Page 44 of Finding Home

All four men nodded in unison.

“And she’d catch us if we fell,”he added.

A sense of belonging ensconced Elle eliciting a large smile. These men. They were good and they were hers.

Pete handed her the reusable grocery bag. “Just a few slices of wedding cake, since you had left before the cake was cut.”

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she gave a thankful squeeze. She knew he probably suspected why she’d left early. The tightrope he had to walk between his sister and his niece was, no doubt, difficult.

“That was the longest two hours of my life,” Clayton almost whined, pulling her into a small space between the restaurant’s brick wall and a tall hedge when she stepped outside. Pressing her against the wall with his body, he placed impatient kisses.

She giggled…actually giggled, but she gave zero fucks.

“I’m telling you Jerome…” Tobey’s voice came from the other side of the hedge.

Elle pushed on Clayton’s chest, and he led her further down the hedgerow, cloaking them in its leafy secrecy.

“…something is going on there,” Tobey continued.

“Would that be so bad?” Jerome replied.

“He’s great. She’s amazing. I just…” Tobey stopped speaking,

Elle stretched her neck to try to hear better.

“You worry too much. They’re adults. Both sexy, single adults,”Jerome teased in a sultry voice.

Tobey grumbled something Elle couldn’t make out as car doors slammed and an engine charged to life.

After a few minutes, they checked that the coast was clear and ran to Clayton’s truck to drive to Buffalo for their chair buying date. Once there, they bought two chairs. Correction. Elle bought one for the Little Red Barn, and Clayton got one for the farmhouse. Clayton, who had a Post-It note fetish, bought Elle a packet of purple ones.

Clayton suggested hitting the Anchor Bar for dinner. As she sat across from him, a basket of wings between them, she wasn’t entirely sure if this was a date. To Elle it felt like a date, and it was the best date she had ever had. The flow of the conversation and the fun facts of life he shared helped her to know more and more about this man.

“So, is this our first date?” She bit into a drumstick.

“Well, yes and no. No, because in many ways I feel like I’ve been dating you since our first run. Yes, I never said they were dates aloud ‘til I asked you to join me today. I may not be doing this dating thing right.”

“You’re doing it right,” she said, trying to ignore the little flutter in her chest.

“For the record, so are you.”

“I’m very unpracticed.”

“I know you said there weren’t any gentlemen callers currently…”

She snorted.

He continued, undeterred “…but have you had…a…any…oh, boy…serious relationships?” he asked, forehead wrinkled.

“After it… uh, Jamie happened, I didn’t date for a long time. Not until my first year at Sloan-Whitney. Javi was a surgical resident I had a very brief thing with. Not serious. He was sweet, but I wasn’t ready. Other than him, nobody beyond a few dates.”

“I haven’t dated anyone since Marianne.”

“Did you date before her?”

“A few girls. I dated and had one girlfriend in undergrad but nothing too serious. I’m not a big serial dater.” Barbecue sauce coated his fingers as he bit into a wing.

Elle squashed an urge to lick his fingers clean. “Yeah, I don’t remember you ever dating in high school.”

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