Chapter Two

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"Hey there, stranger

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"Hey there, stranger." I wave to Daniel as he crosses the bridge. He shoves one hand into his front pocket and trails his eyes down the length of my body. I drop my head forward to hide behind my hair. Daniel hands me a white rose and twirls the stem between his fingers.

I take the rose and inhale the scent and smile.

"Thanks for the rose."

"You look amazing, Ellie." He gasps.

"In this old thing? Thanks." I chuckle, swaying from side to side.

I wanted to wear denim jeans and I nice t-shirt but my mother convinced me to crack out my pre-pregnancy clothing which includes very tight dresses which shows off my shapely figure. She was probably right about the dress.

"Amazing doesn't cover how beautiful you look. You're taking my breath away."

I hold the rose up to my nose again, but it doesn't hide the bright smile.

"Honestly, I haven't stopped thinking about you since we met." He shoves his other hand in his pocket and rocks back onto his heel.

"I'm surprised you're still interested after I had to bail on our other date."

Daniel shrugs with a carefree smile.

"You said your schedule was busy and you have your son, so I understand things don't always work out. If you kept bailing, then I would be worried."

"Thanks for your patience and understanding."

"Turns out tonight is better because there's a dumpling special, so I hope you're hungry."

"Dumpling special? Oh." I perk up at the thought of that. "Pre-warning, then, you may need to roll me home with the amount of food I'm about to consume."

He laughs, and the butterflies set in.

"I think it's this way." He points to his right and I follow his lead. As we walk down the street, I tug on the fabric and attempt to etch it down, but it slides up to the top of my thighs. Daniel's shoulder brushes against mine and I look up into his blue eyes.

"You're so beautiful." He gushes. "I can't believe you're on a date with me."

"You're not so bad looking yourself." I wink.

His walking strides are longer than mine, so it's a struggle to keep up in my wedges and control this dress. The look on his face was worth it, though.

"Tell me more about your family. You mentioned you have two older brothers?"

"There's Harvey and Henry, and we're all two years apart. I was supposed to be called Hunter, but my dad's grandfather passed and he really wanted to name me after him, thus ruining the letter H streak. I think my mother is still mad about it."

"Craig and I could not agree on Noah's name. He almost came home from the hospital with no name, but we managed to decide on Noah. I hated every name he suggested and Noah was the first one he liked."

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