Page 44 of Merry Little Midlife Matchmaker

“Lizzie was telling the truth. You. Are.Delicious.”

“Um.” I cleared my throat. “Can I get you a coffee?”

“Only if I get to drinkyoulater.”

We stared at each other. Maybe I could leave now, before things got worse.

Then she smiled. “I’ll have a strong cappuccino. I have a feeling I need to get my energy up.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

I pushed my chair back to stand, then paused. Bad innuendo was one thing. Could I handle it for the length of time it would take to finish a coffee? “Listen, I feel like I need to say something.”

Astrid leaned forward, her arms pressing her breasts together to show off the valley of her cleavage. “You can tell me anything.” She winked. “Made you look.”

“I’m, ah—” I jerked my gaze up at her face. “I’m not sure we’re really on the same page here.”

She tilted her head. Dirty-blond curls fell off her shoulder as she blinked big blue eyes at me. “What do you mean?”

“I’m more of a take-it-slow kind of guy,” I admitted, which I wasn’t entirely sure was the truth but definitely seemed like something I needed to say.

“Yummy.” She leaned back and brushed her finger across her collarbones. “Don’t mind a man who knows how to take things slow.” Then she arched her brows at me. “So? Cappuccino?”

“Right.” I stood. “Give me a sec.”

In the few minutes it took me to order and pay, I tried to shake the fuzz out of my head. Lizzie thoughtthiswoman was a good fit for me? I glanced over my shoulder and caught Astrid glancing at me. She gave me a coy smile and blew me a kiss.

Lord. I waited by the counter for the barista to finish up, just to give myself a few more minutes before I had to sit down again. I should’ve gotten my coffee in a to-go cup.

By the time I dropped Astrid’s cappuccino on the table, I’d braced myself—and come up with a plan of attack.

“So you teach at the school?”

“Sure do, big guy.” She smiled. “Art—because I like to get messy.”

I blinked and cleared my throat. “Right. That’s nice. You like kids?”

“I’d much rather talk about you.” She took a sip of her cappuccino and licked the foam off her top lip, holding my gaze the whole time.

My stomach churned, and I frowned. “What exactly did Lizzie tell you about me?”

“Tall, gorgeous, single. She said you liked to work with your hands.”

I did my best to ignore the suggestive tone of her voice and nodded. “I work as a carpenter with Grant Greene. You know him? His wife co-owns this coffee shop, actually.”

“Sure.” She did the foam licking thing again. “What about me? Hope Lizzie didn’t tell you any crazy stories from my younger years.”

“Um,” I started, “no. She said you were her daughter’s director for the school play. I wasn’t aware you knew each other from before.”

“Oh, we don’t,” she said. “But sometimes these stories make the rounds, you know?”

There was absolutely no way I was asking for any details whatsoever about Astrid’s stories of her misspent youth. I needed to get out of here, because my interest in the woman across the table from me was so low it was subterranean. But I was aware that she was a teacher at Mikey’s school, so I had to tread carefully. I’d learned how easily teachers and administrators judged single fathers, how the PTA moms were quick to spread rumors. Extricating myself from this situation would require some delicacy.

“Do you enjoy teaching?”

Astrid nodded. Her face was all angles; it had none of the softness that Lizzie had. She wasn’t a bad-looking woman, but I was so put off by her first impression that it was hard for me to see anything attractive about her. “I love my job,” she said, “but I don’t really want to talk about that right now.”

“Oh?”

She leaned forward. “I’d much rather talk about what you and I should do once we finish our coffees.”

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