Page 18 of Just a Heartbeat Away

The bell above the door of the home goods shop jingled as he stepped through. The blond-haired woman behind the counter grinned at him.

“Would you date me?” Seb asked without preamble.

“Oh, uh, Seb,” his good friend Mary stuttered, color flushing her pretty cheeks. “You know I just got out of that whole mess with Doug and—”

“No, no.” He waved a hand through the air as he made his way through the empty store. “You misunderstand. I didn’t saywillyou date me, I saidwouldyou date me.”

“Oh.” Understanding lit her eyes. “You’re asking if you’re datable?”

He nodded.

“Totally!” she chirped, scratching a small note to herself in a ledger. She tossed her long blond hair back. “You’re a catch.”

“But the kid thing, the widower thing, that throws a woman off, right?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Not the right woman.”

“Hmm.”

She leaned forward over the counter. “Shall I wager a guess that you may have had a run-in with not-the-right-woman?”

“Yeah. I got dumped this afternoon.”

“Oh, Seb!” She sounded oddly excited by the news. “I didn’t know you were dating! Oh, and jeez. Sorry. Getting dumped sucks. I should know.”

“I guess I’m dating.” He leaned his elbows on the counter and fiddled with some of the knickknacks she had for sale. “And I’m being dramatic. I wasn’t dumped. But I was definitely downgraded from relationship potential to a booty call.”

Mary greeted a customer who’d just wandered into the store and lowered her voice to keep their conversation private. “What happened?”

“Well, this was our second date. I kinda liked her. She’s cute. Runs a dog-walking business. Valerie.”

“And?”

“And one thing led to another today and we...”

“Hid the salami?”

“Mary!” Seb blushed to the roots of his hair as he laughed.

Mary hid her pretty face behind her hands. “Sorry, it just slipped out.”

“That’s what she said.”

“Oh my God.”

The two of them were laughing like idiots as the bell over the door jingled again.

Mary wiped her eyes, chuckling to herself. “We just scared away my only real customer of the morning.”

Seb looked around the shop. “Biz is that slow?”

She waved a hand. “It’s always slow between Labor Day and Halloween. It picks up considerably after that. Oh! I have your check for you.” She ran into the back room and pulled out Seb’s cut of the dining room table she’d sold for him the other week. Clients typically commissioned pieces from him, but every once in a while, he’d make something just for the hell of it, and Mary would take a crack at selling it in her store.

“Thanks.” He folded the check into the front pocket of his jeans.

“Finish your story about Valerie the dog walker.”

“Well, afterward, I’m trying to make a plan to see her again, and she says that it’s best if we just leave it up in the air.”

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