We're seated on the patio overlooking the water. It's not an ocean view or even a Great Lakes view, but there's something soothing about being around a large body of water. A long dead instinct perhaps? Access to water is the difference between life and death for many species. I take in a deep, steadying breath and glance at Simon.

"Good choice?" He smirks.

"I cannot complain." A mid-summer breeze blows across the water, lifting the tips of my hair. As far as settings go, Simon nailed this one. We talked about coming to Reeds Lake while we were dating but never seemed to get around to it.

I did come here for walks a few times in the intervening time, but I've never eaten overlooking the lake. It's picturesque and gorgeous and exactly right. A sigh of contentment escapes me. I might not understand why Simon is so insistent on making amends, but this date is a nice perk. "I hope the food is good. Have you been here before?"

"Nope. I've run the trails around here quite a bit, and I always looked at this place, but I could never seem to find the time to actually eat here." He hasn't opened his menu, instead he's staring out across the lake.

It gives me a chance to examine his face. Was his jaw always that chiseled? The baby fat from his mid-twenties is gone, replaced with a sharper outline. He's going to be one of those men who look better and better as they age. No sign of hair loss. No beer paunch. There's probably still the faintest outline of a six pack under his T-shirt. A memory surfaces of my fingertips tracing those lines as his muscles contracted. So many lazy Sundays where fingers turned to lips and tongues and...  I shake my head. Get your mind out of the gutter, Tayla. "How are you parents?"

"My parents?" The question seems to surprise him. "They're...good. My dad lives in Florida now. My mom still lives not far from my apartment."

"Your parents always had such a great marriage. I'm surprised your dad loves Florida that much to stay down there without your mom." I open the menu and read through the selections.

Simon clears his throat. "Actually, he's in Florida for precisely that reason—to be away from my mom. Not that she minds all that much."

I glance up from reading the steak choices. "What? I don't understand."

"They're divorced."

"Divorced?" My voice rises in surprise. "You're kidding me?"

"My dad left her and went to a monastery in France. And before you ask, no, he did not speak French at the time."

"A monastery in France." When Simon and I were dating, we often held up the marriages of our parents as something to aspire to. His parents were so close they finished each other's thoughts. "That's wild."

"I went to visit him. I wasn't in a good place and being there helped him, so I thought, why not?" Simon scratches the back of his neck and opens his menu.

Had that been when I stalked him from afar? "After you and Jada broke up?"

His head jerks up as though I've fired a shot. "What?"

A flush creeps up my neck. Shit. Why did I say that? "I just assumed..."

He barks out a laugh. "No. Not even. It was after you slammed the door in my face, crushing my lovely bouquet of flowers. Of course now, knowing the whole situation, I'm the one who feels like an asshole...again." He flips the page on his menu and waits a beat before pinning me with his gaze. "How'd you know about Jada?"

The blush has migrated from my neck into my face. The heat is scorching. Just how red am I? "Social media, I think? I mean, probably?" Certainly not obsessive stalking habits by me and Ruby. "I can't really remember."

"Anyway," he says with a dismissive wave of his hand, "that kicked off the travel bug for me for a while. Went to a bunch of monasteries while I was over there."

"You liked it that much?"

"I had a lot of thinking to do and being there was exactly the right place to do it."

"So, getting away from all this for a while was helpful?" The vets abroad exchange program jumps to mind. "I've been thinking about doing something similar."

"A nunnery?" Simon closes his menu and picks up his drink. "Wouldn't have pegged you for the sort." His eyes are twinkling with a teasing light.

"Not a nunnery." A hint of a smile tugs at the corners of my lips. "There's a vet's abroad program where you do a straight practice swop with a vet from another country."

He swallows and holds my gaze for a moment. Surprise and regret flicker in his green depths for a moment. "Where are you thinking about?"

"UK, maybe? Or Australia? I've only just started looking." The thought stirs my excitement. "I don't know. Maybe I won't do it. But it's fun to look."

He takes a deep breath. "You should do it. Travel is good for the soul. Anyone who got you as an exchange partner would leave their practice in good hands."

We make eye contact, and my heart thuds in response. Goosebumps rise across my arms, and I'm tempted to take his hand resting on top of the tablecloth. We were a PDA couple when we were together. Affection flowed between us as natural as water. "One of the things I loved about you from the minute I met you was that you never discouraged me from going after what I wanted, even when my dreams might not have aligned exactly with yours. The big dreams were the best ones with you."

He searches my face, the faint lines around his eyes softening with my comment. "That might be the best thing anyone has ever said to me."

Flustered by my honesty, I knock my glass, tipping it across the table. "Oh, no." Jumping up, I mop at the mess on the table, and Simon uses his own napkin and then borrows some of the table next to us. A waitress appears out of nowhere.

"Just water?" she asks, plucking up anything that could be damaged in the flood.

"Yes." I glance at her. "Sorry."

"It's not a problem. I'll get someone to remake the table. Why don't you move over there?" She points to a table two down from us.

"I took the napkins from that table." Simon points behind us.

"I'll replace them. Nothing to worry about." She smiles at us both as she gathers everything from the table. "Did you know what you wanted?"

I order the steak and Simon follows suit. 

He plucks up his drink from the table and his free hand grazes the small of my back as we wander down the aisle to the table she suggested. Heat spreads from his palm, a pandemic across my back, infecting my core with a desire so strong I almost stumble. I long to turn in his arms, have him duck his head, his lips capturing mine. What would it be like to kiss him again? To feel the sweep of his tongue?

Once we're settled, an awkward silence descends before Simon says, "Do you have anything else going on Sunday?"

Relieved for the change of subject, I offer a smile. "Besides our date?"

"Yeah. I have big plans. I was hoping I might get the whole day. I don't work, so I don't have to rush off or have a nap. I could cook dinner?"

The whole day? Dinner? Big plans? Anticipation zips through me, but unease follows behind. These dates have been fun so far, but if he keeps being this good, I'm going to get sucked in deeper than I want. "Will I like it?"

He surveys me over the rim of his glass before taking a sip. "I think you'll love it. Honest assessment. Not just inflating my ego."

"Probably doesn't need much help."

"Tends to rise on its own." His lips twitch.

"Are we still talking about your ego?" I narrow my eyes.

"Of course." He feigns confusion. "What else would we be talking about?" Then, as though it's suddenly occurred to him, he leans across the table. "Unless...unless we've pivoted back to talking about my dick?" He stage whispers. "I knew you had a penis fetish."

I make a duck face trying to hold in my laughter. "You're ridiculous."

We fall into an easy chatter about the running races Simon has tackled the last few years. "I'm gunning for Boston. I made the qualifying time one year and then screwed up my knee. So, I couldn't go."

"Twenty-six miles of running is my worst nightmare."

"You can pace me on your bike."

"You're running that fast now?"

"Depends on how fast you're biking." He grins. "Spent a lot of time the last few years running and working."

"Doesn't leave much time for anything else." Not that I'm one to talk. I have my veterinary practice and then I do work for various shelters, volunteer for emergency hours all over Grand Rapids. No hour is too early or late for someone to call me. In fact, next Thursday night I'm on call.

His expression darkens. "You're not alone in that thought."

His work-life balance had been good with me. Of course, we used to spend Sundays working out our schedules for weeks in advance to make sure we'd see enough of each other. Our priority was each other...until it wasn't.

"How was your steak?" He nods to my empty plate.

"Excellent. This cabbage side dish might have beat the steak though." I point to the purple mark on the plate where the cabbage had been.

"I'll have to see if I can find a recipe for it online." He takes out his credit card and passes it to the waitress.

Once the bill is paid, we head for the exit. Simon checks his phone for the time. "I've got about thirty minutes before I need to drive you home. Walk with me?" He holds out his hand for me to take.

The sign for the path is to our right, and I only hesitate a moment before sliding my hand into his. Is this a good idea? Not even remotely. We're not a couple. I don't want to be a couple.

"What are you thinking about?" Simon asks, his gait matching mine.

"It's so pretty here."

He chuckles. "That's not what you were thinking about, but I'm gonna let that slide. Your face was far too serious for pretty thoughts."

"What was your last serious relationship?" I ask on impulse. Maybe if I figure out why he came to my veterinary clinic when he got the email instead of ignoring it, I can loosen up. He broke up with me. He knows we're not a good match, so his behavior is baffling.

His jaw tightens a fraction. "Her name was Mandy. We dated a couple months. Ended a while ago."

"Why'd you break up?" A few days ago, I would have said I didn't want to know any of this, but now I'm not so sure. Can I figure out anything about our breakup from his other relationships?

"I'm a workaholic. That's according to her...and a few others."

We walk in silence for a few moments while I process his answer. So strange for him to go from good at prioritizing relationships that matter to putting work first. "You were never like that with me."

"I know," he says, sliding me a sideways look. He stops walking and his hands loop around my waist in a comfortable embrace.

The closeness of our bodies stirs the long dormant embers of desire. He's not wearing the same cologne tonight. It's woodsy rather than the tangy scent he used to wear. Even without the memories attached to the other smell, this one suits him more. We're facing each other, and he smooths my hair, looping a strand around his finger.

"Why?" I whisper. The air around us is heavy with things unsaid and a building desire I wish I could ignore.

"Spending time with you was easy. A joy. Something I wanted to do more than I wanted to do anything else." His eyes lock with mine. "I've never felt that way about another woman."

My breath catches. I want his words to be true, for the sentiment to be real. Apart from one attempt, he's never reached out to me, checked up on me, asked for another chance. How do you feel that way about someone and not act?

"I resigned myself to never having a chance to get you back." He smooths my fly-away hair when it gets caught by the breeze, tucking it behind my ears.

Will he kiss me? Do I want him to kiss me? Time hangs suspended, and I remember how in sync we used to be, as though we'd kissed a thousand times before our lips ever skimmed across each other. On our third date he said he felt like he'd known me for years, not hours. We joked that we were together in another life. All these memories I haven't allowed myself to access. To remember them, to dwell on them, was madness.

When I gaze into his green eyes now, the same familiarity settles over us, and I long to wrap myself in the comforting sensation. My heart thunders in my ears, a reminder that underneath the residual affection is something primal, a well of passion to drown in. Even if I would never say it out loud, I want him, crave the connection. If this is still between us, so alive, so rich, so solid, how did we ever fall apart? 

"On your right!" a biker calls, whizzing past us, the wind from his bike swirling my hair around my face.

The spell snaps with the sudden whip of my hair. I step away from him and roll my shoulders, the weight of our past dropping off. None of this is real. He's manufacturing a bond. I agreed to these nine dates for money. That's all. The simmering chemistry between us can't addle my brain. "We should get going," I say without checking the time.

He shoves his hands in the pockets of his jeans and takes a deep, steadying breath. "Yeah, I guess we should."

If you've read my work before, do you have a favorite book or character? If you haven't read any before, what made you decide to start this one?

Unique readers: 26 -- I don't think my last update pushed out properly? I've been in the 80s the last few updates. Reads: 2868