Zach watched Amy pluck a golf ball from her bucket and set it in the indentation of the fake grass where the tee would go. They’d decided to share a stall since there was a bigger crowd than he’d anticipated. Plus, it didn’t exactly feel like a date when you were each doing your own thing. At least this way they could chat while they practiced.

“Okay. Now what?” Amy cocked her head to the side.

“Now you hit it.” Zach handed her a club. “This is a five iron. It’s a good one to start with, fairly easy to swing and so forth.”

“But this is a driving range. Shouldn’t I use the big round one?”

“The driver?” He shook his head. “Let’s start slow. Now, you grip the club like this.”

Zach demonstrated aligning his hands with his thumbs pointing toward the head of the club, index finger of his left hand interlocking with the pinky of his right. “Give it a try.”

Amy took the club and wrapped her hands around the grip.

Zach shook his head. “That’d be great if you were swinging a bat. Did you play baseball?”

“Fast-pitch softball. We were state champs my senior year.”

“This is a little different.” Zach adjusted her hands and arms, pursing his lips and considering her stance as he looked at the positions. “How does that feel?”

“Weird.”

He laughed. It was weird, initially. “You’ll get used to it. Come stand over here, sideways, like you’re up to bat.”

“I thought you just got finished saying it wasn’t like softball?” Amy moved to the spot Zach indicated. “Okay?”

He smiled. She had a good, natural stance. Feet shoulder-width apart with the ball centered between them, knees slightly bent. “Good. Now, the difference here is that you don’t want to bend both of your elbows. You keep the elbow closest to the ball straight as you pull back, bending the back elbow. You want to twist at the waist, not the shoulders, and connect with the ball when your arms are straight, then follow through the rest of the way around, but let your eyes follow the ball.”

“Is that all?” Amy shook her head. “You should probably back up. I can’t guarantee how this is going to go.”

Grinning, Zach scooted to the back of their stall. “Whenever you’re ready.”

He watched, biting his lip, as Amy pulled back and swung. The very edge of the club hit the ball and it skittered forward to the edge of the stall and stopped.

“Where’d it go?” Amy turned, laughing. “It must be way out there. I didn’t even see it.”

Fighting a laugh, Zach pointed to the ball. “Not quite. Wanna give it another try?”

Amy frowned. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. If it makes you feel any better, the first time I tried I didn’t even connect with the ball.”

She huffed out a breath and bent down to grab the ball. She lined it up again, adjusted the club, and nodded. “All right. If at first you don’t succeed, right?”

“That’s the spirit.” She had pretty good form for someone who’d never done this before. You could see the softball training warring with the idea of keeping the club low instead of clutched up like a bat. But she fought the urge to push the ball with her body. She at least knew the club needed to do the work, just like the bat had before. This time, the club connected with a solid thwack, sending the ball into the air. It soared up and to the right before plummeting to the ground just shy of the fifty yard marker. “Nice. Really nice.”

“That didn’t go very far.”

He chuckled and patted her shoulder. “It’s better than I managed the first time I tried. Want to go again?”

“Yeah, okay.” Amy dropped another ball into position and lined up for the shot.

“Try to relax your shoulders.” Zach stepped back out of the way as she swung. The ball sailed a bit farther this time. “Nice.”

She turned, grinning. “I have to give it to you, this is fun.”

“Go again?”

Amy shook her head. “Your turn. Show me how it’s done.”

“Gee, thanks. No pressure, right?” He grabbed a club from the set the driving range had checked out to them when they rented the stall. It’d been a while since he last made it down here. Hopefully he wouldn’t spend the last part of their date making of a fool out of himself.

Whistling through his teeth, Zach closed the kitchen door. All the lights were on, so someone was home. He stopped at the sink for a glass of water and carried it into the living room. Jackson and Paige were snuggled on the couch. A movie was playing on the TV, but it didn’t look like they were catching much of it. Zach cleared his throat and they broke apart.

“How’s the movie?”

Pink stained Paige’s cheeks and she hunched her shoulders. “We’re watching...it’s good...I...”

Jackson shook his head. “He’s just being a jerk, Paige. Have a nice date?”

“I did, actually. Not as good as yours, but then we’re not engaged.” Zach frowned. “Shouldn’t you be at the restaurant?”

Paige shrugged. “I gave myself the night off. I’m on call, but Hector wanted a shot at it. So...we’ll see. It’d be nice to know I had someone who could handle a night here or there, maybe even enough nights in a row that we could take an actual honeymoon. Dad can supervise, but he doesn’t need to be in the kitchen like that.”

“Honeymoon. That mean you’ve set a date?” Zach flipped a chair away from the dining room table and straddled it before taking a sip of water.

“Not yet. Not for want of asking.” Jackson shifted positions, draping his arm over Paige’s shoulder.

Paige patted Jackson’s knee. “It’s not like there’s a big hurry.”

Jackson scoffed.

Zach grinned. He understood exactly the hurry Jackson was in. But there was a lot to be said for taking it slow. At least he’d known Amy for more than a year. Sure, they’d been nothing more than coworkers, moving into friendship in the spring. But now? It had taken more willpower than he’d realized he had not to kiss Amy goodnight when he dropped her off. Long friendship or not, the second date was simply too soon. At least for him.

“What am I missing?” Paige frowned at Jackson. “Is there a hurry?”

“Aaand, I believe that’s my cue.” Zach raised his water in a salute. “Good to see you, Paige.”

He swallowed a chuckle and kept walking back to his room as Paige pressed Jackson to answer the question. He definitely wasn’t getting involved in that conversation any more than he already had. After setting his water on the desk, Zach plugged his phone into its charger and opened a text message. He tapped out a brief note to Amy and hit send. The phone buzzed with a response before he could get his shoes off.

Grinning, Zach looked at the message and chuckled. He punched ‘call’ and waited while it rang.

“What, you don’t text?”

Zach’s grin widened. “I do. But I’d rather hear your voice.”

“You just spent almost five hours hearing my voice. You can’t possibly still want to hear me talk.”

“Sure I can. I started missing you on the drive home.”

She laughed. “Please.”

“Seriously. Do you want to go out again next Saturday?” His grin faded as silence stretched over the line. Had he miscalculated how much fun she’d had? “Or...or not.”

“Oh. No, it’s not that. It’s more that Saturdays are usually board game night at my parents’. Do you...would you want to do that?”

Meet her parents? Maybe he hadn’t miscalculated after all. He allowed himself a small fist pump. “Yeah, I’d like that.”