Simply Be Mine Matchmakers

7. Date One

When Lucy went to pick up Kojo at the pet shelter, she was pleasantly surprised to see that Tim was already there fastening a leash to his collar. "Nuh uh, it's an odd day, which means I get the leash," she said.

"I thought we said we wouldn't only stick to odd days or even days, since our schedules can be unpredictable," he recalled.

"Yeah, but I still let you hold the leash on the even days, because I get to on odd days."

"So, you weren't just being nice yesterday?"

"Why would I willingly share my dog with you?"

He rolled his eyes and groaned to make a point, but he still handed the leash to her.

"Thank you," she grinned happily. She started them on their usual path then asked, "So, are you ready for your date with Rachel tonight?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Let's hope she won't judge me for my lack of skills when it comes to painting palm trees."

"She won't."

"How about you? Are you looking forward to your axe throwing date?"

"Definitely. I will say, I'm testing him tonight."

"What kind of test?"

"I want to see if he's a sore loser when I kick his ass."

"Oh, you're that confident."

"He may be a firefighter, but I've got skills."

Tim stopped walking. "Hang on, you're going out with a firefighter?"

"I know. That's hot, right?"

"Firefighters don't do much other than carry hoses around. They get all the glory, but cops are the real heroes. You can't go out with a firefighter."

"You wouldn't care what he does for a living if you saw his face. He's hot."

He pursed his lips. "You mentioned that."

"Don't ruin this for me," she pouted. Then, she explained with wonder lacing the timbre of her voice, "I was okay with seeing love everywhere I looked and not having any in my own life, but lately...I don't know. Something happened, and now I'm more open to the possibility that I could be part of one of those couples that's really happy and in love. Do you know what I mean?"

He looked into her eyes and completely understood that sentiment. "Yeah," he said softly. "I do."

For the briefest moment, a passage of time so fleeting, she found herself mesmerized by the soft blue, vulnerable hue of his gaze like the sky on a clear day yet even more alluring, but it happened so fast that surely she was meant to deem that instant as insignificant; the thought of assigning more value to some quick look would be absurd...even if it kept happening and with greater frequency the more often they hung out. Lucy pushed those thoughts away and said, "Guess this matchmaking process isn't such a bad thing. You shouldn't have been so difficult when we met."

"I'm still not sold on this matchmaking thing, but it hasn't been so bad after the invasive questions of that interview." Especially since after the interview, he spent more time with Lucy without any pressure.

"That's understandable. I didn't mind when I was interviewed, but it can be difficult to open up like that with a stranger."

"Some of those were hard. What about the one: 'What would an ideal lazy Saturday afternoon look like with your parter'? I had no idea how to answer that."

"Your answer of watching a baseball game together was sweet. I liked that answer."

"What did you say?"