“I won’t be needing this,” she said, swinging her sweater over her shoulder.
The sun was still warming the air, and blooms were spilling out of the flower baskets that decorated the shops and restaurants on Main. Summer looked good on Cedar Falls, and the walk helped her transition from the workday to her evening, as it had in Central Park.
All the polling, voter preferences, and the demands of Kitty moved to the back burner for a few hours.
It was Danny time.
Chapter 46
Want to share a dessert?” Danny looked over the Barley and Bone menu. The upscale farm-to-table restaurant had a long list of homemade treats.
“Sure. What are you thinking?” Dot leaned in to look at their options. Her meal of wood-roasted cod, field greens, and fresh green beans had been delicious. She’d left room for the sweet course, having checked out their website earlier in the week in anticipation of their date.
“I’m torn between the citrus olive oil cake or the chocolate espresso tart,” Danny said.
“Wow. Tough choice.”
Dot took her time deciding. It was cherry season, and she narrowed her choices down to three: the chocolate pot de crème with cherry compote, the Door County cherry cheesecake with a gingersnap crust, and the cherry Danish kringle, which had to be good.
“I’d usually go for chocolate,” she said.
“Noted for the future.”
“There’s a future?”
“If you play your cards right with this decision.”
“Then I’ll place my bets on... the cherry cheesecake this time around,” she said.
“And we have a winner.” Danny signaled to their server and ordered.
“Excellent choice. I’ll bring two forks.” The waiter took the dessert menus with him as he turned on his heel, gracefully balancing a tray of cocktails for another table.
“I love getting complimented by a waiter.” Dot refolded her napkin over her lap.
“I like learning these things about you,” he said.
“You do?”
“I do. Tell me more.”
“Oh. Okay.” She thought for a minute. What was worth telling him? “Well. I mentioned I have a younger sister. Anne. She’s in Colorado working as a hiking and skiing guide. She’s incredibly good at skiing and prefers powder to ice. She couldn’t wait to get out of New England. Anne’s the family favorite, and I’m not even mad about it.”
“She sounds great. I’d love to meet her one day. What else?”
“Well, I think you know I like to read. Fiction, mostly. I consume so much news during the day for work that I like an escape at night.”
“My mom was a reader. She loved historical fiction.”
“That’s one of my favorite genres. I love reading about Tudor England.”
“Who’s he?” he said. “Kidding. I know the time frame. Henry the Eighth. Had a lot of wives. Unfortunate end for most of them.”
She liked how he made her laugh so easily.
“I should read more,” he said. “It’s just that after the long days working on houses, I keep falling asleep when I read at night. Without fail, I’ll read the paragraph I left off on the night before, a new paragraph, and start another before I find my eyes closing. Then the next night I do it again. It takes me ages to get through a book.”
“Ever tried listening to a book? I love it. It’s like story time.”