Page 16 of The Spark Between Us

“Hiya Braden,” intoned a soft female voice as we passed a clothing store. I turned to see Anna, a preschool teacher I’d gone on one date with over a month ago. She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder, unleashing a cloud of perfume.

“Oh, hey. Good to see you.” I didn’t stop to chat, and I didn’t bore Sarah with how I knew her. We continued past a few more shops, a nail salon, and a pub.

Carolwood wasn’t big. In five minutes, we’d covered most of it. “This is Blacksmith Corner,” I said, pointing to the iron arch over the entryway that said the words. The square had an open courtyard and a couple wineries and restaurants. “It was an auto shop a bunch of years ago, before I moved to town, and before that—”

“Lemme guess...a blacksmith shop?” She nudged me with her elbow, and I stiffened at the heat that coursed through my veins.

“Yeah, I think so.” I picked up my pace to the restaurant.

We found an outdoor table at Carol’s on the Corner, a wine bar with a brick façade and lots of windows. I knew the owners, and the place had a good, casual vibe—a bunch of mismatched tables and strings of tiny lights. Nothing about the place screamed ‘date night,’ and they had tapas and an awesome meat and cheese appetizer.

“So...wine.” I signaled the waiter to put an order in right away. Maybe that would help the awkwardness. I picked out a bottle of red zinfandel I’d had before and exhaled a choppy breath. My rapidly-thumping heart clued me in to a feeling I hadn’t experienced before.

Sarah made me nervous.

Of course she did. With barely any makeup and her hair twisted into a knot, she couldn’t have looked less pretentious, and yet her subtle beauty floored me. But that wasn’t the source of the nerves. I’d dated plenty of attractive women. She made me nervous because she was smart, and if anything revved my motor, it was intellect.

I inhaled a deep breath to slow my heart rate and focused on the menu.

“You good with sharing a few things?” Sarah pressed her fingers in three strategic spots on the menu like she was afraid the dishes would disappear if she didn’t hold them down.

I shrugged. “Maybe. But we may not like the same things.” Couples shared food. Platonic roommates who planned on staying that way should not.

She leaned back and squinted at me. “It says right here that all dishes are meant to be shared.” Her other hand pointed to the top of the menu. I knew she had a thing for books, but did the woman have to read every word of everything she saw?

I put up my hands in surrender. “Sure. What do you see that looks good?”

“The cheesy bread. Do you like goat cheese? And the feta and fig jam and the artichoke dip, the sliders...Ooh, and the antipasto!”

I started to laugh. “So pretty much the whole menu? I can see now why you want to share.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I could probably eat all of that myself, but I’m willing to share. Up to you.”

“Fine. Done. Let’s get all of that.” I pushed my menu away, eager to watch this petite woman put away the mountain of food she proposed.

“You sure? Is there anything you want? It shouldn’t all be my decision.” She chewed her bottom lip like she felt guilty about commandeering the menu.

I shook my head. “I like all of it. Honestly, there isn’t a bad thing on the menu, so let’s go big.” Mercifully, the waiter returned with the wine and opened the bottle for me to taste it. “It’s fine,” I said, indicating he should fill our glasses.

Sarah held hers up for a toast. “To roommates who don’t drive each other crazy.” Her smile was already driving me crazy, but I clinked her glass anyway.

“How do you like it?” I nodded toward her glass after she’d taken a sip.

She took another sip, rolling it around on her tongue and licking her bottom lip. I almost growled.

“It’s nice. I like it.” Her voice suddenly sounded much more sultry.

I cleared my throat. “Are you a big wine drinker?” Normally, I brought my A-game to dinner with a woman, and tonight I felt lucky to string three words into a sentence.

She held her thumb and finger an inch apart. “Small wine drinker. I like it, don’t know much about it. Maybe I’ll learn a few things while I’m here. Seems like I could find a wine grower or ten if I look hard enough.” She glanced around as if to find proof of that, which came easily with three wine shops in the surrounding area.

“I finally gave it a try a few years ago.” I shuddered at the stiffness in my voice.

“Oh, right. I saw the grape arbor in your yard. Though you’d be hard-pressed to get a bottle out of that.” Then she blushed. “Oh my god, worst pun!”

I pressed my lips together to hide the sheer delight I found in her. My grape arbor wasn’t what I meant, but I didn’t need to tell her I’d bought a few acres and planted a vineyard. We wouldn’t be taking any romantic drives through the wine country, so what difference did it make?

Carol’s owner came by with an appetizer, one of the few we hadn’t ordered. “Hey Captain, always a pleasure.” He dropped off a plate of black olive hummus, pita chips, and a breadbasket. “On the house.”

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