Page 47 of Sweatpants & Sweet Tea

“I think I’ll be alright, but thanks.”

“Have fun!” Mrs. B waved her fan toward us as we made our way down the porch steps.

The walk to ‘set,’ which was wherever we were shooting the date, was short. Only about a block. On the way, Lydia looked me up and down. “Can you ride a bike in that?”

Davina had chosen a floral sundress for me to wear today with a fitted bodice and flowy skirt.

“We’re riding bikes?” I never knew what the date activity was. Typically, I didn’t know who the dater was either. But today that was not the case. My heartrate tripled at the thought of seeing Harlan again.

“Yes, you are riding bikes,” Lydia confirmed.

“I was going for aWhy Ya Wannagirl-on-the-bike video vibe,” Davina explained.

“Well, if Jana Kramer can do it, I guess I can, too,” I assured Lydia.

“Okay, there’s your mark.” Lydia pointed to an X on the ground made out of gaffer’s tape. “When I give you the cue, come around the corner.”

I nodded as Lydia walked toward Phil, who was standing in the grass with a handheld camera. My nerves were bubbling at the thought that Harlan could be waiting for me. The last time I’d spoken to him was outside the bar, and he’d been on a date with someone else since then. I wasn’t sure why that mattered to me, but it did.

My eyes cut to Davina. “How do I look?”

Her head tilted to one side in confusion. I’d never asked how I looked before going on camera…because I’d never cared.

“Beautiful. Everything good?” she asked.

I nodded and fisted my hands at my sides before shaking them out to try and release some of my nervous energy.

“Daphne,” Ernie said my name.

I looked up and saw that he was motioning for me to go. My eyes cut to Lydia, and I saw that she was giving me the signal. It was go time. I took a deep breath and walked around the corner,my head looking down at the ground. I’m not sure why my eyes automatically shot to the path in front of me; it had to be a nerve thing.

It wasn’t until I saw a man’s legs that I lifted my gaze and saw that my first date was not Harlan. It was with the doctor. Elias, I think his name was.

“Hi, I’m Elias,” he introduced himself as he handed me a small bouquet of flowers.

Yep. Elias.

“Hi, Elias, I’m Daphne; nice to meet you.” I pasted a smile on my face and tried not to look disappointed, which I was.

I hadn’t even realized how much my heart was set on thinking I would be dating Harlan today until it sank when I saw it wasn’t him.

22

HARLAN

I stood in the kitchen,staring down at the coffee maker, waiting for the stream of java to stop. I’d barely slept the past few nights. My ‘date’ with Ariana had been so different than what I’d expected.

Not that I’d had any expectations, but a proposal to buy the farm was definitely not even in the running. It had given me a lot to think about. If I accepted the offer, I’d be out of the red. I would be completely out of debt and have enough money to either pay for Grandad to stay at a retirement community or get him in-house help as he got older.

As amazing as that sounded, I kept hearing my grandad’s voice in the back of my head. The Mitchell legacy was on my shoulders. I was my family’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was their only hope.

That wasn’t the only date I was thinking about. Last night, over dinner, Grandad mentioned he saw Daphne ‘all gussied up’ before her date with Elias while he was visiting Mrs. B at the boarding house. Word was that the two of them rode bikes around the island then watched the sunset while eating a picnic dinner on the beach.

It sounded romantic as fuck.

I would love to say that there was no way that she’d be attracted to him, but he was a doctor, and not just any doctor, a pediatric surgeon. In his free time, he volunteered for a dog rescue and Meals on Wheels. Not to mention, he was tall and good-looking. Growing up, he’d been scrawny, but as an adult, he’d hit the gym and put on muscle mass.

And that wasn’t the last of my friends Daphne was going to be dating. Thanks to Caroline Shaw, the entire lineup of the bachelor auction was going to have a date with her. When I’d gotten the call to see if I’d be interested, I’d almost declined. Daphne made it clear that she didn’t want anyone to know that we’d hooked up, so why the hell would I put myself in the position of being rejected on national TV? And worse, online and social media for the entire world to see.

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