Page 9 of The Secret Crush Book Club (Peach Blossom #3)

Eight

D ani looked at herself in the mirror before sighing.

She wasn’t the least bit excited for tonight’s date, and yet here she was getting ready, instead of settling down in her comfy pants with a good book and her newest candle.

She had told Natasha she would go on the date with her friend Vernon, and she was sure he was just as nice as Natasha said, but she wasn’t under any illusion that this might turn into something.

Dani had promised to be open, but months—if not years—of going on date after date with nothing more to show than a rather impressive list of restaurants and café spots had left her less than enthused about having to put a bra on and actually leave her house.

She would much rather have hunkered down with the book club’s book choice of the month.

Thinking about book club led to thinking about Zoey, and Dani had the strangest urge to call her up and ask what she thought about it all.

They weren’t close enough friends for that, but something about the way Zoey had calmly given her advice a week or so ago left Dani wondering what more Zoey would say if Dani picked her mind.

Why am I thinking about Zoey when I’m supposed to be getting prepared for this damn date .

Dani stared at her reflection as if it would reply back and give her the answer she was seeking.

If it had been that easy, she would have asked the mirror questions a long time ago, namely what the upcoming winning lottery numbers were and why did the clothes dryer keep eating one of her socks.

Questions that were really important. With another deep sigh, Dani gritted her teeth and put on her earrings.

Now that they were on, she really had to leave the house.

She was making an effort, and she hoped someone appreciated that.

Abruptly, her bedroom door opened, and she heard a soft wolf whistle come from the doorway.

“Look at you looking all fancy. Where are you going?” Ava walked into the room and gave Dani an assessing look. “I don’t remember the last time I saw you wear that particular dress. I didn’t even know you still owned clothes that weren’t scrubs or sweat suits.”

Dani glanced at her in the mirror and raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget how to knock, or are you just trying to be annoying?”

Ava rolled her eyes before dropping down on Dani’s bed. “I know you’re not talking about knocking after barging into my room like two days ago. The only knocking you need to worry about is knocking some boots with whoever the mystery date is.”

Dani grimaced. She hadn’t met this guy and all she had seen of him a picture from social media.

He was good-looking with medium brown skin and dark curly hair.

His eyes had looked kind in the photo, and he definitely had a nice smile, yet outside of objectively seeing that he was an attractive person, Dani didn’t feel much of anything.

He wasn’t someone who she would have walked up to on the street, but she had never done that to anyone to begin with.

“That reaction was not what I was expecting,” Ava said, pulling Dani’s attention back to the conversation at hand.

Ava was sitting on her bed, arms crossed and leveling a suspicious look in Dani’s direction.

It was a look that Dani didn’t think she deserved.

She was doing what everyone said she should, putting herself out there and trying something and someone new.

She was going on dates and giving people a shot, and yet she still just couldn’t feel any sense of connection.

Hell, she felt more connection with Zoey at book club than she had with any of the people she had gone out with the past few months—if not years.

Dani didn’t understand what her problem was.

Then again, it was just nice to have a conversation that she was really interested in, especially with people who weren’t related to her.

Still, maybe she just wasn’t meant to have a partner.

It wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibility to never remarry.

Her dad hadn’t after her mom had passed away, and he seemed totally fine.

Then again, he had also been getting out more lately, so Dani knew she needed to do the same.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” Dani said finally.

“I don’t want anything in particular from you. I’m just curious how you’re feeling about the date, given your lack of visible enthusiasm.”

Dani shrugged. “The reason for that is because I’m not enthused. But I am grateful that you’re willing to stay home with Jordan.”

“Of course I’ll stay home with my nephew,” Ava replied easily. “That’s not even a question.”

“I didn’t want to interrupt any plans you had with Grace.”

Ava waved her hand like Dani’s words were ridiculous enough to not need to be considered.

“Grace is having some sort of family intervention over video chat, so I don’t want to be anywhere near that.

Besides, the nephew and I might head to the library so he can show me what video games the kids are into these days.

I’m trying to build a lesson around story building by engaging different and more modern forms of storytelling. ”

Dani’s heartbeat jumped at the thought of the library, or more specifically, who was in the library. “Oh? Tell Zoey I said hi if you see her.”

Ava’s eyebrow raised. “I saw her earlier today.”

“Where? Why didn’t you say something about that earlier?”

“Why do you care?”

Dani froze for a split second before purposefully relaxing into a more casual stance.

Ava continued. “Is there something I need to know when it comes to the newest transplant to town?”

Dani scoffed. “No. Just… Zoey is the one who invited me to book club and I’m grateful, since it gets me out of the house for some adult time.”

“How adult are we talking? Is this group all about the smut or are we having tantalizing literary conversations?”

It was Dani’s time to roll her eyes. “Who says those two things are mutually exclusive?”

“Perfect answer,” Ava agreed with a nod. “Put on the gold dangle earrings. They’ll go perfectly with that neckline.”

Dani nodded before taking off the earrings she had originally put on and doing just that. She smoothed her hands down her dress before turning. “Okay. Finished. How do I look?”

“Amazing. He’s going to love you.” Ava’s smile was genuine, and it raised Dani’s spirits enough to get her out the door with a final wave and a shout of goodbye. She still wasn’t that excited about the date, but she would fake it until the rest of her finally got on board.

* * *

The urge to sigh was high, but Dani forced herself to maintain politeness as the plate in front of her was cleared away.

The food had been delicious, and she was already internally adding it to the list of places she wanted to try again later, but other than that, the date had been as unremarkable as always.

She had been anxious the entire drive to the restaurant, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel and fighting the desire to jerk into the turning lane, make a U-turn and go back home.

That wasn’t because of Vernon in its entirety.

When she had walked into the restaurant and been shown to her seat, she had been pleasantly surprised that Vernon’s pictures matched who he was in real life.

That didn’t always happen. There had been a couple times when the photos had either clearly been old or doctored up a bit, but his were true to life.

It was a shame really that when they had shaken hands, Dani felt like this was a business dinner rather than a date.

“So, what did you think?” he asked, drawing her attention. The conversation hadn’t been stilted or marred by any forced awkwardness. It had just been a bit flat. The type of conversation Dani might have in the grocery checkout line while she waited her turn to scan and pay.

She looked around before answering. “This place is really cute, and the food was great. I’ll definitely have to come back to try that salmon dish.”

Vernon nodded with a soft smile displaying perfect teeth.

His smooth dark skin absorbed the warm glow from the candles on the table and seemed to reflect it back.

He was objectively a good-looking man. So why didn’t Dani feel anything when looking at him?

She wasn’t expecting to want to jump his bones immediately or anything.

She had never been one to just hop into bed with someone without at least getting to know them a little bit at first. But this just brought her back to her confusion at her lack of interest in anyone she had dated as of late.

At first, she thought because they were already familiar to her, but now she was wondering if it was deeper than that.

What did all of these guys have in common that just wasn’t doing it for her?

“Dani?”

“Yeah?” She blinked quickly and realized Vernon was staring at her with an expectant expression. “Sorry. What was it you were saying?”

He looked at her for a moment before speaking. “I asked if you wanted to get dessert.”

“Oh,” Dani said, looking down at the tablecloth.

Truthfully, she wasn’t having a terrible time, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could pretend that this might go anywhere.

Maybe a change of scenery would help. “There’s a new ice-cream shop about a ten-minute walk from here that’s supposed to be good. We could get dessert there?”