“I like to cross-stitch.”
He screwed up his face. “You mean the needlepoint stuff old ladies do?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s relaxing.” She had nothing to add. All this guy did was make faces at what she liked. “Tell me about you.”
“I’m newly single. I’ve been divorced for three months.”
“Kids?”
“No. That was part of the reason for divorce. I wanted kids and my ex didn’t.”
“Wasn’t that something you talked about before getting married?” She tried not to sound judgey, but how did he marry someone without knowing that?
“I thought we were on the same page.” He shook his head and Chloe felt bad for him.
“What do you do for fun?” she asked.
“I don’t have much time for fun. I’m still building my practice. I thought I’d be in a different place in my life. Divorce messed with my plan. I’m trying to get my life back on track.”
She leaned forward on the table. “What does that plan look like?”
“I want to meet someone who wants the same things I do—kids, a house, regular family vacations.”
“Sounds nice.” She tried not to sound sarcastic, but it wasn’t anything she was looking for. Not after Tim. She wished like hell she did. Life would be so much easier. He needed to find someone like her sister Erin. Too bad she’d been off the market for years.
“What’s your plan?”
“I don’t have one.”
“Surely you have some idea. Where do you see yourself in five years?”
She sat back and thought for a minute. She had no plans. “I’m playing it by ear for now.”
He stared at her.
This conversation suddenly made her feel like a total loser. She’d promised herself that she would never let a man make her feel that way again. He wasn’t worth her time. Taking a slow breath, she said, “Thanks for the coffee, Lance, but I should be getting back to work now.”
“Oh. Sure.” He stood. “How about dinner some time?”
She drained her cup. She wanted to say, “Hell no. I’m not what you’re looking for,” but there wasn’t enough whiskey in her coffee to loosen her tongue that much. Instead, she said, “Maybe. If our schedules line up. We both seem pretty busy, and we work opposite schedules.”
“Sounds like a plan. It was good seeing you.”
She nodded, picked up their cups, and dropped them off in the kitchen. Then she went to the office to finally start the paperwork she’d been trying to get to all night. Unfortunately, she couldn’t focus. Lance’s question dogged her. Where did she want to be in five years?
In the back of her head, she figured she’d be married with kids at some point. Like her sister Erin. Maybe. After three years with Tim, who was a master planner, who told her what her life should look like and where they were headed, she found too much planning made her skittish. Part of her missed having those kinds of long-term dreams and aspirations.
Right now? She had nothing. But she wasn’t even having all that much fun.
Maybe it was time to make some changes.