Chapter 2 #4
He got there before she did and took a seat inside, listening to the kids playing in the indoor playground.
It was a pleasant surprise to see her step out of her pickup truck—she was wearing boot cut jeans and a pair of beautiful snip-toe western boots!
Better yet, she wasn’t heavy, but she was curvy in all the right places, and Kyle was a little excited about the prospect of getting to know her better, among other things.
And when she walked into the eatery and smiled at him, he felt his heart jump just a little.
That was one beautiful smile on one very, very beautiful woman.
“Hey, Kyle?” she asked, and he nodded and stood. “I’m Amy! Nice to meet you!” she said, holding out a hand.
“Nice to meet you too! Want anything? I think I’m going to get myself a milkshake,” he told her.
“Yes! I’ll take a chocolate one. Here,” she said, rummaging through her purse.
Kyle stopped her. “No. My treat. What size?”
“Large,” she said, grinning at him. “A girl can’t have too much chocolate!”
Kyle laughed. “I don’t think anybody can have too much chocolate, can they?”
“Not unless they’re under twelve and it’s time to go to bed!” she said, laughing.
As he stood there in line, he thought about her and realized he liked her already.
She seemed friendly and nice, and she had kind eyes.
Hopefully a crazy ex-boyfriend wasn’t attached to her hip.
When he came back to the table, he handed her the milkshake, then sat down across from her.
“So was it hard for you to get here today? I mean, work and all?”
“No. I have every other weekend off, so it’s not bad,” she said, unwrapping her straw. “And this was my weekend!”
“You work at the library?”
She nodded. “Yep. I have for fourteen years now. Actually, I worked as a volunteer there when I was in high school, and I went to college and got my degree in library sciences.”
“That’s cool! I love to read. Of course, it’s hard to get any reading done when I’m busy with my daughter,” Kyle told her after a deep draw on his straw.
“Oh, don’t I know it! My son takes up most of my time, but I guess I’m lucky because if I’m at work, I’m expected to read. I read a lot of the books that come into the library for the children’s department. You know, to make sure they’re appropriate and that sort of thing.”
Kyle chuckled. “Is that a problem?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You’d be surprised.
I’ve gotten a few in that were award winners and reviewers had raved about them, but when I checked them over I found out they had very, very inappropriate content in them.
Inappropriate for children, I mean. They’d be fine for an older teenager or a college-aged person, but not small children. ”
“Really?” Kyle was surprised at that. He’d just assumed they’d order books from that age level and it would all be okay.
“Oh, yeah. Huge problem. I actually got hold of one last week where a slave owner raping a slave was written about in graphic detail. We can’t have a twelve-year-old kid getting hold of that,” she said, shaking her head.
“They need to know that slaves were treated badly, but the details are for when they’re older. ”
“Absolutely! If my daughter came home with something like that, I’d be furious,” Kyle told her, and he meant it. He couldn’t imagine having to explain sexual assault to a six-year-old. It was bad enough to have to teach her about “good” and “bad” touches without the complication of details.
“Nope. So I’m the gatekeeper. As a result, I raise a thirteen-year-old and wind up reading nothing but children’s books. It’s nice to have an adult to talk to. Most of the time my brain’s like oatmeal mush,” she said and giggled.
God, that was a sweet sound! Kyle hadn’t heard a woman giggle that way since before Becky had died. It filled him with a warmth he’d forgotten and made him smile. He was afraid he’d kill it with his next round of questions, but he had to ask. “So, your profile said you’re divorced. Is that right?”
“Yeah, but we’re still really good friends. We’ve got a child to raise together, so we decided early on that there’d be no fighting, no screaming, no name calling, and no blaming the other. We don’t want Taylor to have to hear that,” she said, then took another suck on her straw.
“Don’t blame you there. Does he live around here?”
“Yep. Right down the road. He works for the highway department.”
“And do you mind me asking why you divorced?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. We’d been high school sweethearts.
About three years ago, we realized we liked each other, but we weren’t in love.
I think we’d been together all those years because it was comfortable, you know?
And that’s not the same thing as being in love.
I love him as a friend and the father of my son, but not as, you know, a lover kind of love. ”
“I hear ya,” Kyle said, thinking about the things she’d told him, and he understood exactly what she was saying.
“Would you look at that?” she said and laughed.
“Speak of the devil!” A county road department dump truck had pulled up outside, and a big guy with a full beard climbed down out of it.
When he stepped through the door, she waved at him and he headed toward the table.
Please, god, don’t let me get my ass kicked, Kyle’s mind whispered.
“Hey, girl! What are you up to?” the guy asked, laughing, and he hugged her when he reached their table where she’d stood to greet him.
“I’m meeting a new friend! Kyle, this is Andrew, my ex. Andrew, this is Kyle. He farms outside Madisonville.”
The big man stuck out a bear paw, so Kyle stood and took his hand. “Pleasure meeting you,” he said, hoping his voice wasn’t shaky.
“Same here! Watch her. She’s a charmer!” Andrew said, laughing. “Hey, what time is Taylor’s game Saturday?”
“I can’t remember, but it’s on the calendar at home. Call me tonight and I’ll tell you,” she said, smiling. “And I’ll have to work next weekend, so could you take him?”
“Sure! Not a problem. You know I love going to his games.” Andrew gave them both a big smile. “Well, I guess I’d better get some lunch. I’m on the clock and they’ll be looking for me. Good to meet you, Kyle,” he said and slapped Kyle on the shoulder. “I’ll call you tonight, girl.”
“I’ll be there! Later,” Amy said and sat back down. As they watched Andrew amble toward the counter, Amy told Kyle, “He’s a sweetheart.”
“Seems like a very nice guy,” Kyle said, staring at his back.
Amy grinned. “Yeah. People are afraid of him, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He’s got a new girlfriend, Amber, and I think they’ll wind up married. She’s been awesome with Taylor.”
Okay, this is sounding better all the time, Kyle thought. I may have finally stumbled onto something good here. “That’s really great. It’s good that the two of you can get along that well.”
“It really is. Too many divorced couples fight and hurt their kids.”
“It’s a shame you couldn’t make it work.”
Amy sighed. “We didn’t really know what love was.
After Taylor was born, it seemed like we just kinda drifted apart and we didn’t know how to get back to where we’d been.
Then we tried counseling and we found out we couldn’t go back because we’d never been there to start with.
We realized we’d be better off to just part as friends. ”
“That’s a very mature way to look at it.” Kyle couldn’t believe how well the whole thing was going. “Would you consider having dinner with me?”
“Sure!” Amy’s smile was huge, and Kyle felt his heartbeat pick up. “Where and when?”
“Tomorrow night? Maybe in Clarksville? That’s a little closer for me and not too far from you,” he answered, his fingers crossed.
“Sounds perfect! Let me pick the place. Um, there’s a little café in the parking lot of the home improvement center. Want to go there?” Her eyes twinkled as she asked, and he loved that.
“Sure! Seven?”
“Seven it is.” He stood and reached for her hand, and when she took his, he felt warm all over. “Thank you,” she whispered as he helped her up.
“You’re welcome.” Her boots made the slightest little clicking sound as they made their way to the door, and Kyle loved it.
Everything about their meeting was going great.
When they reached her car, he held the door as she got in.
Powering the window down, she smiled up at him. “See you tomorrow night.”
“You bet. Drive safely,” he said and patted the roof of her car just hard enough that he knew she could hear it, then stepped back and watched as her car rolled out of the parking lot.
A date the next evening. Kyle couldn’t wait.