Brenda Harlen - The Single Dad's Second Chance

“Then you won’t insult me by turning it down,” Gemma said.

The male voice sounded somewhat familiar, but Rachel couldn’t place it—until she lowered her fork and looked up, into Andrew Garrett’s green eyes.

* * *

Andrew appreciated that Gemma had the best of intentions and a good heart, but he really just wanted to take some pasta home and be alone. Or so he thought until he saw the pretty brunette from the flower shop seated at a makeshift table in the kitchen.

When she glanced up, the widening of her deep blue eyes reflected a surprise that mirrored his own. “Oh, um, hi.”

He smiled. “Hi, yourself.”

The hostess’s gaze shifted from one to the other. “You know each other?”

“Sort of,” he said.

At the same time the florist responded, “Not really.”

“Well, that clears everything up,” Gemma said drily.

“Mr. Garrett’s been in to Buds & Blooms a few times,” she explained.

“Andrew,” he told her, and, realizing that they’d never been formally introduced, offered his hand.

“Rachel Ellis,” she replied.

“Why are you eating in the kitchen?” he asked her.

“Because no one wants to be alone on Valentine’s Day,” the hostess answered.

Rachel’s cheeks flushed. “Because Gemma refused to let me take my food home.”

“There seems to be a lot of that going around,” Andrew noted.

“We have a couple paying their bill and no one waiting for their table, if you wanted to move into the dining room,” Gemma suggested.

Rachel shook her head, immediately and vehemently. “I’m good here.”

His instinctive response was the same. If they dined together in the kitchen, they could share pasta and casual conversation. But if they ate in the dining room, with soft lighting and romantic music, it would take on a whole different ambience—almost like a date.

“Looks like a pretty good setup,” he said to Rachel. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Of course not,” she said.

The words were barely out of her mouth before a waiter was at the table, setting another place. One of the chefs immediately put a salad on the table for him.

“I almost think there’s better service here than in the dining room,” he teased Gemma.

“Now I’m thinking that I should put your pasta in a take-out container and send you home,” she countered.

He was tempted to say “please,” but given a choice between sharing a meal with the florist and eating alone, he had to go with the florist.

“The truth is,” he said instead, “the culinary genius of the chef is second only to the beauty of the restaurant’s hostess.”

Gemma laughed. “Flattery will get you anywhere you want to go in my restaurant, but now I must go back to work.”

When she’d exited the kitchen, Andrew picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of lettuce. He and Rachel ate in silence for a few minutes, and though his dinner companion said nothing, he could imagine the questions that were running through her mind.

“I’m impressed,” he said, when he’d finished his appetizer.

She sipped her wine. “By the salad?”

“By your restraint.”

She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “It’s not any of my business.”

“But you’re wondering why I’m not having dinner with the woman I bought the flowers for,” he guessed.

“The thought did cross my mind.”

“The flowers were for my wife,” he told her. “But she died three years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “How long were you married?”

“Five years.”

One of the kitchen assistants cleared away their salad plates and another immediately set bowls of steaming pasta on the table. He looked from his to hers, noticed they were the same.

Rachel speared a chunk of spicy sausage with her fork, popped it into her mouth.

“What about you?” he asked. “Why are you alone tonight?”

“I’m on a dating hiatus,” she admitted.

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I made a lot of bad choices with respect to relationships, so I decided to take a break from men.”

“How long have you been on this break?” he wondered.

“Sixteen months.”

“You haven’t been on a date in more than a year?”

“No,” she admitted. “But even when I was dating, I never liked dating on Valentine’s Day.”

“Why not?”

“There’s too much pressure to make a simple date into something more on February 14, too many expectations on both parties.” She nibbled on her penne. “Did you know that ten percent of all marriage proposals take place on Valentine’s Day?”

He shook his head.

“It makes me wonder—is the popularity of proposals on that day a result of romance in the air or a consequence of the pressure to celebrate in a big way?”

“The Valentine’s Day chicken and egg,” he mused.

She nodded. “And then there are the Valentine’s Day weddings, which seem to me the lazy man’s way of ensuring he’ll remember his anniversary.”

Andrew waited a beat before he said, “Nina and I were married on Valentine’s Day.”

Chapter Two

Rachel pushed her plate aside as her cheeks filled with color. “I don’t think I can finish this with my foot in my mouth.”

Andrew smiled and nudged her plate back to her. “We were actually married the twenty-second of November.”

“Since I tend to speak without thinking, I’ll forgive you for that,” she said, picking up her fork again.

Gemma bustled into the kitchen, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks flushed with excitement. “Look at this,” she said, holding her hand out to show off the princess-cut diamond solitaire on the tip of her finger. “Isn’t it stunning?”

“It’s beautiful,” Rachel agreed. “But you’re already married.”

The hostess rolled her eyes. “It’s not for me, obviously. One of our customers is going to propose to his girlfriend, right here, tonight.

“He told me the story when he called to make the reservation. They met on a blind date in our dining room, and he said the minute he first saw her, he knew she was the one. Now, eight months later, he’s ready to ask her to share his life.”

“So why do you have the ring?” Rachel wondered.

“Oh. Right.” She turned to call out to the pastry chef. “Edouard—I need a tiramisu.” Then she continued her explanation: “That’s what she had for dessert that first night.”

“You’re not going to bury the ring in the cake, are you?” Andrew asked.

“No, I’m going to put it on top,” Gemma explained. “The dark chocolate will really make the gold shine and the diamond sparkle.”

“And the band sticky so she can’t get it off her finger if she changes her mind,” Rachel mused.

He grinned; the hostess scowled.

“You don’t appreciate romance,” she scolded Rachel.

“I do appreciate romance,” his dinner companion insisted. “I’ve even done bouquets with engagement rings tied to the ribbon. But I think that words spoken from the heart make a more memorable proposal than the staged presentation of a ring.”

“What about a ‘will you marry me?’ spelled out on the big screen at a sporting event?” Andrew asked.

Rachel opened her mouth to respond, then snapped it shut again and eyed him warily. “Is that how you proposed?”

He chuckled. “No.”

“Should we make a wager on what her response will be?” Andrew asked, as Gemma left the kitchen with the dessert.

Rachel shook her head. “I might not be a fan of public proposals, but I hope she accepts. He obviously put a lot of thought into his plans tonight, bringing her back to the restaurant where they first met, remembering the dessert she had on that first date.