Page 61 of More Than a Good Friend

“Yes. How serendipitous.” Tandy grins.

She’s not being a great helper when it comes to moving on from Dag.

* * *

Parkedin the lot outside the coffee shop, I do a quick sniff to make sure my deodorant hasn’t worn off. Then I flip down the visor mirror and check my teeth. I’ve brushed them twice since lunch, but a person can’t be too careful. Food in the teeth isn’t going to make a good first impression.

After putting on a bit of lipstick, I snap the mirror closed and take a deep breath. If tonight goes badly, no big deal. There are other men, and I’ll have other dates. It only feels like my love life is a sinking ship and this guy is the last life raft leaving the boat.

I’m just hoping he looks enough like his picture for me to recognize him.

I step inside, and a man who looks exactly like his photo walks up.

“Goldie?”

I nod. “Hi.”

“I’m Luke in case it isn’t obvious.” He pulls a small bouquet from behind his back. “These are for you.”

Maybe it’s the fifteenth time that’s charmed and not the third. “These are beautiful. Thank you.”

Smiling, he points toward the register. “Let’s get our drinks first.”

Tonight is off to a great start.

By the time our drinks are ready—which he paid for—I’ve learned that he’s thirty-eight, never married, and originally from a small town in Tennessee, which explains his swoony Southern-boy accent.

I can hear my mom now, oscillating between absolute glee that I’ve met someone who seems more than eligible and fretting because she’s sure there must be some horrid reason that he’s still single. It’s best if I don’t think about Mom when dating.

He sips his drink. “For many years, my career came first, and then my dad had a heart attack—”

“I’m so sorry.”

“He recovered, thankfully. But that was a turning point for me. I cut back on my hours and made a point of going out with friends. But most of them are married with families. And their wives are determined to set me up, and in the past, that has not worked out. At all. But I decided to try again, so here I am.” When he smiles, his brown eyes twinkle. “Hopefully, I’ve told you just enough so that I don’t seem like a weirdo who crawled out of my parents’ basement.”

I laugh. “You’d be hard pressed to find a basement around here.”

“Very true.”

It’s quiet half a second, and that’s my cue to give him my summed-up life story. “I worked an office job for years. But when the company hit a rough spot financially, I was laid off. I was offered a job as a cook and cleaning lady on a ranch, and I love it. It keeps me pretty busy. I cover meals on the weekends, so I have to plan ahead when I want to go out. I’ve never been married, much to my mother’s horror.”

“A ranch, huh? Like with real cowboys?”

“Yes. Several of the guys are married. Most of them are younger than I am by almost a decade. Some days I feel old. My good friend is one of the ranch hands. We’ve known each other for a long time.” Why am I talking about Dag on a date?

“Sounds like a great place.” Luke adjusts his glasses. “Where I grew up, my neighbor had one cow and one goat, for milking. And I used to get up early to watch them do the milking. That’s as close as I’ve come to cows and such.”

“I steer clear of the cows most of the time. Although, my friend dragged me out to the pasture to show me the bull that plays fetch. It’s the wildest thing.”

“How funny. That must be a sight.”

Conversation continues, and two hours go by in a blink. This is hands-down the best date I’ve ever been on. The night with Dag doesn’t count because that wasn’t a date.

My long day is catching up with me, and I stifle a yawn. I don’t want Luke to think I’m bored.

“It’s getting pretty late, and you have a bit of a drive. So I don’t want to keep you.”

“I’ve really enjoyed this. The yawn was because I’ve been up since five.”

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