Second Time Around

Chapter Three

Saturday mornings were usually spent running errands, and getting to all the things she couldn't get to during the week and this Saturday was no different. By noon, Kelly had been to the dry cleaners, the bank, the post office, Modell's, and up to the mall to shop for Alyssa's birthday. By three, she'd cleaned the house from top to bottom, including floors. By six, she was in the shower and by seven,  she was dressed in a pair of black linen pants and a white summer weight sweater as she paced the living room trying hard to not pace at all.

She couldn't help it. The last few months had been one dud date after another and if this one turned out to be a dud as well, she was thinking maybe it was time to accept defeat.

Only, if Tony Marino turned out to be a dud, she had the feeling she'd be more crushed than usual. After all, how often did one's fantasies ever come true? When she was sixteen, she spent many a gym class looking over at him and just letting her mind wander. Of course, back then, he was perfect. They would be perfect. Life would be perfect.

But she wasn't that same dreamy-eyed sixteen year old, either, so although she was getting a chance to live out what she'd often wished she could do, she knew that there was a chance this could go nowhere as well.

At seven-fifteen, headlights shone through the front windows and her heart practically jumped into her throat at the crunch of tires on the crumbling driveway. Her pulse thundered through her head as she darted into the kitchen, then rolled her eyes at her idiocy. "Like he's going to know you were sitting at the window, you dipshit."

Then the doorbell rang and she dragged in a deep breath, brushed her hair away from her face, and forced herself to cross to the front door and pull it open.

Tony smiled. "Hi. I'm sorry I'm late. I hit traffic on Eighteen."

"When isn't there traffic on Eighteen?" She held open the door. "Come on in."

As he passed by, she caught a hint of his cologne and breathed deep. Bulgari Aqua was one of her favorite scents. So far, the night was already a success. As the door banged shut behind her, she took in his Levi's and black button down and said, "You never said where exactly we were going, so I hope I'm not over- or underdressed."

"You look fine." He gave her a long up and down perusal. "Actually, you look great. I thought we'd go to The Thai House, if that's all right."

"It's fine. I like their food." She picked up her purse and took her jacket down from the closet. Over the last forty-eight hours, the humidity dissipated and fall finally arrived.

His hand came to rest at the small of her back. "Shall we, then?"

They walked out to the gleaming black Durango and Tony came around to open the passenger door for her. "It's a good thing I got the running boards, or else I'd have to pick you up and set you on the seat."

"It would be like when I had to do that Presidential Physical Fitness nonsense you guys made us do," she said as he circled around and climbed into the driver's seat. "Pull ups. You've got to be kidding me."

He grinned at her. "If I remember, I had to help you."

She pressed her lips together, her cheeks growing warm at the memory. "That's right, you did. And it's a good thing, otherwise we might still be there."

He laughed, slipping the key into the ignition and twisted it. "It's a good thing no one saw, or else I'd have probably lost my job. We were told in no unspecific terms that touching the girls was a huge no-no."

"Then they shouldn't have made us do those. I mean, I can do them now, but back then? You had to be kidding."

He twisted in his seat to peer through the rear window as he backed down the driveway. "The only girls who could do them were the softball pitchers and field hockey players. Not exactly the girliest girls out there." He glanced over at her as he shifted into drive. "You were one of the girlier girls."