Page 61 of Good Time Boyfriend
“Or more. I like that we don’t keep count anymore.”
“Thank God, because I have enough in my head right now with work and family that I don’t really want to remember an exact number.”
But we were on date fourteen. Not that I was going to say that out loud.
“Plus, we wanted a place that was not based around alcohol, since you own a bar, and not a place that Paisley owned part of because she seems to be taking over the world. It sort of narrowed it down.”
“The whole city of Denver, and here we are.”
He winked as he said it.
We had been busy lately, me with three different PR nightmares, and him with an inspection and inventory. He had also had three different events at his bar, so we barely had time to see each other.
I had spoken to my family every day since our dinner, but things still felt awkward. I had hurt them. I knew I had, and while they had also hurt me, I was the one who’d lied. They just pushed. And I hoped we had found a way to get through it.
We finished our bowls-turned-pots-turned-vases and set them off to the side so they could go into the kiln. We were allowed to come back to another class to glaze them, or just pick them up as is. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see my creation again. It had been a fun date, but it wasn’t great.
Heath just kept laughing and I pushed at his shoulder. “Yours looks like a beautiful even bowl. Mine has a hole in it.”
“It was a handle.”
“At the bottom?” I asked, and he just kept laughing. “You’re mean.”
“I can’t help it. This was your idea.”
“So, I guess we’ll never be one of those couples that gets a pottery wheel in the garage?”
“We can always reenact that scene from that old movie,Ghost.”
“I’ve never seen that movie, but I have seen that scene.”
“Yeah, we could try that. Though maybe it might be a little too obscene for us.”
He took my hand as we walked through the park towards his truck. It was a lovely night, people out enjoying dinner, children playing in the fields and at the park. And there were a bunch of college guys playing soccer in one of the far-off fields. Most weren’t even wearing shoes, they were just laughing and enjoying themselves. When the ball suddenly flew at my face, Heath moved quickly. I didn’t even have time to panic before he jumped in front of it and used his shoulder to knock it down.
“Sorry about that. Got away from me. Are you okay?” one of the guys asked as he pushed his beachy waves back from his face.
“I’m good. You?” Heath asked, and I nodded, touching my sandal to the ball.
“I’m really okay. I’m glad that Heath was so quick.”
“Me too. And glad that it didn’t go towards those kids. Sorry, again.” The guy blushed, and Heath cleared his throat.
“No problem.”
“You want to join us?” another guy asked, but he wasn’t looking at Heath. No, he was looking at me. I frowned as Heath narrowed his gaze, but then I kicked the ball.
“It’s been a while since I played soccer. But I can try.”
“Okay, now I want to see what those legs can do,” Heath said. I took off my sandals and, even though I was wearing a sundress, I figured I could play for a few minutes. Heath was wearing nicer black shoes so he kicked them off as well, and we were off.
We ended up on different teams, with Heath as the midfielder, me as a forward. Soon I was running across the field, kicking the ball towards the net. I missed the first time, but then we were laughing and I was jumping over a fallen teammate to try for another goal. It slid between the posts and everybody cheered. Heath picked me up and twirled me around.
“That was beautiful.”
“Wow, that’s some skill,” one of the women on my team said.
She held out her hand and we high-fived before she pulled me in for a quick hug, then went off to go kiss her boyfriend—who happened to be the goalie I just scored on.
