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“You have a date? Who? What’s his name? What’s he look like?”

“Calm down, Susan. You’re going to scare our daughter away,” my father said.

“Shut up, Ron. Does he have a job? What does he do for work? Has he already met Brody? Don’t tell me he’s already met my grandson.”

I threw my head back and laughed at my mother. She really was a spitfire when she wanted to be.

“Just a guy I met when I was out with Kristi. It’s nothing special or phenomenal. I’m meeting him at six for dinner tomorrow night and I figured I would see where it goes. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date—”

“It’s been over nine years since you’ve been on a date. This is a big deal,” my father said.

“But I don’t want to make it a big deal. I haven’t told Brody about it. All he knows is that I’m taking some time for myself tomorrow night, but that it would all hinge on whether or not he could come over and stay with you guys,” I said.

“So we don’t even get a name?” my mother asked.

“If things go well, I’ll give you a name. But right now it’s just dinner. We’re meeting up, eating, and fighting over the check. That’s it.”

“But you know his name, right? Tell me you know something about him.”

“Susan, our daughter is fine. She doesn’t need our help in the dating world. She’s young, beautiful. She’s getting back out there. Stop prying for details and let her do this how she wants to do it.”

“Thank you, Daddy.”

“But our code still stands, okay? You remember it from high school?” he asked.

“I do. You’ll call an hour into the date—which will be seven o’clock, if you need to write it down—”

“Ha, ha. Nice old man joke,” my father said mockingly.

“Gotta get ’em in when I can. But you’ll call, and if I need the out I’ll pick it up and act like it’s an emergency. But if something’s wrong, I’ll open up a text message to you and press send.”

“Where will you be tomorrow night?” he asked.

I hesitated before I drew in a breath through my nose.

“Providence.”

“The seafood place on the water?” my mother asked.

“That’s fancy stuff for a first date,” my father said.

“He told me to pick wherever I wanted to go, so I decided to test his resolve,” I said, grinning.

“That’s my girl,” he said as he wrapped me up in a hug.

I hugged my father tightly and buried myself in his chest.

“I’m proud of you for getting out there again. After all you’ve been through, you deserve someone to dote on you a bit.”

“Thanks, Daddy.”

“I’m happy, too. But if the date goes well, we’re going to get pedicures and you’re dishing on this mystery man,” my mother said.

“I promise,” I said, grinning.

“Lunch ready?” Brody came stumbling down the stairs, and I rolled my eyes.

“Oh yeah, growth spurt time. He’s so gangly he can’t keep his feet under him,” I said.

“You okay, sweetheart?” my mother asked.

“Can I have a popsicle, Grammie?” Brody asked.

“Of course you can. What color?”

“Blue.”

“Blue it is!”

My father hugged me a little tighter before he released me, much to my guilt. I felt terrible for lying to them, but I wasn’t ready to tell them who I was going to meet. I didn’t want to tell them what this date was actually for because I didn’t want them to worry. But more than that, I didn’t want them to feel as if they were keeping something from their only grandchild.

I hadn’t lied to Brody when I had said I was taking time for myself to get a nice dinner Monday night, but that was all he needed to know. My mother would feel compelled to talk with Brody about it and my father would spend his time getting Mom to keep her mouth shut.

I didn’t want to do that to them while they spent time with their grandson. I also didn’t want their opinions on the situation thrown at me.

Damn it. How the hell had dinner already gotten so complicated?

Tyler

I sat at a table toward the back of the restaurant that I had managed to snag for us. The light was a little dimmer out this way and a candle flickered on the table. We had a distant view of the water and it was the quietest part of the restaurant, which helped with two things: one, Ana wouldn’t raise her voice in such a quiet environment, and two, maybe the romantic and darker atmosphere would open up a two-way dialogue rather than the one-way conversation I’d had to agree to in order to get her to meet me at all.

Taking a look at my watch, my stomach rolled in on itself. Three minutes to six. I was nervous, sitting there waiting for her, which only proved to me that I still had a lot of leftover feelings for Ana.