Page 6 of Pretend to be Mine
I press my lips together. “I can see watching a game with you will be fun. Especially when Texas plays Colorado.”
He laughs. “What else is there to do?”
“Well, there’s the Bar and Grill. They have pool league on Thursday nights. They also do live music and karaoke on different nights. They have food and drink specials. But if the bar isn’t your scene, we have festivals and charity events throughout the year. There’s a festival to welcome in practically every season. In spring we have Spring Fling; in summer we have the Peach Fest; fall is the Fall Harvest; and winter is Winter Wonderland. They all have little booths set up to buy handmade things. There’s usually some kind of contest to enter—dancing, food, you name it.”
“So, this is like… a really small town.”
I laugh. “Yes, you will find good old-fashioned Southern hospitality, that’s for sure. In fact, prepare yourself for the welcome basket from the neighborhood.”
Ben laughs, too. “You can’t be serious.”
I nod once. “As a heart attack. We all pitch in. A little warning—don’t eat the brownies. Mrs. Foster has glaucoma, and she thinks everyone else does too.”
His jaw drops. “No way!”
“Swear.”
We lose ourselves to laughter for a moment.
He shakes his head when his laughter dies down. “I used to watch TV and see these shows about small towns, but I never thought anything like that actually existed.”
“Welcome to TV land,” I joke. “But no, there are some really good people here. The best. They’ll all drop anything they’re doing to help out. Mr. Mavery shovels my walkway every winter. Mr. Jenkins takes my trashcans to the curb every week and puts them back the following morning. There are a lot of great people. I love it here. It’s a great place to raise a family.”
“Is that something you want in the future? Kids?”
I shrug. “I would love to be a mom. If it happens, it happens. I don’t know what life has in store for me.”
He nods. “Yep, we’re definitely in the same boat.”
I smile. “So, what made you want to get into medicine?”
He chews he food and wipes his mouth. “I come from a long line of doctors. It wasn’t pushed on me, by any means, but it just felt like something I needed to carry on. I watched my dad and grandpa and they just seemed so fulfilled. I wanted that for myself. What made you decide on real estate?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. It just…happened. But I like it, and there’s always houses for sale.”
Ben laughs. “There’s always sick people.”
I finish eating so I push my plate away and pour a little more wine into each of our glasses.
“So, what was it like growing up in Texas?”
He nods. “It was great. We lived in a nice neighborhood where there were always kids to play with. I went to a private school, so I guess that’s a little different than most kids. But, other than that, pretty typical childhood.”
“I went to private school, too,” I reply with a smile. “I had to wear this stupid, little checkered skirt. I loved it, though. Felt just like Britney Spears.” I laugh, and he joins in.
I stand and start to clear the table.
“We really should go to a baseball game sometime. I haven’t really met anyone here yet, but I’m always down to drink a beer and watch a game,” he says, grabbing our plates and scraping them into the trash.
“I’d love that. Most my girlfriends aren’t the beer and Cracker Jacks type.”
He nods as he places the dishes into the sink in front of me. “Imagine that. I haven’t found many women at all who can really get into sports. Now, I’ve found a few who said theylikedsports, only to find out later they knew nothing about them.”
I smile. “That’s nothing. I once went on a date with a guy who claimed to be into real estate, only to find out that he knew nothing about the market and still lived in his mother’s basement.”
He laughs. “I once started dating a girl who I thought looked familiar. It was about halfway through our date that I realized who she was.”
“Who was she?”
