of old to have younger cousins scaring your dates, aren’t you? I mean, that’s something for teenagers.” He gave a humorless laugh, playing it off as a joke, clearly having no idea how deeply those words stung. He dropped his napkin on his plate before blowing out a breath. “Are they going to be waiting outside with a shotgun, too?”
I could hear the tremor in his voice. I could see the unease written plainly on his face. They’d shaken him, he clearly wasn’t used to it, and he was trying to make light of it.
“Honestly, I’m really sorry. I’d asked my friend—my female friend—to drop off my bag. They’re just acting up, honest. They’re young and dumb and bored.”
“That’s fine, but the creepy dude in the window—”
“You aren’t going to believe this, but…he’s a butler. He basically came with the house.”
Ron’s look was fixed and unflinching. The blinking was his tell—I should’ve gone with Mr. Tom being my uncle. But honestly, if he ever visited Ivy House, he’d know the term uncle didn’t line up.
“He was like a caretaker for the old place, and I felt bad firing him,” I added quickly as Ron made a sign for the check.
“Oh, gotcha. And…he…hangs out with your cousins, or…?”
Crap. “He probably just wanted to make sure they handed over my clutch.”
“Ah.” He nodded, reaching for the check when it came.
“Oh, here.” I smiled as I held up the clutch. “Just in time, huh?”
“I got it.” He slipped his card into the leather folder and pushed the whole lot to the edge of the table. “I don’t want your cousins to break my legs or something.” His smile was strained.
I couldn’t think of any other way to apologize or explain, and even if I did, it seemed like he wasn’t going to come back from whatever he was feeling. If he couldn’t handle the new guys, how would he ever handle Austin?
“So…been online dating long?” I asked, leaning back in my chair, knowing when to throw in the towel.
“Not very seriously. I got out of a long relationship last year, and…” He shrugged. “Where do you start again, you know?”
“I do know. I’m recently divorced after twenty years. I’m in a new town, in a new house—a creepy one for funsies…” He laughed. “I didn’t know where to start, either. Online dating seemed like the logical place.”
“Except it is a minefield of crazy.”
“Yes!” I put out my hands to him as the waitress whisked the bill away. “You’re only my second date. The first guy… Well, that was a disaster. He set up a profile from yesteryear, and surprise! Basically a different guy.”
Ron laughed. “I’ve had a few of those. Or women who say they are athletic and outdoorsy, so you make a date to hike only to realize they have an ailment they didn’t tell you about, and suddenly your fun date is not possible. So you scramble.”
“But why didn’t she tell you that hiking was a no?”
“I do not know.” He laughed as the bill came back and he left the tip. “Shall we?”
“I had him meet me at the bar,” I said as I got up. “Apparently that made me suspect.”
“Oh, the one downtown?” He stood up too but waited for me to go first.
“No, the one up the way? The Paddy Wagon?”
“Oh wow, you chose that one for a first date?” He shook his head and stalled at the front. When I gave him a confused frown, he gestured to the coat rack. “Don’t you have something to wrap up in?”
“Oh. No. I was in such a hurry to leave the house after my cousins showed up that I literally forgot everything. It’s fine, I’m not bothered by the cold.”
He followed me outside, disbelief clear on his face. “We can just wait inside for them to bring you a sweatshirt if you want? I’m prepared this time. I’ll handle the intense scowls.”
“No, honestly, it’s fine. Seriously.” I pushed through the door, immediately wrapping my magic around myself. “What were you saying about the bar up the way?”
“Oh, just that—you have to be freezing! Here.” He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.
“No, really, it’s…” I sighed and let him finish. He was being a gentleman and wouldn’t understand why I didn’t need it. “Thanks.”
“That’s a really rough-and-tumble bar,” he said. “I’d be nervous if that’s where someone wanted to meet.”
“Oh no, it’s fine. My neighbor—the rock-throwing old lady?” He smiled at me. “She brought me