Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Myla Jones put the lid on her favorite lip gloss and dropped it into her purse, then looked at herself in the mirror.
She was going on a date. A blind date of all things.
Just because her brother was getting married on Valentine’s Day and her future sister-in-law was giving her a hard time for not having a date for the wedding yet.
It was still December for goodness’ sake.
But there was a soft, aching sort of loneliness that was riding her heels like a wraith at Halloween. She didn’t have anyone special in her life. She didn’t even have anyone to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve. And that was in a week!
So she’d agreed to go on a blind date with a friend of a friend from work.
Even though she wasn’t big on surprises, and she knew next to nothing about the man she was meeting.
He had dark hair, ran marathons for fun, and worked at a bank.
She’d never run for fun in any way. She couldn’t think of anything less fun than running.
But maybe they’d hit it off and it would turn out to be the best thing she’d ever done.
So despite her actual desire to go home, turn on the electric fireplace in her little apartment, and read a good book, she was going on a date.
She leaned forward to get a better look at her face and wiped a smudge of gloss from her skin. Then she smoothed her hands down her dark jeans and adjusted the hem of her thick sweater.
Grabbing her purse, she headed out into the theater.
The owner of the small, family-run theater, Mr. P., was filling a bucket with popcorn for a patron.
“Have fun with Eddie,” he called. Eddie was the friend of a friend of Mr. P’s daughter, Joy, who was a few years older than Myla.
“Thanks!”
“See you after New Year’s, enjoy your time off, honey,” Mrs. P., wife of the owner, greeted her from the ticket booth.
“I will, see you in a week.”
Myla had never taken an entire week off work in her life. She’d always just taken long weekends or a few days in a row. But her bosses had gotten after her for having too much vacation time accumulated, so she’d agreed to the time off between Christmas and New Year’s.
She didn’t have any plans that didn’t involve reading or catching up on her favorite shows.
She wasn’t normally home in the evenings because she worked the afternoon into evening shift at the theater where she’d worked for the last four years.
She loved seeing movies whenever she had free time, plus all the popcorn she could eat.
And who didn’t like the little gummy orange slices with sugar on them?
Myla sure did.
Pausing at the glass doors, she buttoned up her coat and braced herself for the cold as she stepped out into the dark night and the chilly air hit her skin.
“Ha-holy crap,” she breathed, hurrying to her car.
She got behind the wheel and turned the car on, immediately pressing the button for the heated seat.
While she waited for her car to warm up, she opened her phone and put the address for the restaurant into the GPS.
She was supposed to meet Eddie at seven at one of those standard sporty restaurant bars that had good burgers and appetizers.
She’d texted with him the day before when he’d reached out to see if she wanted to meet up.
Once her car was warm enough that her teeth weren’t chattering anymore, she put the car in gear and headed toward the restaurant.
Now she was starting to get nervous.
It had been months since she’d been on a date. Suddenly, everything was feeling very real.
But what if this was the best thing she’d ever done in her life? What if meeting Eddie was part one of a new chapter, the catalyst for what she’d always wanted?
To find Mr. Right, get married, and start a family.
She wasn’t sure, and maybe she was just placing a lot on a blind date.
But who knew what the night would bring?
“So I grew up in a really traditional family,” Myla said, when the waitress had set drinks on the table and taken their orders. She paused in her thought as she watched Eddie lecherously ogle the waitress for long enough that she thought his eyes should have popped out of his head.
Ew.
She cleared her throat.
He slid his gaze back to her and leaned forward on the table. “What was that?”
“You asked about my family.”
“Did I?” He took a drink of a martini. She’d chosen iced tea.
They’d been sitting at the table for ten minutes, and he was already tossing up red flags. “Yes. Anyway.” She decided to change the subject. “Do you like working at the bank?”
“Really? That’s what you’re going to ask? You want to know how much money I make? Well, I make a great living, but I’m not looking for a trophy wife, okay? I expect my future wife to keep a job no matter how well off we are.”
She straightened in her seat as warning bells went off in her head.
“Wow. Okay.” She stared at him, thinking he might be the sort of guy to cause a scene if she called him out on his BS. He was not nearly good-looking enough to be such a jackass. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to use the bathroom.”
He wrinkled his nose and picked up his phone without a word.
She grabbed her bag and hustled to the hostess stand, out of view of Eddie. Handing over cash for her half of the dinner bill, she whispered, “I’m at the table with the waitress named Sasha. I’m ditching that asshole. Here’s my half of the bill and tip.”
“Oh, are you okay?” the woman whispered.
“I will be. I just need to get the heck out of here.”
“We won’t tell him where you went. Go, girl. Fly like the wind.”
She smiled gratefully and hurried from the restaurant, glad she hadn’t taken off her coat because it had been chilly inside. In her car, she turned it on and locked the doors, then texted her future sister-in-law, Alice.
He was SUCH a jerk! I paid my half of the bill and left after telling him I was going to the bathroom. I’m going home and never coming out until I have to go to work on the second.
What? I’m sorry, babe! I want all the details. Where are you?
Hometown Grill.
There’s a bar down the road from you that Milo and I like. My cousin Lou owns it—Crossroads.
And? Myla responded.
Go there, tell whoever is behind the bar that you’re a friend of Lou’s cousin, and I’ll be there with Milo in a jiff.
I just want to go home, I think.
Nah, you wanted a night out, you should have one! Don’t let your night go down in flames.
Alice was a sweetheart, but very persistent. Myla had a feeling if she didn’t say yes, that the girl would show up at her apartment. All right. I’ll see you there.
Woohoo!
Myla put Hometown Grill in the GPS, put the car in gear, and headed away from her disastrous blind date.
It wasn’t really her style to walk into a bar alone, so she waited in the parking lot for a little while, getting her nerve up. She was just going to go inside and tell the bartender about Alice, and then get something to drink. She could check this off her bucket list: go into bar alone.
If she had a bucket list, which she didn’t.
Climbing from the car, she shivered and stared at the bar’s front door. She could hear muffled music from inside, and see the pulsing lights in the windows with the logos for various beer companies.
Walking forward, she pulled open the door to step inside, when someone grabbed her arm and squeezed tightly.
“Hey, bitch, you think you can just ditch me like that?”
Eddie!