Page 25 of Keep My Heart
‘You don’t think you’ll ever get married?’
‘I think I will eventually, just not anytime soon. What about you? You think you’ll get married again?’
‘It’s hard to say. Right now it sounds like a horrible idea, but maybe in a few years I’ll feel differently.’
‘Years? That’s a long time.’
I laugh. ‘It’ll take me that long just to figure out how to date again.’
‘What do you think of my offer? You want to use me for practice? I could use some practice too since it’s been awhile.’
‘Actually, yeah, that’d be great,’ I say, wondering if he’s just doing me a favor or if he’s doing it because he wants to go out with me. But he’s leaving on Monday, so he can’t think the date would turn into anything. ‘Where do you want to go?’
‘We can figure it out on Sunday. We’ll meet up at the brewery and leave from there.’
‘Or the brewery could be our date,’ I offer up, although I’d like to do more than that, like maybe have dinner somewhere.
‘The brewery’s not a date, especially with Matt there. He’s going to join us.’
‘Are you talking about me?’ Matt asks as he comes out to the patio, a beer in his hand.
‘I was telling her you’ll be joining us for the beer tasting on Sunday,’ Nick says.
‘And then Nick and I are going on a pretend date,’ I say, laughing. ‘So I can practice my skills after being off the market for so long.’
‘A pretend date, huh?’ Matt smiles at Nick as he sits in the chair across from us. ‘Who came up with that idea?’
‘I did,’ Nick says. ‘I thought it’d be good for both of us since I haven’t been out there either for a while.’
‘What exactly do you do on a pretend date?’ Matt asks before taking a drink of his beer.
Nick looks at me. ‘I’m not really sure, but we’ll figure it out.’
‘You should go to that new restaurant,’ Matt says. ‘It’s kind of fancy, but the food is really good. I took Tess there a couple weeks ago.’
‘I think Sawyer told me about that,’ Nick says. ‘It’s downtown, right? Across from the bakery?’
‘Yeah, that’s the one.’
‘What do you think?’ Nick asks me.
‘Sounds perfect.’ I take another sip of wine, nervous and excited about this date we just planned. Even if it’s only pretend, I’m still looking forward to it.
‘You sticking around for the reunion?’ Matt asks me.
‘I’ll be here, but I don’t think I’ll go.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t want people asking me about Chris and the divorce.’
‘You could go with a date. People are less likely to ask you about Chris if you’re with someone else.’
‘I think it’s a little late to find a date.’ I take another sip of wine. ‘And who would want to go to the reunion with me?’
‘Maybe you could talk your fake boyfriend into going.’ He looks at Nick.
‘Now I’m a fake boyfriend?’ Nick says to Matt, smiling.
