Page 48 of Holding On to a Hero
Nichols:Yes. Like, if Cole doesn’t make another movie, he’ll be dead on theinside.
Ranger Ramirez:I see. But this part here, it says quote “You’d better make more movies or death will find you.” End quote.
Nichols: Sure. Like, eventually. We all die eventually.
Ranger Ramirez: Ms. Nichols, we have a warrant to search your house. Do you own any guns?
Nichols:Come on! It was just an email.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Will
Felix had suggested we meet at Henry’s Bar and Grill, a fairly large restaurant on the outskirts of Bent Oak. I’d been worried the restaurant would be close to Cole and Jason’s ranch. All I needed was to spend the entire date being reminded of them. I was relieved to discover it was clear on the other side of town.
I could see why Felix had picked Henry’s. It had an optimal setup for meeting internet dates. If you parked in the lot next to the restaurant, you walked up to the door past a large picture window, giving you an excellent view of the entire bar area. Then you knew in advance if your date was already waiting for you, and if he wasn’t you had time to decide whether to wait near the host stand or sit at the bar. Dithering in front of the host or hostess about where to wait was always awkward.
Fortunately for me, Felix had already arrived. He’d chosen to sit at the bar, but he didn’t have a drink yet. When I entered the restaurant I dodged the hostess to go right to where he was sitting. He’d been staring into space, but when he noticed me approaching he straightened and started to get off his barstool. One of his feet must have gotten tangled in the legs of the stool, and I had to grab him to keep him from taking a header onto the floor.
“Thanks,” he gasped, clutching my arm as he found his balance. In person, Felix was much more attractive than I’d expected, even after zooming in on his profile photo. He was almost exactly my height. He was a little overweight, but the extra made him look cuddly and huggable. His coppery hair gleamed under the bar lights, and his dark gray eyes were warm and shy. If I hadn’t met Cole and Jason first, I’d have been all over him. Instead, I felt zero sexual interest.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I’m a bit of a klutz.” He let go of my arm and I assured him it wasn’t a problem. We made our way to the hostess to be seated.
I kept a good distance between us as we were led to our table, and then we exchanged superficial life details as we perused the menu. During the drink and meal ordering process he learned I really was a wildlife photographer – apparently this seemed like a fake profession on a dating profile – and I lived with my sister and niece. I learned he’d grown up in Bent Oak and had moved back after college to be near his sister when their parents passed away. He asked how long I’d lived in the area and did I like it so far.
Then, bizarrely, he asked me if I had any strong opinions about vampires.
“Uh, vampires?”
“Yes, like, do you believe in them?”
“Uh, no. Uh, why do you ask?”
“Sorry, it’s just you seem pretty normal. But most of my dates seem normal when we first meet. And then by the end of the date things just get weird. I’ve decided to start weeding people out right off the bat to save time.”
“And vampires are a weeding out question?”
“Sadly, yes. That was Kurt.”
“Wow, I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with that.” Our drinks arrived at that point, and after we had our first sips I went back to Felix’s dating woes. “Have you tried a different app?”
“Oh, yes. This is my fourth one. Hey, are you a Trump supporter by any chance?”
Wow. “Uh, no.”
“Oh, good.” He smiled in relief and I noticed he had some really cute dimples. Those should really be in his profile pic.
“That one was a guy named Ben. Or was it Blair? They tend to run together.” He took a large gulp of his whiskey sour.
I had a vision of myself in Felix’s shoes, dealing with unpleasant people over and over if I kept making online dates. Why was I doing this again? Dammit, I’d let Ally talk me into this when it wasn’t what I really wanted. Hadn’t I learned anything growing up with her?
Oblivious to my epiphany, Felix continued, “The one positive thing about my dating disasters is that my sister is a writer and she pays me a hundred bucks for every bad date story I give her.”
“Oh, uh, that’s nice you get something out of it at least,” I fumbled. Felix went on about his sister’s writing while I wondered how much he was going to get paid for tonight’s story after I told him there wouldn’t be a second date. Though I couldn’t really begrudge him any compensation.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” He held up a finger. “Do you have any significant hobbies?”
“Uh, significant?”
