Page 95 of Never Alone

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She laughed. She closed the menu.

"Shrimp pasta."

The waitress came back. We ordered. She filled our water glasses, her wine, my beer, and went away.

Tessa took a sip of her wine. She set it down. She looked at me across the candle.

"So," she said. "Is this your first date?"

"What?"

"Am I the first woman you took out on a date?"

"Don't make it weird."

"Come on, just humor me."

"You can call it a date if you want."

"Is it a date?"

"Do you want it to be one?"

She looked away and smiled.

Even in the candlelight, I could see her turn red.

"You know what," she said. "Because you've never been on one, I'll be charitable and call this a date."

I laughed.

"Fine."

"So. Since you've never been on a date, I'll take the lead."

"Take the lead?"

"Yeah, because you wouldn't know how these things usually go."

"Fine then. Enlighten me, how do these things usually go?"

"So when you're on a date, people usually ask questions to get to know the other person. Are you comfortable answering personal questions?"

I shrugged again. "Depends on what you ask."

"Can I ask what made you choose to become a firefighter?"

I took a sip of water.

"I almost enlisted."

Her eyebrows went up.

"Military?"

"Yeah."

"That explains the model figures."

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