Chapter 1

"Yeah. Look, she's sweet and smart and I think you two would get along great. At the very least, you both could use another friend, you know?" Sarah responded.

I was surprised. I've been friends with Sarah for years, and she'd never tried to play matchmaker before. I suppose that most of the time we'd known each other I had been in a very stable, very long-term relationship. Unfortunately for me, that had ended a year ago and I hadn't really gotten back into the dating scene. Actually, I'd never been into the dating scene. Growing up a small town, I'd known all my previous girlfriends for years and I'd never had to resort to meeting people on traditional dates. Frankly, I was terrified of the idea. How the hell do you just start talking to complete strangers?

During the last year, I'd gone to a few bars, a few parties, had one fling that was doomed from the start, but I was still completely at a loss when it came to the idea of meeting someone new and asking them out on a date.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Sarah. I don't think I'm really ready to get my feet wet."

"Come on! It's not a big deal. I've already told her about you, and she's expecting something, just ask her out for coffee. If it doesn't work, no problem. Think of it as doing me a favor."

I sighed. "I'll think about it."

"Awesome! I'll send you her email and phone number. Just give it a shot."

The phone was slippery in my sweaty hands. I was furiously debating hanging up before she picked up..."Hello?"

"Um ... hi, uh Emily?" I stammered.

"Yes..." she paused as I realized she would have no idea who I was.

"It's Matt. I'm a friend of Sara's?" My nervousness made the statement into a question.

"Oh hi!" her voice was rich and warm, I would swear I could hear her smiling. "She mentioned you might call..."

"Yeah, um. She thought ... well I thought ... Ahem ... Would you like to meet for coffee sometime?"

She chuckled at my complete hash of a request.

"Sure, I'd really like that. When?"

I racked my overheated brain, I can't believe I hadn't even thought this through enough to think of a date before I called. Well it was Thursday evening so... "How about tomorrow night?"

There a significant pause. I cringed. Was I being over eager? Should I have said next week? Jesus. How do people do this?

"Ok. It'll have to be early though, I have plans later in the evening. How's 6 sound?"

Shit, she had plans already. Another date? Well, it was better than nothing, and at least if it didn't work out, we had a simple way to end it.

"Sounds great. Care to meet me? Or can I pick you up?"

"Let's meet at Simple Grounds. I don't live too far away and it'll be a nice walk."

"Great, see you then. Thanks."

The next 24 hours managed to go by excruciatingly slowly, and much too quickly. After work, I tried on 3 or 4 different outfits and finally settled on a cleaner version of what I typically wear. Wool shirt, clean jeans, light jacket. It was early October, and while the days were still warm, it was likely to get chilly quick after the sun went down.

Ten minutes before six I had installed myself at one of the outdoor tables, and practiced looking at my book. Reading was beyond my capabilities. A few minutes later I glanced up and saw a beautiful woman walking a scruffy little dog through the park. She was looking up at the trees and seemed to be talking to her dog. She was small, maybe 5'2". I could tell even through her bright red wool overcoat that she was curvy. Pale skin, with a flush on her cheeks from the autumn air, and a happy gait that was just shy of skipping. Something about her riveted my attention. The way she moved and looked at the world entranced me.

I had discovered, after my breakup, that I don't really have a 'type' of woman I'm attracted to. I also can't tell from a photo if someone is attractive, in the sense that I'm attracted to them. I can see beauty and elegance, but without seeing the person move, seeing them interact with the world they don't hold any attraction to me at all. Emily however, moved through the park with a lightness and an engagement with her surroundings that beguiled me. Of course, at the moment, I didn't know it was her. Just a beautiful woman walking her little dog on a nice fall evening. However, once she stepped out of the park, she made a beeline for the cafe and as she got about 20 feet away she turned a beaming smile on me.

"Matt?"

"You must be Emily, it's nice to meet you" I said grinning like an idiot.

"Sarah told me to look for a guy in a wool shirt with a beard. You were pretty easy to spot." she continued smiling at me. I felt like the roller coaster had just crossed the apex. 'Ok, hang on. Here we go!'

"Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

"Oh I'll just pop inside and get a cup of tea. Would you mind holding Murray?" she said, offering me the leash. Now I love dogs, and most of them love me, but Murray was giving me the stink-eye of a protective father while staying at the far end of his leash. Shit. I hope she doesn't rate her potential boyfriends by her dog's reaction or I'd be sunk.

Murray and I sat there a few minutes, eyeing each other. While I tried to think of what to talk about. Emily came out with a big mug of tea, and sat down across the little table. She took the leash and looped it under her chair leg. Murray wagged his tail at the return of his human, but didn't get any closer. "He has a problem with men." Emily said, her eyes picking up Murray. "I got him as a rescue a year ago, right after my divorce." I flicked my eyes at her. "You didn't know I was divorced?"

"Honestly, I'm flying blind. Sarah said you were great and that we should meet. That was enough for me."

Emily raised her eyebrows. "A blind date huh?"

"Yeah, exactly. My first actually." I managed with a grin.

"Well, I'm a little better informed. I grilled Sarah as much as I could after you called." Her lips quirked in a smile. I guess I managed to look a little worried because she continued "All good things. Don't worry."

"So..." I started lamely, "How do you know Sarah?"

She set her tea down. "I met her here, actually. It was a Sunday morning about a year ago. The place was packed but I'd gotten here early and had a table, and there was nowhere else to sit, so Sarah asked if she could join me and we started chatting. I ended up dumping my tale of woe on her. It was still fresh, and she was a very good listener. Soon we started meeting every week, then we started hanging out. I've met most of the friends I have now through her. I guess..." Her brows knitted momentarily, "she's my closest friend."

My curiosity got the better of me "You guess?" and then I realized my mistake "I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry ... I" but she cut me off.

"No it's ok. It's an odd statement to make. I'm not from around here, and when we moved out, my husband and I, well I didn't really get out much to make any friends. I tend to be ... I used to be quite a hermit." She smiled, a little embarrassed. Then she recovered, and said "Ok, my turn. Sarah said you're in school, but didn't really know what for."

"I am. I'm a full-time student, working on my BA in architecture. I'm ... a returning student. I spent a few years after high school working in construction before realizing I didn't love it."

She smiled "You don't look like the average college boy."

"Nope, older and wiser. I'd tried going right out of high school, but I was a terrible student. Now, I have a better appreciation for what it means. It's also helping with my internship. Well, it's helping and hurting with my internship ... but mostly helping I think."

She gave me a look that clearly said 'continue' so I did. "I'm an intern at a architect's studio here in town, it's about 20 hours a week, and mostly I'm just a CAD monkey, which means clean up drawings, make sure everything is on the right layers, that sort of thing. But because I look old enough to be an architect, I think they forget sometimes, and let me have a lot more free-hand in the design process than the other interns get. I think my construction experience helps too, a lot of architects don't really understand how things get built, not at the jobsite level, so I've been able to make some changes that should make it faster and cheaper for the crews to build."

"They must appreciate that." She said.

"I think so. I'm supposed to graduate in May, and they've been pretty clear that they'll offer me a job unless the market collapses again. So all I need to do is make sure that I graduate." I paused, and realized it was my turn again. "If you're not from here... ?"

"Michigan." She said and then she did that thing that all Michiganders seem to do, she pointed with a finger to the palm of her hand "Grand Rapids ... or close enough. We moved out here about 5 years ago when the economy tanked. Michigan got hit hard, and Ed, my ex, had a friend who'd moved out here right after high school and raved about it. So we followed. He stayed with restaurant work, I did whatever I could to help make ends meet. It was pretty lean for a while. I couldn't believe how expensive it is to live out here. But eventually, I found a pretty good job and things got easier. At least financially." She grimaced. I could tell her marriage was still a sore spot, so I tried to move on.

"So what do you do now?"

Her grimace blossomed into a beautiful smile "You really didn't ask Sarah anything did you?"

I shook my head.

"Wow, you must really trust her judgement..."

"She can be persuasive..." I muttered and then I realized my second mistake of the the last few minutes. Emily looked a little taken aback, perhaps even offended. "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant at all. I'm having a great time..." I sighed. "I'm not so good at this."

She sat back, clearly appraising me. "So, be honest, why are you here?"

Being honest was harder than I thought. "Why am I here? Because I want to be. I'm really having a great time. I'll admit I agreed to it so that Sarah wouldn't badger me but make no mistake, I'm very happy I agreed to it."

She sat still for a few seconds, her face still. I feared I'd really fucked things up, but there was little I could do now. Groveling didn't seem appropriate this early in the game.

"Good." She smiled again. "I'm glad you were honest," then she leaned forward and gave me a conspiratorial grin and stage whispered "I'm having a nice time too." And she patted my hand.

A weight lifted off my chest as my heart did little flip-flops and I realized I really liked this girl. It took me by surprise as I didn't have any expectations going into this. I certainly didn't think I'd end up crushing on her after 20 minutes of conversation, but there it was.

"I'm a vintage clothes buyer ... and artist, but the vintage stuff is what pays the bills."

"What?" I was lost.

"You asked me what I did. That's what I do." She stated simply.

My head gradually got back into the game. "Oh. Right." Clearly, I was a genius with remarks like that. "Artist?"

"Painting, mostly. Landscapes and some abstract. The countryside around here is beautiful. I couldn't not paint it, and frankly, that's what sells around here too."

"You sell your work?" My estimation of her went up. Most people I knew who claimed the 'artist' label just goofed off and used it as an excuse to act like a nutjob.

"Whenever I can. There are a couple of local galleries that have my stuff. I've got one piece in a group show in the city, one of my abstracts. And then I do the Open Studio weekends and sell direct, but it's a sideline. I do it, because I always have and I can't imagine not painting."

We continued talking. She was very easy to talk to. Friendly, charming, with lively eyes and quick to smile. Before I knew it, we'd been sitting out in the brisk night air for an [Would it be night already?

And I think she said earlier she had plans at 6]hour[7pm October 3rd.]. Our teacups had gone cold. During a pause in conversation, she checked her watch and looked pensive for a moment. I remembered that she had plans later tonight. I sincerely hoped it wasn't another date. I didn't want this one to end.

"Have you eaten? Can I buy you dinner?" I hoped my ploy wasn't too obvious or presumptive.

"No, I mean yes ... I mean, I haven't eaten, and I was just realizing that I need to before I meet my friends at the club." After a quick glance at me, she said "and I would love to have dinner with you."

Yes! So far this dating thing was a piece of cake! I was also aware that I'd gotten lucky. She was great company, and even if she didn't have any interest, I'd be happy to have dinner with her as friends anytime.

After a couple minutes discussion, we decided on a nice Chinese place 10 minutes walk from the cafe. Murray was happy to be on the move again, he was an unrepentant sniffer of bushes, mailboxes, fences, anything really. So it was a relaxed pace. As we walked, we talked about work, and I asked if her coat was vintage.

"Yes it is. I have a lot of vintage clothes. Being a buyer means I get first pick of the good stuff." She said with a broad smile, and a little twirl. Her coat, a beautiful bright red, with big buttons, tapered at the waist and flared over her hips before stopping just above the knee. I could see what looked like a polka dotted dress peaking out underneath. Her legs flashed as she twirled, nice calves in pale stockings and sensible two inch heels on black leather shoes. I really couldn't wait to see what she looked like under her coat. The more we talked, the more I liked this girl, we had a rapport, an ease, that felt completely natural. As we walked, we paused our gentle interrogation of each other, and chatted about the leaves turning, and the first scents of fall in the air. I really wanted to hold her hand as we strolled, but held back. The caveman in me wanted a lot more than that, but I had him under control.

The walk was brisk, but thankfully the restaurant was toasty, and she immediately shrugged off her coat and draped it over an arm. Damn, this date was getting better and better. As I'd thought, she was curvy and it suited her perfectly. I stood just behind her as we waited for a table and drank in the sight before me. Pale creamy skin on nape of her neck blended into the smooth planes of her shoulders. Her collar bones were delicate looking f-curves perched above a flawless, but demure amount of cleavage. I realized with a start, that she was very well endowed. Her coat may have minimized them, but her round soft looking breasts filled out the modest dress as if it was painted on. I lost my eyes in her cleavage for a while, imagining how warm and silky it must feel, when I heard the waiter call our name. She glanced back with a sly look and a smile, and I wondered if I'd been caught staring. I've got to get a hold of myself. I'm not really as much of a caveman as my dick wants me to be, but frankly it'd been a long time since I'd been this close to a beautiful woman and I think that my eyes were just trying to bank some memories for lean times ahead. As she started off, following the waiter. I couldn't help but drop my eyes to her ass. In the dress it swished prettily, and lured me along as surely as if I'd been leashed. She had rounded womanly hips, that perfectly balanced her breasts. The caveman was fully out of his cage, and I felt like I could happily follow her anywhere provided I could be about four steps behind her to watch the show.