I ran with Duke down the trail Saturday morning, an overcast fall day with the wind whistling through the tall evergreens. Because I’d vowed to turn over a new dating leaf, instead of the usual REO Speedwagon blaring on my iPod, I’d put on the audio edition of The Dater’s Handbook and had been diligently listening to Dr. Susie. Granted, it was getting harder and harder to upload things to my old iPod, and I’d held on to it longer than I should have, but it had been a high school graduation present from Dad. When I held it, I thought of him. He’d probably be all for me choosing better guys. He’d always told me I deserved the best, and I knew I hadn’t been picking the best for myself.
“Welcome to The Dater’s Handbook. If you are listening to this audio recording, that means you’ve made the conscious decisions to improve your love life and change the way you look at the opposite sex,” Dr. Susie declared in a tone brimming with confidence. It was hard not to believe she did have all the answers.
“I will show you why the men you’re choosing are the wrong men, and I will help you break that pattern to find Mr. Right and get the happily-ever-after that you deserve,” she continued. There it was again: the HEA. That’s what I wanted, wasn’t it? I remembered my parents, heads together at the kitchen sink, giggling over some inside joke, maybe when I was in fourth grade. That was what love looked like to me: two people, madly in love despite being married fifteen years, still able to make each other laugh. Yes, that was what I wanted.
I thought again about Robert from Dana’s wedding reception—his dark, intelligent eyes, the way he matched me joke for corny joke—and wondered why my thoughts had wandered back to him. He’d been handsome, sure, but what I’d really liked was how he’d made me laugh that night. A lot. Not that I’d ever see him again, though. I’d bolted from that wedding in my haste to stay loyal to Peter. Ugh. When I thought about how that no-labeled relationship had worked out… I should’ve stayed at the wedding.
With the Rocky Mountains at our back, I decided to take a detour to let my golden retriever get a little more time off-leash at the local baseball park, now empty since late fall had turned too cold for games. We’d probably only get a week or two before the snow began to fall in earnest. I freed Duke from his leash and let him run. He galloped across the park, tail wagging and tongue out, happy and content.
We weren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the time before the snow. On the far end of the park, I saw another dog, a retriever mutt, maybe, and his owner. I plucked out my earbuds, pausing Dr. Susie. I locked eyes with the owner.
A thrill of recognition surged through me.
Robert.
I froze as a buzz of excitement tickled the back of my neck. It was as if, just by thinking of him, I’d conjured Robert up in person. I’d snuck out of the wedding afraid to catch a bouquet and now, here we were, face to face. Should I say hi? Or turn and run the other way to avoid an awkward explanation of why I’d ducked out of the reception without a good-bye?
Duke made that decision for me as he rushed to the chain link fence behind home plate at right about the same time Robert let loose his dog’s ball, which sailed high and landed with a plink against the chain link right by my face.
Robert glanced up and saw me then, a sheepish look crossing his features. “Hey,” he called. “Sorry about that.” He trotted over and grasped the fence between us. He was more handsome than I remembered, his longish hair poking out of his wool cap, his light blue jacket nearly matching mine. We looked like we’d coordinated outfits.
“Were you trying to hit us with your ball?” I teased, as I grabbed Duke by the collar in case he decided that ball was his.
“No,” Robert said, a slow, sly grin spreading across his face. “This is for protection. You might be carrying a concealed cake fork.”
I laughed, recalling how I’d stolen a bite of his cake at the reception. Touché. He moved around the fence barrier, closer to me. He was tall and fit, more so than I remembered, but those intelligent, dark eyes were the same. They never left mine.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” I answered, feeling suddenly a little shy.
“Who’s this?” He bent down to scratch Duke behind the ears.
“This is…uh, Duke.” I let Duke go. He happily jumped around Robert’s legs, tail wagging fiercely. Duke liked him, a lot. “And who’s that?” I nodded at the dog standing behind him.
“This is Daisy.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth, the dog took off running. Duke trotted off after her, happy to participate in an impromptu game of chase.
“I just got her last week from the shelter,” Robert said, watching Duke and Daisy trot across the outfield. He’d adopted a shelter dog? My heart was melting. Men who love animals? They’re my soft spot.
“Can you believe someone left her on the side of the road?”
“No.” I shook my head. I hated hearing stories of animal cruelty. Who could treat an animal that way? Duke trusted me more than anything, and I couldn’t imagine violating that trust.
“Apparently, she’s a very good retriever,” he said, and he tossed the ball hard. Both dogs ran after it across right field. “So, um…” He cocked his head to one side. “Do you come here often?”
“Is that an actual question, or…is that an incredibly cheesy, and dated, pick-up line?”
“Both.” Robert’s grin grew bigger, his brown eyes warmer.
“Yes,” I admitted. “We come here a couple of times a week.” It made me wonder if Robert lived nearby. He must have, right? The dogs came back, both tugging on the oversized rubber ball, neither one wanting to give it up.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to say good-bye to you at the wedding.” He was sorry? I was the one who’d snuck out.
“Oh, no, that’s okay.” A sting of guilt pricked me. How could he say good-bye when I’d practically bolted for the door?
“I wanted to…uh…” He paused, and I remembered exactly what he’d wanted to do—ask me out. I’d overheard him tell the flower girl he’d planned on it. I felt a tingle in my toes. Was he going to ask me now? What would I say? With Peter out of the way, I no longer had an obstacle to saying yes. Did I? Confusion whirled in my brain. I’d only just started to listen to Dr. Susie, and while my gut told me I wanted to get to know Robert better, I’d recently learned my instincts were terrible. For example, see: Peter. Jack. Scott… Pretty much every man I’d ever dated.
Robert’s phone rang.
“I think that’s your cue?” I wondered if this was fate intervening.
“Don’t go,” he said and reluctantly pulled his phone from his pocket. “No, wait, I have to take this, but…” He answered the call and I moved away.
“Good to see you!” I called, as I headed to Duke. I latched his leash to his collar as Robert reached out, as if to stop me.
“Let me call you right back,” he told whoever was on the other line.
“Duke!” he shouted. “Before she disappears again, would you ask your mother if she’d like to go on a date with me?”
I giggled a little. Maybe he was serious about seeing me again. And apparently, he’d also figured out I’d left that wedding reception quickly on purpose. “Okay, Mr. Zappia,” I said. “I will go out on a date with you.”
“Good. Now, what’s your phone number? It might be hard to make plans if I have to stalk you at random parks.”
I laughed again as we exchanged numbers.
The following Monday, I was met with another work disaster. Phil, the new guy, had struck again, but this time, by messing up an order of small, souvenir Tornadoes soccer league balls. Today was the day Dana returned from her honeymoon, thank goodness. In the meantime, I had to break the news to Phil that he’d screwed up—again.
“We have a slight problem with the Tornadoes order,” I told him and tossed him a small black and blue football with the Tornadoes logo on it. “The order was for a thousand fútbols.”
Phil glanced at me, blankly, still not getting it. “Okay…and…”
“And these are for a soccer giveaway for their game in Argentina. You know, where they play fútbol.” I literally mimed kicking a soccer ball. Now, Phil finally got it.
He laughed. As if this was a laughing matter! The company would eat the cost of these footballs. “Ah, honest mistake. Fútbol. Football.” He shrugged. Did this kid not know this was serious business? I could fire him, and yet, he didn’t even seem fazed.
“Uh, yeah.” I stared at him. He looked at me, blankly.
“What do you want me to do?”
I took a deep breath. I needed to train him, I reminded myself, show him how he could fix problems. Heck, show him that this was a problem.
“First, let’s get the correct balls manufactured. Second, I found a high school in Wichita, their colors are black and blue, their mascot is the tornado…”
Phil looked at me like I was speaking another language.
“Maybe you could call them and see if they’d be interested in the footballs. Maybe we could recover some of our losses?”
Phil frowned slightly. “That seems like a lot of work.”
A lot of work? He’d lost my company thousands of dollars!
“Yes, Phil. It is.” I glared at him a beat, hoping that he got the message.
He seemed to finally understand. “Oh, uh, got it. Okay.”
“Cass!” Dana arrived just then, and I’d never been so glad to see her. My most competent worker back from her honeymoon.
“Hey.” I wrapped her in a tight hug. She seemed tanned and happy, oversized sunglasses on her head, even though, outside, a bank of clouds covered the sky. “Don’t you look all relaxed! Welcome back.”
“It’s good to be back,” she said and grinned at me.
“Well, you’re bursting at the seams, so tell me, how was it?”
“It was ah-mazing,” she cooed. “A beachfront bungalow with our own private palapa. I love palapas!”
“Who doesn’t?” I said, having no idea what a palapa even was. “I mean, even the name sounds fun. Palapa!”
“Palapa!” she echoed, excited. “I don’t think there is anywhere more romantic than a palapa in Acapulco.”
While I loved that Dana was happy, part of me just wasn’t sure I was quite ready to hear all this. It was almost…too much. Was I jealous? Maybe. But, I was also trying to run a business, not that Phil understood that concept.
I clapped my hands, knowing if I didn’t stop this talk of Acapulco, it would go on all morning.
“Well, back to reality. I need that JB contract, and can you schedule a meeting with Stan Morris? That would be great.”
“Yes, okay.” Dana didn’t lose a single watt in her smile. One of many reasons I loved her. She always took on assignments happily. I was about to head back to my office when she stopped me. “Oh! I just have to say something. At my wedding, you and Robert looked really great together and…”
I felt heat rise to my face. “He already asked me out,” I admitted.
“Oh…yay!” Dana clapped her hands and stomped her feet and gave a little squeal of joy. I self-consciously swept my hair off my forehead. I was glad she was so excited. But then again, I was a little excited too, I had to admit. I thought about Robert’s lopsided smile. His amazingly quick wit. How he kept me on my toes. Yes, I was absolutely looking forward to seeing him again.