reached for her hand and kissed it. “Let’s just get to know each other before we give last names or trade resumes.”
She caught her breath. “Sounds good to me.”
“Great. Now let’s go eat.” He led her down the street and they looked up at the moon and talked about the joys of spring versus the delightful crispness of fall. They discussed favorite books and places they longed to travel. Diana thought she might be in love even before they got to dinner, wherever that might be.
He stopped in front of a cart on the corner of the street, steam rolling off the grill and the delicious smell of cooking meat filling the air. “Welcome to my favorite hotdog cart in the whole city.”
Diana covered her mouth and laughed. “This is definitely an upgrade from whatever they’re serving back at the ball.”
They each ordered a footlong with everything, and sat on a bench to enjoy their feast. “I remember roasting hotdogs on the beach down on the Cape when I was a kid,” Diana said. “It’s not going to taste right without a few s’mores to follow it up.”
“I have yet to see a s’more cart downtown. But that would be an interesting venture,” Toby said. “Did you spend your summers on the Cape?”
She looked down, folding the paper hot dog holder into a neat square. “For a few summers we did.” Until her father had left. Once the divorce finally went through, her father sold the house. “Now whenever I see a bonfire on the beach, I stay away, saying the smoke bothers me. But it’s really so no one will see me crying. The happiest days of my childhood were spent down there, before the divorce.” She looked up at him. “That’s getting too personal for tonight, I suppose.”
“No, it’s not. I imagine we’ve all been banged up a bit by this point in our lives. And I’m sorry you have, too. Tell you what. We’ll go up to Maine this summer instead, and roast hotdogs and s’mores. The Cape’s too crowded, anyway.”
“Like I needed more reasons to fall for you,” Diana said.
Toby stared at her. “So you’re feeling the same thing, too?”
“Sometimes, if she’s very lucky, a girl knows what she wants.” Damn, if she were one of her clients she would’ve told herself to slow down. Way down.
He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and brushed his lips across her forehead. “Why haven’t I met you sooner?” He took her hand, and then stood up. “Come. Let’s walk. I need to know more about you. Were you more of a shell collector or sand castle builder at the beach?”
“Both. I collected shells to decorate my castles.”
He laughed, and squeezed her hand. “We only went to the Cape a few times. We certainly didn’t have a house there.”
“I bet we would’ve had fun playing together as kids,” she said, leaning into him.
“Or maybe I would’ve been awful to you, to hide what I’m sure would’ve been a secret crush. I probably would’ve thrown sand at you and kicked over your castles.”
“I would’ve seen right through it. I had good instincts even when I was a kid.”
He laughed, and tightened his grip on her hand. They strolled the streets and talked for hours, then stopped for coffee and talked some more.
***
Toby couldn’t sleep when he got home, even though it was three in the morning. It was thrilling to have connected with such a beautiful woman without knowing the most basic things about her. What did she do for a living? Had she ever been married? All he knew was he had to see her again.
After two more dates without revealing their most basic background information, Toby decided it was time to lay everything on the table. “Let me make you dinner,” he said over the phone. “It’s time we talked.”
“So, you’re ready for that?” Diana asked, her husky voice over the phone stirring something inside him. “Sounds like a good idea if we’re going to move forward.”
“We are going to move forward. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
Diana gave him her address and made plans to meet him in the lobby.
How had he wasted so much time with so many wrong women? He closed his eyes, smiling. She’s the one. I know it.
***
I can’t get into a serious relationship right now, she said to herself. Research for the book had to come first. Hard to do when she’s dating a great guy while her task was