The Dragon's Fate - Roxie Ray Page 0,27
new and different and so much better than it had ever been with Damon.
I didn’t want to put too much thought into it or create too much pressure on myself, but if nothing else, I was enjoying myself.
That night, he texted and asked for my address. I gave it to him, and he confirmed that seven would be good for the following evening.
Then it hit me that I really had a date. Terror rushed through my veins.
What the hell was I supposed to do on a date?
Friday at work was torture. Not only because I was nervous, but because the kids all knew I had a date, and they didn’t let me forget it for a freaking moment.
But I hadn’t dated since I was a teenager. Not one time had I accepted a date since the divorce. I wasn’t totally sure why I’d accepted one this time either, except that Jace made me feel things for some reason.
All up in my feels.
I’d gone over the clothes in my closet at home a million times, texted my parents to make sure they were okay with Hayden hanging out. She was almost seven years old and spent more time playing with her toys. It wasn’t like she was a huge inconvenience. But I didn’t want to keep them from doing things they wanted to, either.
They were fine with it, and I had a bad feeling they were going to give me a hard time.
When I was finally able to dismiss the kids and wish them a happy spring break, most of them shot back with some sort of good wishes about my date. “Yeah, yeah, get out of here.”
Hurrying, I gathered my materials to get ahead on lesson plans over the break and hit the road. I’d prepped all day to have my things ready to go so I could slip down and get Hayden and get off campus as quickly as possible.
She chattered all the way to my parents’ house, excited about her break. We’d lined up several playdates with her friends, mostly Tori since I trusted Lisa to take care of her.
I tried to drop her and run, but my parents came outside. Damn it. “Have a good time, sweetie. Let loose a little.”
Dad glared at Mom before turning back to me. “Don’t let loose. Nobody needs to be loose. Who would buy the cow when the milk comes free?”
I opened my mouth to tell Dad to stop it with the antiquated expressions, but Mom spoke first. “You bought the cow.” She stared at him with raised eyebrows.
I gagged. “Bye!”
Dad laughed. “Have a good time. You deserve it.”
Now. To go get dressed first or nails first? I had plenty of time before he picked me up, since I’d hurried so much. A good three hours.
Nails first. When I got to the nail salon, I saw they were running a triple threat special. Facial, mani, pedi. “Excuse me,” I asked the woman behind the front counter. “How long does the triple threat take?”
“About an hour unless you want some intricate art on your nails.” She popped her gum and waved her fingers at me, showing the detailed flowers painted on her exceptionally long nails.
“Oh, I’m not fancy like that,” I said with a chuckle.
She blushed and took it as a compliment, but in my mind, I’d meant I wasn’t that high maintenance. I wouldn’t want her to think that I considered it a bad thing, so I smiled at her.
“Shouldn’t be more than an hour then.”
What the hell. “Let’s do it.”
With another crack of her gum, she hopped off of her stool and led the way. In no time I had a hot towel on my face, my feet soaked in hot water, and another lady with enormous hair was rubbing lotion all over my hands and arms.
“Hot date?” she asked.
I grinned under the towel. “Actually, yes.”
“Well, you’re gorgeous. We’ll make sure your nails match your face.”
What a nice compliment. I settled in and imagined the date as the aesthetician rattled on about her favorite dates. Once again, I went over my outfit choices and finally settled on one.
The next problem was my underwear. Good underwear or comfortable? I wasn’t planning on having him see it. I probably should go for comfy. But what if things progressed? I wasn’t totally against sex on the first date. Carpe diem and all that.
I was glad I’d picked out my outfit in my head so that my nail color matched. I had a peach