“Yeah. Me.” She studied his face for a reaction, her lips upturned in a teasing grin.
“Maybe I forgot,” he said, responding with the faintest of smiles.
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m shy?”
“Try again.”
He shook his head. “I’m out of suggestions.”
She winked at him. “I’ll give you a chance to think about it and maybe come up with something. Then we can talk about it again later.”
“Fair enough. When?”
She wrapped her hands around her glass, feeling strangely nervous at what she was about to say next. “Are you free on Saturday night?”
If he was surprised by the question, she couldn’t tell.
“Saturday night it is.” He lifted his glass of iced tea and took a long drink, never taking his eyes off her.
Neither one noticed Ben walk back to the table.
“Did you order the pizza yet?”
Lying in bed that night, Beth stared at the ceiling and asked herself, What on earth was I thinking?
There were so many reasons to avoid what she had done. She didn’t really know much about him or his past. He was still hiding the reason he’d come to Hampton, which meant not only that he didn’t trust her, but that she didn’t completely trust him either. Not only that, but he worked at the kennel—for Nana and within sight of her home. What would happen if it didn’t work out? What if he had . . . expectations she wasn’t willing to meet? Would he show up on Monday? Would Nana be on her own? Would she have to quit her job as a teacher and go back to helping Nana with the kennel?
There were lots of potential problems with all of this, and the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced she had made a terrible mistake. And yet . . . she was tired of being alone. She loved Ben and she loved Nana, but spending time with Logan over the past few days had reminded her of what she was missing. She liked the walks they took after dinner, she liked the way he looked at her, and she especially liked the way he was with Ben.
Moreover, she found it ridiculously easy to imagine a life with Logan. She knew she hadn’t really known him long enough to make that kind of judgment, but she couldn’t deny her intuition.
Could he be the One?
She wouldn’t go that far. They hadn’t even been on a date yet. It was easy to idealize someone you barely knew.
Sitting up, she plumped her pillow a few times and then lay back down. Well, they’d go out once and see what happened next. She had hopes, she couldn’t deny that, but that’s where it ended. She liked him but certainly didn’t love him. Not yet, anyway.
16
Thibault
On Saturday evening Thibault waited on the couch, wondering if he was doing the right thing.
In another place and time, he wouldn’t have thought twice about it. He was attracted to Elizabeth, certainly. He liked her openness and intelligence, and together with her playful sense of humor, and of course her looks, he couldn’t imagine how she’d remained single as long as she had.
But it wasn’t another place and time, and nothing was normal about any of this. He’d carried her picture for more than five years. He’d searched the country for her. He’d come to Hampton and taken a job that kept him close to her. He’d befriended her grandmother, her son, and then her. Now, they were minutes away from their first date.
He’d come for a reason. He’d accepted that as soon as he’d left Colorado. He’d accepted that Victor had been right. He still wasn’t sure, however, that meeting her—becoming close to her—was it. Nor was he sure that it wasn’t.
The only thing he knew for sure was that he’d been looking forward to their evening together. The day before, he’d thought about it consistently on the drive to pick up Nana. For the first half hour on the way back to Hampton, Nana had chattered on about everything from politics to her sister’s health before turning toward him with a knowing smirk.
“So you’re going to go out with the boss’s granddaughter, huh?”
Thibault shifted on the seat. “She told you.”
“Of course she told me. But even if she hadn’t, I knew it was coming. Two young, attractive, and lonely single people? I knew it would happen as soon as I hired you.”
Thibault said nothing, and when Nana spoke again, her voice was tinged