Page 7 of The Secret Crush Book Club (Peach Blossom #3)

Six

“H ey, you. Long time no see.”

Dani looked up when her coworker Natasha walked over to the nurses’ desk. “Hey, stranger,” Dani replied with a smile that had been etched on her face for the past three days since book club. “It’s been a while since you darkened these halls. How was your vacation?”

Natasha flopped down in the chair beside Dani with a groan. “It was so perfect that being back here automatically depresses me. I’m regretting not finding a sugar daddy so I could have made it a permanent thing.”

“Wouldn’t you have to put out for that?”

“Not necessarily,” Natasha answered before lifting her head and spearing Dani with a searching look. “You seem different. Did something happen while I was gone?”

Dani raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?” She looked down at herself but couldn’t see anything different about herself. “Everything is the same as before.”

Natasha shook her head. “Nah. You’re smiling way too hard. Who did you sleep with?”

Dani moved to cover Natasha’s mouth before looking around.

They couldn’t leave the nurses’ desk right now, but she didn’t want to have other people overhearing the conversation and getting curious.

Small towns were notorious for letting rumors get more than a little out of hand before they could be reined back in.

“I haven’t slept with anyone,” Dani insisted. She knew she was smiling a little more than she had been before, but she hadn’t realized her giddiness was that noticeable. “I just joined a book club. That’s the only thing that changed since you’ve been gone. It’s nothing serious.”

“Then why are you cheesing so hard?” Natasha insisted. She leaned closer to Dani. “Are you reading something really smutty?”

Dani laughed and shook her head. The book they were reading was good, but it hadn’t been particularly spicy so far. “No. It’s good though. I can’t remember whose choice it was, but they chose very well.”

Natasha eyed her for a moment longer before she conceded. “Fine. I assumed from that grin on your face that either the ex-husband had showed up to do his job as a co-parent, or you had done some leg spreading, not page spreading, but as long as you’re happy.”

Dani chuckled at that, shaking her head at Natasha’s antics. “Really? The whole ‘if you like it, I love it’ angle?”

Natasha shrugged. “Not that I don’t have books I enjoy, but damn, I thought you were putting yourself back out there.”

“I am,” Dani insisted. “I went to a book club. That’s the definition of putting myself out there.”

“Not like that,” Natasha countered with a roll of her eyes.

“You know I meant putting yourself out there when it comes to dating, not these one-off social clubs or whatever. Are there any single men at book club at least? I know the last guy you went out with didn’t click, but that doesn’t mean you should give up now. ”

Dani swallowed hard before turning back to the computer in front of her.

She had been in the middle of inputting patient information, but the words on the screen might as well have been Klingon.

None of them made sense in the face of her rolling thoughts.

There had been a vague inkling on the edge of her mind for days.

“Why do you assume I…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to decide whether or not to finish her sentence.

Saying it made it so much more real, and she wasn’t quite sure if she was there yet.

Could she take the words back once they were already out there?

Were there rules against that? “Maybe I don’t need to date right now.

Maybe what I need is to get out and be social so I can remember how to do that before I add romance to the mix. ”

“Well, what about the last guy you dated? What exactly happened with that one? You only gave me vague information over text that you didn’t click, but what exactly was the reason?”

Dani shrugged, which perfectly summed up how she felt about that date; the last few dates really.

The guy had been nice, but there was nothing there.

There were no sparks—hell, there weren’t even small pops.

The most exciting thing had been the food, leaving Dani feeling equal parts guilty and frustrated.

Had her divorce really messed her up that badly to where she couldn’t even go on a normal date and feel anything at all?

When had she last felt something for someone?

As soon as she thought of that question, a memory surfaced of easy smiles and the brush of hands as a book passed between them.

Dani was surprised at how easily her mind conjured up the image, and even more surprised at how she could almost feel the whisper of that touch even now.

There was nothing even remotely sexual about the brush of hands and yet here she was, thoughts lingering on it days later.

When she realized she had been staring into space, Dani quickly shook herself out of it and answered Natasha’s question.

“The date was fine. He was a very nice guy.”

“But,” Natasha prompted.

Dani shrugged again, not knowing exactly how to explain it. “But I didn’t feel a connection with him. He was nice and that was just it.”

Natasha nodded with a considering look. Dani waited patiently, turning back to the computer and inputting more information.

She liked talking to Natasha about things like this because she wasn’t impulsive with her words.

Sure, she liked to run off at the mouth like they all did, but Dani knew when it got down to it, Natasha always thought carefully about what she wanted to say, and so those words carried weight.

“Maybe you need something or someone different to shake things up,” Natasha said finally. “You’ve only dated people from Peach Blossom, people you’ve known for years, so maybe everything just seems too one-tone for you.”

Dani pursed her lips, considering it. Natasha wasn’t wrong.

Dani’s ex-husband had been a classmate from high school, and everyone else she had sporadically dated over the years was from the same relatively small social circle.

Dani wasn’t interested in leaving Peach Blossom.

It wasn’t just because she was from here, but also her family was here.

Jordan had strong, stable friendships cultivated almost since birth, and the town was safe not only for him, but also for Ava and Vini.

Dani loved the small-town comforts, and Peach Blossom took it a step further by being welcoming to most everyone who set foot in town.

She doubted she would find that anywhere else, so she had never really considered branching too far out and dating someone from a city too far away.

She also had never been that interested in online dating, so that left her with a lot of time and very few people to spend it with.

“What about this,” Natasha said, drawing Dani’s attention again. “I have a friend who lives about an hour away in Tulipsville. I know you aren’t interested in moving, but an hour isn’t so bad and he’s not even originally from there.”

“I don’t know, Tash,” Dani replied slowly.

She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to jump into another date when the last ones hadn’t been great to begin with.

Then again, maybe that was her problem. She hadn’t been all in on those dates to begin with.

Maybe she just needed an attitude adjustment.

“I mean…what if it doesn’t go any better? ”

“Then you shrug it off and keep it moving,” Natasha said firmly.

Dani hoped some of her confidence would rub off on Dani.

She wasn’t feeling apprehensive about the whole thing.

She was just tired. Something in her was beginning to wonder if maybe the problem wasn’t that she was trying, but that she shouldn’t be.

Maybe she wasn’t meant to be with someone.

It was a thought that had been circling the drain of her mind lately.

She knew the famous line about there being someone for everyone, but she was really beginning to think that was crap.

Dani really wanted to say no, but Natasha looked so earnestly sure that she gave in.

Besides, it was just one date. If sparks didn’t fly, then she would at least get a meal out of it that she didn’t have to cook herself, and spend some time with another adult for a couple hours.

If sparks did fly, then maybe her lingering memories of how it felt to brush fingers with Zoey was just a fluke.

She wasn’t sure which way she wanted things to go.

“Fine. I’ll go on a date with him,” Dani replied finally. She smiled at Natasha’s soft noise of excitement and let a little of that bleed into her own feelings. “But only if you’re sure he’s not the type to get bent out of shape if I say thanks but no thanks.”

Natasha held a hand up and put her other over her heart. “Scout’s honor he’s a good guy. I wouldn’t be friends with someone who was going to be a dick about rejection, let alone introduce him to one of my friends.”

Dani shrugged. “Just had to check. You never know these days.” When Natasha nodded in agreement, Dani felt a little better about saying yes. There was still some anxiety like normal when she thought of going on dates, but she was firmly reserving judgement. “Feel free to give him my number.”

Natasha smiled wide and nodded. “I will. You’re going to like him. I can feel it.”

Dani didn’t feel much of anything at the moment, but she chalked it up to being at work and tried to push the upcoming date from her mind.