Page 15 of New Girl in Town
“And that just means you all know his age?”
She laughed. “Well, yeah, kind of. Small town, remember?”
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. “Why didn't you tell me this before I went out with him?”
“I didn’t think you’d mind. Besides, you’re the one who ninja-dated him the first second you saw him, which didn’t give me much of a chance to tell you to pump the breaks, okay? And anyhow, I mean, aren’t you supposed to be out sowing wild oats after Dylan? I thought a night with a stallion would be just the thing to wake your lady parts up. I mean, you deserve it.”
“Mel…” I rubbed my temples and gritted my teeth.
“Oh, come on! When did you get so puritanical? So what if he’s younger than you? Big whoop. Age is just a number, Aurora.”
I leaned forward on my elbows, forehead hitting the table and bit my lip. I didn’t know how to explain to Mel that, yes, age was just a number, but sudden and shocking discoveries were not my strong suit. Finding out that Grant was younger than me qualified as a shocking discovery—and besides, I had no idea how to feel about it.
I’d never dated a younger man. Ever.
And here I was jumping straight into the deep end with a decade between us. Dating was already scary, but to add in an age difference, which for me was a big one, created another level of complicated that I hadn’t anticipated.
What the hell was I doing?
I couldn’t date someone almost a decade younger than me. That was relegated to the confines of gossip concerning midlife crises and sometimes romantic fiction. This was real life, which meant I had landed in the mid-life crisis gossip camp.
Perfect.
“You don’t understand, Mel.”
“Then lay it out for me. Make me understand why you’re moaning into the table like a whiny teenager instead of telling me about your great date.”
I groaned in answer.
“Don’t act like it wasn’t great. You were glowing this morning, sweet cheeks. I half expected to see him walking out after you to join us for coffee.”
“Ha ha. Very funny, Mel.”
“I’m being serious. You look stupid happy and it’s good and great and wonderful. Let yourself have this, and get out of your head about this man’s age, because that’s what he is.A man.” She emphasized the word man by drawing a line through the air with both hands.
I sighed and looked at her, ignoring the gleeful expression on her face. “That’s easy for you to say. You date younger men all the time.”
“And that’s why I’m telling you to chill out over there with the dramatics and just enjoy this. Although,” she said, tapping her chin, “I don’t think we are old enough to be cougars—we are, in fact, pumas.”
“Mel…”
“What?”
I bit my lip and held in the words I wanted to say. That I was worried about where this might go with Grant and what that might say about me, but it felt wrong to say out loud. Even to my best friend.
“Nothing.”
* * *
“Aurora?”
The smoothness of Grant’s voice made me jump a mile high at the unexpected sound. I’d been busy trying to get the little antique brass mailbox to open, but no matter how much I turned it this and that way the dial and the combination Grant had give me weren’t working together. To be fair, I wouldn’t put user error behind how long it took me to get it open, and I had just toyed with saying open sesame in a last ditch effort, which was why Grant had caught me unawares.
“Hi,” I blurted out, standing upright and blinking my eyes at the sudden change in focus. I suspected I was going far-sighted, which made tasks like opening the dial-operated mailbox tricky. I winced at the thought. Of course I was going far-sighted; I was going to turn 37 that year.
My smile tightened. Grant inclined his head, eyes moving over me.
“You all right?” he asked.
