Chapter 3
LUCY
Ido not do stuff like this. I never miss school and certainly not for something as frivolous as this. But I had a dentist’s appointment scheduled this morning, so I already had a sub.
When I arrive at the agreed-upon meeting place, Chestnut Roasters, I order a coffee and pick out a table, then nervously look around waiting for my date.
He takes a seat, and he seems nice enough, but several minutes in, I already know that I’ve got to figure out a way to get out of this catastrophe of a date.
My friends mean well, but they set me up with the weirdest man on the planet.
I get why they picked him, though—on paper he looks great. Hell, in person, he looks fantastic.
Even though he agreed to a coffee date, he admits he doesn’t drink coffee. I take another big sip of mine, unbothered by his confession. He had ample opportunity to suggest other options for our date.
He then proceeds to tell me that he has a severe allergy to shellfish and then stares at me for several seconds when I don’t give him the reaction he so obviously wants. I can’t believe I’m entertaining this, but I take the bait. “What does a shellfish allergy have to do with coffee?”
“You don’t know? That’s surprising. I thought you were a teacher.”
I blink several times. “I teach second grade. You do know that teachers don’t know everything, right?
We have specialized areas we focus on, and we’re humans like everyone else.
Being a teacher doesn’t make me smarter than the general population, it just means I enjoy shaping young minds and teaching them about a particular topic I’ve studied at length. ”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.” He smiles like he’s placating me.
Worried I’m overthinking things—with my luck and history of shitty exes, I probably am—I return a polite smile and gesture for him to continue. “You were saying?”
“I can’t have coffee because of my allergy. Well, I can have some coffee, but I can’t get it from any old place.”
“And why’s that?”
“Cockroaches.”
I nearly spit in his face, but I cover my mouth in the nick of time as coffee shoots all over my hand.
“Jesus! Are you trying to kill me?” he shouts as he stands and backs away from the table.
Fuck my luck. Even though he hasn’t fully explained the connection, I apparently did try to kill the man. “I’m so sorry!” I run over to the counter and grab a bunch of napkins to clean up the table then settle back in my seat.
I smile awkwardly as I wipe up the mess. “So, cockroaches?”
He examines me for a moment, then reluctantly sits. “Yeah. It’s been proven that low-quality coffee can be cross-contaminated with ground-up cockroaches. And if you have an allergy like mine, you’d know that cockroaches contain the same protein as shellfish.”
“I did not know that,” I say as I take another sip of my coffee. I remind myself to fact-check him after this date is over.
“Do you want to head over to Pine Dining and grab lunch?”
I’ve nearly murdered this man with coffee. What’s a little lunch?
When we get to the restaurant, he orders the most expensive thing on the menu, and when the bill comes, he does the “pat my pockets” dance, claiming he forgot his wallet.
“I’ll Venmo you,” he says as he takes a bite of a forty-two-dollar steak that I definitely can’t afford on my teacher’s salary.
A coffee date was supposed to be safe. With two wild little boys, it’s hard to find a sitter, so I figured a date while they were in school was best. I don’t have to pick up Levi until two, so I have plenty of time. But this is a disaster. Good on paper is terrible in person.
Once we finish, I’m ready for this date to be over, ready to head back to my car and drive away as fast as I can.
We’re walking down Main Street toward our vehicles when a small dog runs toward us, leash trailing behind it and its owner running to catch up.
I instantly recognize the woman as Susy, the owner of Peak Sweets.
Before I get a chance to process what’s happening, not-Ben Affleck grabs me by the arms, using me as a human shield.
I break from his hold and drop down to scoop up the adorable brown fluffball running toward me.
An out-of-breath Susy offers me a smile as she approaches.
“I’m so sorry, Lucy! Webster hates walking on a leash and runs off every chance he gets.
” She looks over my shoulder at my date, still cowering behind me. “It’s okay, he doesn’t bite.”
He takes a step back. “I don’t like dogs.”
If everything else wasn’t enough, that definitely seals it. I could never trust anyone who doesn’t like dogs. “It’s okay, I love Webster. Is he hanging out with you at the shop today?”
“Yup. His separation anxiety is getting worse, and I hate leaving him alone in his kennel. If I don’t use it, he’ll chew up the house, but when I put him in it, he whines like he’s in doggy jail.
One of the firefighters said I could drop him at the station and they’d keep him company during the day, but I just hate being away from him. ”
A throat clears behind me. “I’m pretty sure you can’t have a dog in an establishment that serves food,” my date says pointing to her shop.
Susy’s eyes narrow. “He’s a service dog.”
“Do you have any documentation for that?”
I totally spaced out for a good portion of our date, and now I’m trying to remember what he said he did.
“What are you, the dog police?” Susy asks.
“No, just a concerned citizen. I’m Doug.”
Doug. That’s his name. He never formally introduced himself, and the girls never told me, but I recognized him from his picture.
“Well, the boys and I would be happy to watch Webster if you don’t want him to be alone,” I offer.
“I appreciate that,” Susy says, before giving my date a suspicious look. “Is he giving you any trouble?”
“Nope.” I don’t offer more, not wanting the Chestnut Mountain rumor mill to start ramping up any more than it’s going to. It’s inevitable since we’ve been seen together in two local businesses today.
I hand Webster back to Susy and say goodbye as we continue our walk to our cars.
Doug’s clammy hand grabs mine. “This is the first real date I’ve ever been on.”
I would be flattered at that… if this man wasn’t over thirty. Even though he’s attractive, he spent our entire meal talking about the different kinds of worms he likes, and when I asked him if he fished, he said no and looked at me like it was a ridiculous question.
“Oh?” I ask, unsure of how else to respond.
“Clearly it’s not yours.”
I stop walking and yank my hand from his. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He turns back to me, floundering. “Because you said you have kids. Clearly, you’ve been on dates before.”
“You don’t know that for sure.” I mean, I have, but I’m not about to share any more of my backstory with this infuriatingly odd man.
“So, you only do hookups?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“If you don’t date and don’t hook up, did you conceive your kids through Immaculate Conception or something?” His face is smug, like he thinks he’s caught me in a trap.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I glower at him.
“I’d like to make it my business,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows in a way he probably thinks looks sexy, but it actually makes him look like a deranged clown.
Fuck, now I’m picturing Ben Affleck dressed as a sad clown doing a dance with his eyebrows. I need to get out of here.
“This was… well, it was.” I don’t know what else to say so I awkwardly turn and shuffle quickly toward my car, determined to leave bug-obsessed wannabe Ben Affleck behind.
When I get the car door open, I notice my cell on the floorboard where it must’ve fallen out of my purse earlier.
I grab it and throw my bag in the passenger seat. There are dozens of missed calls, but the only texts are from Bella, and they just say, “Call me!!!”
My phone connects to my car, and I dial Bella immediately, already heading toward Levi’s preschool.
“Okay, so don’t panic,” Bella’s voice says, filling my car speakers.
My heart stops. “I wasn’t, but now I am. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“I’m at the hospital with Micah—”
“What!”
“He’s okay, but Mike thinks he might have a broken arm.”
“What? Who’s Mike?” I press harder on the accelerator, trying to get to Levi’s school faster.
“Hardy’s coworker, Mike. Mr. March in the calendar. The one with the Irish accent.”
I know exactly who she’s talking about.
“He was the one that found Isaac during the school fire, remember?”
“I remember, but why does he think Micah’s arm is broken?”
“He fell at recess. Or jumped? Anyway, I had to call 911, and he’s who they sent out. I know Micah doesn’t like men, but he was the closest.”
“And he didn’t freak out?”
“He was a little unsure at first, but Mike’s been really good with him.”
“I’m getting Levi now, then I’ll head to the hospital. What happened?”
“Everyone was playing, and the recess monitor was distracted by two kids fighting over a pack of Gushers. Apparently, some of the first-grade boys challenged the kindergarten boys to a contest to see who could jump off the highest playground item. Micah ran to the top of the blue slide and jumped off it.”
“Oh my God, the really big one that we wish they would tear down for that very reason?”
“That’s the one. Anyway, he landed on his arm. The monitor sent some kids to come get me after it happened, and I’ve been with him ever since. He’s doing really well. You’d be proud.”
“Okay. That’s good.” My mind is racing a mile a minute. I’ve got to get Levi and make it to the hospital and figure out how I’m going to occupy him while we wait on Micah to get checked out.
A horn honks behind me, and I notice a plain white car with a police light pulling up on my bumper.
“Fuck, I’m getting pulled over.”
“Oh shit! I’ll let you go. Don’t worry, I can hold things down here. Do what you need to do. Just be safe.”
“I’ll call you back.” We hang up, and I pull to the side of the road. Could this day get any worse?
Leaning over to root around in my glovebox and purse, I’m distracted as I fish out everything I need to give the officer, when a tap on my window startles me.
“Oh my God, Doug! You scared me.” I roll down the window as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“License and registration.”
I blink at him in confusion. Is he pranking me?
He thrusts his hips out slightly, and the sun gleams off the badge clipped to his belt. He definitely wasn’t wearing that earlier.
“Are you a cop?”
He frowns at me. “State trooper.”
Man in uniform. My mom group DMs make a lot more sense now.
State trooper is technically a uniform, even if he isn’t currently wearing it.
I really should have gotten more details from Summer.
Or paid attention to him when he talked about what he did.
I at least should have said goodbye. His interaction with Susy is starting to make more sense now.
“I’m sorry to ditch you like that back there, but I got a call from my friend that my kid got hurt at school and I’ve got to grab his brother and head to the hospital.” I try to look sweet, but my heart is racing, and I feel like my face is twitching.
His answering scowl isn’t reassuring. “License and registration, ma’am.”
“It’s okay. We just shared a meal. You can call me Lucy.”
He doesn’t even crack a smile.
Swallowing down my anxiety, I hand him the documents and twist my hands in my lap.
“Stay here while I run this.” He taps my car as he walks back to his.
Is this really happening?
When he returns, he issues me a ticket, pointing to where I need to sign.
“Guess I’m not getting reimbursed for that meal,” I mutter to myself.
“What was that?”
“Thanks for the meal.”
Once he releases me, I drive under the speed limit to Levi’s school, cursing Doug the whole time.
This is why I don’t do relationships. I have the worst luck with men.
I fear he may have ruined Ben Affleck for me. And butt chins. And coffee.
——————
When I get to the hospital, I text Bella to let her know I’m here and hurry inside, nearly knocking over three people in my race to get to Micah. Levi fidgets in my arms, begging me to put him down, but I know it’s faster to carry him so he doesn’t wander off.
“Lucy!” Bella’s voice calls out from behind me.
I race over to her, and she pulls me into a hug. “Where is he?”
“He’s in the ER. I’ll take you back,” she says, just as Levi makes grabby hands for her, leaning away from me.
“Come here, big guy,” she coos as she takes him and points over my shoulder to indicate where we’re headed.
“Thanks.” I turn around without looking and run smack dab into a brick wall. Or cinderblock? It’s hard to tell from the searing pain in my face, but I’d say the wall won. “Son of a—”
“Oh my God, Lucy, are you okay? You’re bleeding.”
“Mama, oh no!”
The last thing I remember is looking down at my bloody hands as everything fades to black.