Love at First Date by Susan Hatler Read Free Book Online

him, secretly thrilled he’d saved a seat for me. Kenzie hid behind Henry’s legs, but peeked out to look at me. “Hi, Kenzie.”
    I reached my hand out slowly, but she ducked back under the chair. “It’s okay, girl.”
    “Don’t take it personally.” He nudged my knee with his own. “The only way she’ll come to my grandpa is if he has food in his hand.”
    Henry appeared exhausted again, but I jumped on the opportunity to learn more about him. “Do you visit your grandfather often?”
    “We pop by several times a week.” He ran his hand under Kenzie’s muzzle. “See what he and Gran are up to.”
    So sweet! My heart melted a little more. “You must be close.”
    He nodded. “As close as we can get, since they raised me.”
    The air felt heavy between us. “And your parents . . . ?”
    He continued rubbing Kenzie as he spoke, “They died in a car crash when I was six.”
    A chill ran through me. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    “Thanks.” His gaze flicked to mine, his dark eyes stormy with emotion. “Do your parents live nearby?”
    I’d gone from knowing nothing about Henry to discovering what was probably the biggest tragedy of his life. We’d sped from zero to sixty in under a minute and I didn’t know how to downshift, so I replied, “My mom lives about twenty minutes away in Land Park. My dad has been nonexistent since my college graduation. He wasn’t around much before that either.”
    My chest ached, as it did any time I talked about my dad. One of the many reasons why I rarely did.
    His gaze held mine, telling me that he understood the pain I felt. “You and your mom are close?”
    “Too close.” I laughed. “She’s constantly causing me to go over my cell phone minutes. Guess I need to up my plan. I’ll add that to my To Do list.”
    He winked at me. “Along with cleaning out your hairbrush.”
    I loved his teasing. “My purse is sacred. It’s the one place I allow chaos in my life.” I leaned my shoulder into his jokingly. “Besides, Chester took care of that for me already, remember?”
    “Yes.” His face grew serious. “I remember.”
    Although the room was crowded with chatter, everything fell silent as if the two of us were alone with a physical cord pulling us together. In a few sentences, it felt like we’d shared everything. The feeling overwhelmed me.
    “Evening, everyone!” Abby marched out in red velour sweats and her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders. “Great to see you all. Let’s hit the arena.”
    Although Abby’s cheery voice rang throughout the room, Henry kept his gaze on mine. “Ready?”
    It felt like a loaded question and I answered it honestly. “Not in the slightest.”
    ****
    After class ended, Henry and I chatted outside about the pups and what they were learning (Kenzie coming out of her shell; Chester, not a thing). I had to tear myself away since I, uh, had a real date I was supposed to be on in a few minutes.
    I rushed to drop Chester off so I wouldn’t be late meeting lookn4luv at the coffee shop. Geoff and I had emailed again a couple of times to clarify timing and how to recognize each other. Although I saw the red rose lying across a bistro table as agreed, the man sitting there wasn’t lookn4luv . It was a guy who could possibly be lookn4luv’s distant not-as-good-looking cousin, but why would he be here? Maybe Geoff couldn’t make it and sent his relative to tell me? Which would be pretty, you know, odd . . .
    I approached the table slowly. “Hello?”
    His head jerked up from his cell phone screen. “Wow! You’re even prettier in person, Ellen.”
    My brows drew together in confusion. “And you are, who?”
    “Geoff Bent.” He stood, shook my hand, then gestured for me to take a seat. “I know what you’re thinking, but let me explain. First, these are for you.”
    Keeping my purse on my shoulder, I dropped into the wooden bistro chair as the man claiming to be Geoff handed me a dozen red roses. “Thanks, uh,