Page 55 of An Engagement for Erica

“Don’t you think it has to be?” she asked, frowning.

“Of course,” he agreed. “I said that because I was saying I understood where we were.”

“Okay,” she said.

There was some silence after that and he was trying to figure out the next step between them.

He didn’t want to lose what they had going.

Not the fun attitude or banter.

“Did you want to get some lunch together?” he asked. “Turn this into a real date?”

“I’d like that,” she said.

They hadn’t gotten out of New Haven yet. “Do you want to get lunch here or closer to home?”

She looked at her watch. “It’s a little early for lunch and we did eat about ninety minutes ago or so in the cafeteria.”

He looked at the clock on his dash. It was only eleven thirty.

He’d like to extend this day a lot longer than lunch but wasn’t going to push it.

He had a call scheduled with the doctor later after his grandfather was seen so he could get a better update too.

“Then we’ll get lunch closer to home. Didn’t know if you wanted to run the risk of anyone seeing us. It’s a small area.”

“And you’re known,” she said. “Me, not so much. Maybe we shouldn’t eat in town and just stop somewhere else.”

“I will gladly let you make that call,” he said happily. He had enough things on his plate when it came to decisions.

“Might be one of the easiest things I’ve had to do lately,” she said, grinning.

He wasn’t sure what she meant and didn’t want to risk a good mood to find out.

19

BULLET TRAIN

“I’m sure you’re going to be happy to get out of here,” Erica said two hours later when they returned to his apartment.

They’d stopped for lunch and had taken their time while they ate. They talked about silly things.

She wasn’t sure if he was following her lead or if he was trying to keep it light.

She didn’t want to bring up his grandfather. It wasn’t a good topic and probably extremely stressful for him.

Some of that stress was pushed onto her.

Not that he meant to, but she did worry some and told herself not to get worked up.

She liked him as a person.

She believed in what he stood for as a boss and maybe as a partner.

He was loyal and she wanted that in her life.

If he was a bit of bacon too...that was only a plus for her.

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