Page 12 of Alistair

Ah, now!

She hurried to the door and opened it.

Alistair was holding a bouquet of pink roses in one hand, his other hand lifted as if he were going to knock again and she’d interrupted him.

“Hi,” she said. “Come on in.”

“Hi, Maggie, you look beautiful.” He stepped into her apartment and brushed his lips over her cheek as he passed by.

She nearly swooned at the touch, her senses lighting up as she caught the hint of cologne that made everything within her warm.

“Thanks, you look great too,” she said. He handed her the flowers.

“I hope you like roses. I’ve never bought flowers for anyone before, so I asked the florist and she said these were great first-date flowers.”

Aw, he’d never bought flowers before? Be still her freaking heart!

“I love them, thank you so much.”

He followed her to the kitchen as she set the flowers on the counter and cut the wrapping away. In moments, she’d filled a vase with water and set them inside, then placed the vase on the kitchen table.

She was nervous but also excited, and totally feeling tongue-tied.

“If you’re ready to go, our first reservation is in twenty minutes, so we should get on the way.”

“I’m ready.”

He opened the passenger door of a white SUV for her, and when she’d sat, he shut the door. He climbed behind the wheel and turned the engine on.

“So tell me more about this progressive dinner you planned,” she said as he backed from the parking space and left the lot.

“One of the guys at the park told me about it. I had a few ideas for dinner, but he suggested the progressive dinner and I thought it was a great idea. I hoped you’d like it too, but if you’d wanted to just go to one place that would have been fine too.”

“I think it’s really neat.”

She’d never heard of a progressive dinner for a first date. That seemed like something people did for holidays, where they ate different courses at peoples’ homes. This idea, though, of stopping at different restaurants for the courses was a pretty cool idea.

“I’m glad you like it. We’re going to start off with appetizers at Manriados. Have you ever been there?”

“No,” she said. “I did peek at the menu, though.”

He gave her a sweet smile. “Me too.”

While he drove them to their first restaurant, he asked her questions about substitute teaching and what her last day had been like.

“It wasn’t too sad,” she said. “I was subbing there for a while, so I got to know the kids. But I was really glad I was able to go on the field trip because it meant I got to meet you.” She pursed her lips. Had she said too much?

She waswayout of practice with dating. How the heck was she supposed to let him know how much she’d been looking forward to seeing him again?

“I’m glad you were there too.”

She stifled the giggle that wanted to burst free. Barely.

“The kids had a great time,” she said. “I thought it was really neat what the park did for them.”

“We don’t do a whole lot of field trip-type events like that, but it was put together really well. The park has some great people who work there.”

“I bet.”

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