Page 37 of Stick Side
Captain Thom turned back to face his grandson. “Sorry for dragging you all the way out here, Nolan, but it looks like I double-booked myself. And I really shouldn’t miss PT.”
Captain Thom leaned down and gently massaged his right knee.
“I thought you said it was your left knee that had been bothering you?” Nolan challenged, though with more humor than heat.
Captain Thom’s eyes popped open before he schooled his features. “Oh, you know how it is,” he tried to explain as he waved his hand dismissively. “The pain moves.”
Nolan smiled indulgently. “I see.”
“I better get going,” Captain Thom said.
He pivoted to face her. “I’ll go get ready.”
His head swiveled between Nolan and Melody. “Since you’re both here, why don’t you two take the opportunity to set up that date you both promised me you’d go on. I should be all ready by the time you’re through.”
With that, Captain Thom practically skipped off in the direction of Melody’s office. On knees that showed no sign of injury. Someone was clearly a little too pleased with himself.
Melody glanced over at Nolan to find a look of mirth lighting up his handsome face. It lent a boyish appeal to his otherwise masculine features.
Nolan shook his head as he watched his grandfather dance away. “Is it me, or does it seem as though we’ve both been played?”
Melody couldn’t help but smile. “It rather does,” she confirmed.
“Well,” Nolan said, rocking back on his heels. “I don’t know how well you know my grandpa, but he’s one stubborn old man. He’ll pester us both until we succumb to his will.”
Melody tittered. Based on her months of knowing Captain Thom, she would say Nolan was putting that mildly.
Nolan gave her a look she might call searching before continuing. “So, what do you say? Can I interest you in dinner?”
Melody hesitated for a fraction of a second. Could she really go out with him when her romantic interest was already engagedelsewhere? Despite her reluctant promise to Captain Thom that she would go out with his hitherto-unknown grandson, she wasn’t sure how she felt about dating multiple men at once. Not that she and Ben had actually managed an official date yet.
Melody wondered if Nolan could sense her hesitation because he was quick to follow up his initial offer with another option. “Alternatively, a bunch of friends and I are planning a games night at a local board game café tomorrow night. Would you like to join us?”
“It should be fun,” he cajoled. “Just a little wholesome, no pressure entertainment that would have you home as early as you need or want. They don’t technically serve dinner, but a combination of their snacks is just as good as.”
Despite Shawna and Annie’s reassurances that it was kosher to go on a series of simultaneous casual first, second, and maybe even third dates with numerous men, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that approach just didn’t sit comfortably with her. She was a one-man-at-a-time type of girl. But a night out with a bunch of people, when she and Ben hadn’t even pinned down plans for their first date? That sounded like something she could comfortably do.
“So, what do you say?” Nolan asked after a beat of silence. “Is it a plan?”
“Board games do sound like fun,” Melody acquiesced with a gentle smile.
“Great,” Nolan returned.
There was something in his expression that made Melody wonder whether he might have been hoping she would opt for the solo dinner option, but she couldn’t be sure. She was hardly an expert when it came to reading men, let alone ones she’d just met.
Within a matter of minutes, they had exchanged numbers and gone over the basics of their upcoming date, for lack of a better term for it.
“I’d better run,” Melody said once they’d hammered out the core details. “For all that I think your grandpa is eager to have us fall in line with his plans, he really could use the treatment.”
“I get it,” Nolan said with a teasing smile. “Grandpa is a hard man to resist.”
Melody couldn’t help but smile at his lighthearted humor. “He certainly is,” she agreed.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Melody,” Nolan complimented. “I won’t lie. I’d thought my grandpa might have been exaggerating your appeal, but I’m beginning to wonder if his praise actually did you justice.”
Melody could feel her cheeks warming. It was no Ben-level blush, but Nolan had definitely managed to make her feel something in her girly marshmallow center. “Thank you,” she accepted shyly. “It was a pleasure meeting you, too.”
As Melody walked away, she couldn’t help but wonder how she’d gone from a virtual dating drought to having upcoming dates with not one, but two, very eligible men.
