turn off.

“Well,” she said. “I’ve been on this island most of my life. One thing you will learn is that there are slim pickings when it comes to finding eligible bachelors.”

“Since I’m not looking for one, I should be fine,” he said.

Her scotch was brought back and she took a sip. She didn’t expect anything better than middle of the line stuff and this was far from that too.

It was still better than the beer...something she didn’t develop much of a taste for but would choke it down to be polite.

“Not a lot of single women either. They don’t come to the island because they know there aren’t a lot of men.”

“I didn’t come here looking to get hitched,” he said grunting.

“Good thing for that,” she said. “Might take you a while to find someone.”

“So that is why you ask strangers out on a date in the middle of the street? Because you’ve gone through all the other single men on the island?”

She started to cough on her sip of scotch. “No,” she said. “This goes back to the pen pal thing.”

“First,” he said. “You didn’t tell me what you do. Or is it top secret or something?”

“Hardly that,” she said. “I’m pretty well known in these parts. I’m a CPA and I own a firm with my mother.”

Her mother had been planning to sell the firm in Boston and she’d talked her into keeping it. If her mother could run them both, then so could she.

But for now she was based out of the island and slowly sliding into the clients her mother oversaw for when the day came her mother wanted to retire.

It wouldn’t be anytime soon. She knew that. Her mother wasn’t even sixty and was going strong.

“Didn’t see that coming,” he said.

“Oh really?” she said. “What did you think I did for a living?”

“I couldn’t tell you but didn’t think it was someone who sat at a desk and looked at numbers all day long.”

“That’s me,” she said. “Out there to change the world about their thoughts on bean counters. Just like I didn’t expect you to be someone who sat with a headset on all day long. I’d put you more in line with law enforcement rather than someone that dispatched it.”

“Considering I did that for years, I’d say you’re a good judge of character.”

“Yay me, on guessing that. We’ll move on to that in a bit. Something tells me maybe you aren’t ready to say why you went from that to this. So pen pals. I get on these stupid dating sites and I’m pretty selective, I’ll have you know.”

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