Reunited at The Altar

‘Exactly my point,’ she said. ‘I might have got the job originally because I’m the boss’s daughter, but I worked my way up from the ground floor. And I don’t expect my staff to do anything I haven’t either done myself or am prepared to do.’

‘You didn’t get the job because you’re the boss’s daughter,’ he said. ‘You worked your way up in Cambridge. You already knew how to run a team and how to organise your stock. You got the job because you earned it.’

She had earned it. She’d thrown herself into work, put in crazy hours, to stop herself thinking of Brad after they’d split up.

And now they were dating again. Ten days of speed-dating to see if there was still something between them and if they could make a go of things second time round.

Did she need her head examined? Was this going to be a huge mistake? Had they both changed enough for this to work, or had they changed so much that they’d be even further apart?

Suddenly flustered, she said, ‘Well, this café isn’t going to clean itself,’ and busied herself cleaning tables. Between them they finished cleaning the café so it was ready for the morning; and while they were working the rain grew heavier.

‘I think our beach walk might’ve been rained off,’ he said ruefully as rain lashed against the plate-glass windows.

‘Just a tad,’ she said with a smile. ‘Thanks for helping.’

‘No problem.’ He tipped his head on one side, and her heart felt as if it had done a little flip. ‘Cinema or ten-pin bowling?’

‘Toss a coin?’ she suggested.

‘Heads, cinema; tails, bowling. That OK with you?’ At her nod, he took a coin from his pocket and tossed it. ‘Ten-pin bowling it is. Where are you parked?’

‘Outside my house,’ she said. ‘I walk in when the weather’s good—which it was, this morning.’

‘That makes things easier. I’m parked right outside,’ he said.

She locked up, and they walked hand in hand to his car.

‘So I guess this is our first official date?’ she asked, once they were sitting in his car.

‘It is. Which means I have to be gentlemanly and let you win at bowling.’

She loved the way his eyes crinkled at the corners and scoffed. ‘Bring it on.’

‘So you’re telling me you don’t need the bumper bars up at the sides any more when you play?’ he teased.

‘I’ll have you know zig-zagging the ball is a perfectly valid form of bowling,’ she said.

He laughed. ‘In your dreams.’

He drove them to the out-of-town complex which housed the bowling alley, cinema and half a dozen restaurants. ‘Actually, I haven’t done this for quite a while,’ he said.

‘Getting your excuses in early for when you lose?’ she teased.

‘Just saying.’ He smiled. ‘Have you already eaten, or shall we grab something to eat first?’

‘Dinner sounds good,’ she said. ‘So I’ll buy dinner and you can pay for the bowling.’

‘Strictly speaking,’ he said, ‘the dating was my idea so it all ought to be my bill.’

‘Strictly speaking,’ she countered, ‘we made that list together, so we’re going halves. No arguments. So I’m buying dinner and you’re paying for the bowling, and I might let you buy me a beer at the bowling alley if you’re good.’

* * *

Brad really liked the woman Abby had become. Funny, smart and confident. In the old days, she would’ve simply gone along with his suggestions. Now, she had the confidence to say what she wanted. ‘OK. Halves, it is.’

They went to one of the fast-food places and ordered a sharing platter of grilled chicken, sweet potato wedges, garlic bread and avocado salad. And every time his fingers accidentally touched hers as they reached for garlic bread or sweet potato wedges at the same time, every nerve-end in his body tingled. Anyone would think he was seventeen again, not twenty-seven. Though at least nowadays he was more articulate than he’d been as a nerdy teen.

‘Thank you for dinner,’ he said when she insisted on picking up the bill.

‘My pleasure.’