by Webster, K
“You know Vaughn Young?”
“Professor at the university?”
“Yep. Anyway, he’s a buddy of mine. His wife and…” He scratches his jaw as he seems to try and formulate his words. “Well, anyway, his wife and this kid Aiden, they opened up this awesome restaurant. Best steak in town. But if your girl likes desserts, this is definitely the place. Vale’s a master baker.”
“Okay, you got the food part. This could work. Any other ideas?”
“Well, the best part is, it has rooftop dining that overlooks downtown. I bet you could catch a killer sunset there.”
“And books?” I ask hopefully.
“You’re on your own there, buddy, but since it’s downtown, I’m sure you can figure something out.”
My mind begins to form a plan. “Thanks, man.”
“At least tell me she’s this into you, too.”
“She is,” I assure him. That much I know for sure.
“Good, because I’m going to give you a little word of warning.”
I frown. “What?”
“Be ready for the looks.”
“What looks?”
“I dated younger chicks for a spell there. Trust me, people look at you like you’re sugar daddy trash. It’s unnerving.”
“It’s not like that,” I growl.
“I know that, but they don’t. A rich guy driving a car like yours with a fucking teenager on his arm looks bad.”
“I don’t care what they think.”
“Well, hopefully she doesn’t either. But others will have opinions.” He tilts his head and studies me. “What does your mom think? Her dad?”
I’m not worried about Mom, but Teddy could be a problem.
“I get along great with Enzo, who’s considerably older than my daughter,” I argue. “He’s perfect for Jenna.”
“Jenna’s only been in your life for what? Three seconds? You hardly had a say so in who she dated, Daniel. You’re lucky to just have her in your life. Even if you hated Enzo, you would’ve never said a thing.”
Fucker has a point.
“Fine. I’ve been warned. Do I need to make reservations at this place?”
“Nah, I’ll text Vaughn to let him know just in case they get busy. He’ll make sure you have a table.” He grips my shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I hope it works out. If anyone deserves happiness, it’s you.”
Lauren
“I’m fine, Dad,” I say as I fuss with my hair in the hallway mirror. “It’s just a date.”
I don’t tell him with whom. Something tells me he may not like that I’m going off with Dr. Venable.
“What’s that? A date?” my brother chirps, rounding the corner.
“Gotta go. Love you.” I hang up on my dad and frown at my brother. “I didn’t know you came home last night.”
Landon yawns and scratches his bare chest. “Got home like an hour ago while you were in the shower. I’m going to a party with some friends tonight. Everyone from school will be there. One last get-together before everyone goes off to college. You and your date want to come? Callie is going to be there.”
“Nah, I’m good,” I tell him, my voice tight. Last party I was with him at was his party and I ended up in the emergency room. Hard pass.
“Suit yourself.” He peers past me. “Damn. Your guy is loaded. Is that an Audi?”
I swat at him. “Go away.”
“No,” he argues. “I want to meet the guy and make sure he’s not an asshole.”
“You’re an asshole and I do just fine. I’ve got this. Leave, Landon. I’m serious.”
“Is he ugly? Why are you embarrassed?”
“I’m not embarrassed,” I say in a shrill tone. “I just don’t need you overseeing everything I do.”
He squints. “He’s getting out. How old is this guy?”
I shove his chest and then snag up my purse before rushing out of the house. Daniel has barely stepped out of his vehicle, before I crash into his arms, my lips finding his.
“My nosey brother is watching,” I groan against our kiss. “Can we hurry and bail? You can meet him some other time.”
He stiffens but gives me a slight nod. “Sure. Let’s get out of here.”
It isn’t until we’re inside the vehicle and leaving the neighborhood that I finally sigh in relief. I got a weird vibe about the whole thing. Not Daniel, because I really like him. More like I was worried what Landon would have to say.
I’m not ashamed.
I just don’t want to deal with his overprotective brotherly crap or the fact he’d tattle to our dad.
“Everything okay?” Daniel asks, reaching over to give my thigh a squeeze. He leaves his hand on my thigh below the hem of my dress and caresses my soft skin.
“Yeah. I’m excited about our date.”
He smirks at me, his eyes leaving the road for a moment to scan over my outfit. I’d chosen a summery white cotton sleeveless dress that dips low in the front and hits mid-thigh. It hugs me in all the right places. I wasn’t sure how fancy of a place we would go to and wanted to be comfortable, so I paired it up with a trendy pair of cowgirl boots.
“You look beautiful,” he murmurs, flashing me a smile.
Not hot or sexy or fuckable.
Beautiful.
Somehow that feels better than a comment guys my age would normally throw my way.
“Thank you. You look pretty handsome yourself.”
He’s wearing charcoal-gray slacks that fit nicely around his muscular thighs. And a white button-up shirt sans tie with his sleeves rolled up. My gaze skims over his toned forearms that reveal the sexy kind of veins men have. It makes me want to lick up and down each one. While he drives, I admire how his shirt is tight over his biceps and shoulders. Last night, I’d clutched onto those arms and shoulders as I rode my way to ecstasy. A thrill of heat burns through my nerve endings.
In his car, I’m overwhelmed by the scent of him. Masculine, expensive, clean. His car is in perfect condition, but when I see a car seat in the back, I frown.
“You have a kid?” I blurt out.
He hikes a brow up. “Yeah. Is that a problem?”
I frown. I don’t think it’s a problem. It just makes jealousy burn up inside me. Not for the kid, but for the woman he was with to get said kid.
“No,” I utter. “Just wondering.”
“Her name is Jenna Pruitt. Well, Tauber is her last name now. She went to school with you and is friends with your friend Winter.”
He means the same Winter who brought me to the ER last March.
“We’re not exactly friends,” I state with a huff.
This earns me a frown. “She claimed to be your sister. I surely thought you two were close.”
Guilt gnaws away at me. After that day, Winter has texted me a few times, trying to reach out. She’s best friends with my brother’s girlfriend, though, so it felt like a forced friendship on my brother’s part. Regardless, I feel bad for blowing her off.
“I’m not really close with anyone,” I say quietly, hating that I’m once again putting a damper on the mood. “Besides you, Dr. Dan.”
“It’s okay to have friends and people to lean on,” he replies in a gentle tone. “I’m learning that myself.”
“So the car seat belongs to your daughter’s kid? This makes you a grandpa?” I can’t help but giggle.
He playfully grabs my thigh. “Knock it off.”
“Or what? Usually I’d insert some daddy joke about you spanking me, but something tells me I need to level up to more mature jokes, Gramps.”
“It’s for the little girl I’m hoping to foster.”
This sobers me up. “A doctor and a foster dad. Did I hit the good guy jackpot?”
“I’m a bad guy where it counts,” he says with a teasing lilt as his eyes rake up my body. “But yeah. To help my daughter.”
“She wants to foster? She’s young, though.”
“In my world, I’m learning age is just a number to quantif
y time, not something that factors in experience, heartaches, or maturity.”
I think about losing my mother to illness. How my entire mindset changed. The things my peers were worried about—shows, dating, sex, popularity—were all insignificant to my own thoughts. It makes me wonder if Jenna is like me. I didn’t have any classes with her, but I knew of her. A quiet girl who bounced between foster homes. I’d felt sorry for her, but we were on two different social ladders. It wasn’t until she started hanging out with Winter that she’d really even blipped on my radar.
“How did that come about? Jenna, I mean. She was a foster kid, too, huh?”
He lets out a sad sigh. “I never knew about her. The woman—her mother—I’d been with long ago never mentioned having a baby and nothing ever surfaced when she died. But when I looked at Jenna for the first time, I knew she was mine. It was a chance ER meeting, but it changed my life for the better.”
Seems like this happens a lot for the good doctor.
“Kind of like us?”
“Jenna let me in her life almost instantly. You, though, require a lot more work.” He winks at me. “My daughter and a little girl named Cora have been inseparable since Cora was put into the foster system. Jenna wants to adopt her, and at the very least foster her so they can be together. Problem is, she’s just not old enough or established or experienced.”
My eyes prickle with tears as I glance back at the car seat. “You’re doing this for her?”
“She’s my daughter. I have to do everything in my power to make her happy. That’s what dads do.”
I take his hand and thread our fingers together before squeezing him. “I like you, Dr. Dan.”
“I like you too, angel.”
We end up chattering about other lighter topics as we make it into downtown. The traffic isn’t too bad and he finds us a parking spot on the street down one of the busier avenues that’s lined with shops and restaurants.
“You hungry yet?” he asks as we get out of the car.
“I can eat. It’s up to you.”
He looks up at the sky and seems to be mentally calculating something. With a shake of his head, he points toward an old brick building. “Let’s kill an hour or so in here and then we’ll head to the restaurant.”
I take his hand and allow him to guide the way. It feels right with our fingers linked together. Sure, I’ve been on a few dates, but we always go to the movies or a chain Italian restaurant. This feels different. Nice, but definitely different.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we walk.
The air is warm, but the breeze that drifts past us is just cool enough to keep you from getting hot.
“Shopping.”
“A girl could always go shopping,” I say with a laugh.
“I need to pick out something for my mom. Maybe you can help.”
Sadness clutches at me for my own mom, but pride that he wants my help overshadows that. We find a small trinket shop and step inside. It smells like oranges in the quaint shop. He makes a beeline over to an array of dog-themed glass collectibles.
“She likes dogs?” I ask, picking up a Doberman figurine.
“Not that kind,” he says with a chuckle before pointing at one of the glass Yorkies.
“Aww,” I say with a smile. “It’s cute. You should get it for her.”
“My mom makes a great meatloaf. You should come Sunday to dinner with me.”
I dart my gaze to his. He’s no longer looking at the decorations, but searing his green eyes into me.
“You want me to meet your mom?”
He cups my cheek. “More importantly, I want my mom to meet you.” He chuckles. “I can’t promise she won’t drive you crazy, though. You’ll be the first woman I’ve ever brought home for her to meet.”
This has me gaping. “The first one? Ever?”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. But it’s huge. It blows my mind he’s never been in such a relationship with a woman that he’d introduce her to his mother, yet here I am, barely blown into his life and he’s asking for that very thing.
“I’ll go with you.” I pause, furrowing my brows. “I think Mom would have wanted me to get out of the house and not mope around.”
His lips quirk up on one side. “It’s a date then. Another one.”
“As long as you keep your promise about what happens after date one, then I’ll so be looking forward to date two.”
He dips down and kisses the top of my head while copping a feel of my ass. “Oh, that’s a promise.”
We manage to pay and leave the shop without jumping each other’s bones. I tuck the trinket away in my purse and we continue on our trek. When we come to an old, used bookstore, I let out a little squeal of delight. Daniel laughs and opens the door to the shop for me.
As soon as I walk in, I inhale the musty but familiar scent of books. I wasn’t a reader until Mom got sick. Sitting by someone’s bedside while they slept tends to get boring. Social media doesn’t offer the same escape that a book does. And when I was aching so badly, an escape was exactly what I needed.
This particular bookstore is one I haven’t been in, and the thrill of an exciting new adventure looms. I walk straight over to the classics, hunting for the oldest looking versions of my favorites I can find. I love photographing them for my blog. From the corner of my eye, I take note of Daniel browsing a section nearby. My heart flutters that he’s left me to my own devices. A girl could get lost for hours in a bookstore.
An hour comes and goes quickly. I’ve piled up five of my favorites including a ratty copy of Wuthering Heights. My stomach grumbles, signifying it’s time to eat soon.
“She emerges from the book haze,” Daniel teases when I round a corner on my hunt for him.
He’s kicked back in a lounge chair with his feet up on the coffee table looking like he owns the place. If he did, then I’d crawl into his lap and have a repeat of last night to thank him for taking me here. Since we’re not alone, I dip down and press a kiss to his cheek.
“Thank you, Dr. Dan.”
“For what?”
I sigh and smile. “For being you.”
He rises from his seat, grips my hips, and hauls me against him. My handful of books are smashed between us. I tilt my head up to admire his handsome face.
“Thank you for being you too,” he murmurs before giving me a kiss that most likely makes everyone in the bookstore blush.
Daniel
The look on her face in the bookstore was one of pure bliss. Happiness on Lauren’s face looks really good. It makes me want to do everything humanly possible to keep it there.
“Sorry I took so long,” she says absently, leaning her head against my shoulder as we walk.
“I thought you were enjoying yourself.”
“I was. But I know that might have been boring for you.”
I chuckle. “Are you kidding me? Watching you turn absolutely giddy with excitement over those books was my own form of entertainment.”
“Good, because I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.”
She turns quiet as we walk and I hate how sad she sounded. An eighteen-year-old girl who’s just graduated from high school should have the world at her fingertips. It’s as though she’s been caged and I freed her for the day.
“What are your plans now that you’ve graduated?”
“I haven’t allowed myself to think about it,” she admits.
I stop and turn to face her. The warm wind sends her golden blond hair fluttering behind her. With the lowering sun shining on her, she’s every bit the angel I nicknamed her. I almost expect her to sprout wings and fly off to the heavens. Instead, she stays grounded, frowning at me. Lost. Sad. Confused. Distant.
Gently gripping her chin, I tilt her head up and steal a chaste kiss. “You should be thinking about what you want. You have your whole life in front of you.”
Her brown eyes grow misty and she darts them away. “Do I?” The bitterness in her words startles me. In half a
second, I go from doting boyfriend to concerned doctor. I assess her pretty face and note her skin is pale despite the blush she’s applied. The circles under her eyes are barely hidden beneath a layer of makeup. Her shoulders are slightly sagging. She’s tired and worn down—from the inside out. But why?
“Should we leave?” I ask, suddenly feeling like a tool for walking her all through downtown and wearing her out.
“W-What? No. Why would we leave?” she demands, the fire back in her voice as she glares at me.
I rub my thumb over her bottom lip. “Then where’d you go just then?”
It wasn’t here. It was some dark place in her mind and it slipped out for me to see. My heart hasn’t stopped hammering in my chest since she uttered those bitter words.
“Nowhere,” she says with a one-shouldered shrug. “I’m hungry. Are we almost there?”
I want to demand answers, but I also don’t want to ruin our date. It takes everything in me to keep my promise and not nag her. At least not now. I don’t want to damper the moment. But we will have this conversation. Soon.
“Another block. Need a piggy-back ride?” I say with a wide grin.
She laughs. “I mean, if you’re offering…”
A challenge.
I squat and pat my shoulder. “Hop on, little girl.”
“Little girl?” she huffs but hands me her purse that’s stuffed with her bag of books.
Smirking, I take it as she grabs my shoulders and then hooks her legs around my waist. Once she’s latched on, I hold her heavy purse for her with one arm and the back of her thigh with the other. It makes me feel better to carry her knowing she’s tired.
But as soon as we start walking, we get the looks.
Some are amused. Some are questioning. And some are downright disgusted.
“That woman was glaring at us,” Lauren says, her chin resting on my shoulder. “Think maybe I flashed her by accident.”
“Nah, she was just being a bitch.”
I walk us down the block and before we get there, Lauren squirms to be let down. Finally, I relent and set her to her feet.
“We’re not there yet,” I tell her, frowning.
