Read Online A Twist of Date by Susan Hatler - Free Book Online Page A

something about yourself?”
    He looked up at me and stared, apparently mute.
    “You know.” I gestured with my hand. “Like . . . what do you do for fun?”
    He leaned back in his seat, but didn’t put down the pen. “Once the snow drops, I plan to hit the slopes in Tahoe.”
    “Oh, I love to ski.” Progress. Now we were getting somewhere. “What do you do for fun before it snows? You know, in the spring.” Sometimes you had to spell it out for men. “Like now.”
    He watched me bite into my hamburger.
    I made a special point of chewing carefully, hoping he’d follow my lead. Maybe it’d help him avoid receiving the Heimlich one day.
    He gave that dimpled half-smile, again. “Most women with a figure like yours graze on salad. Dressing on the side.”
    I paused mid-chew. The guy needed to be retrained on giving compliments. “We’re at a hamburger place, not a salad bar.”
    He cleared his throat. “Anything else you can think of to explain your more popular classes?”
    “No.” No, no, a hundred times no!             
    “So, who takes Zumba?” His fries were gone, but his hamburger lay untouched on his plate. Interesting. “Women? Men?”
    “Mostly women, but we do have two guys.” I studied him, wondering if he could dance. “Feel free to drop in sometime.”
    Nick laughed. “Me? I don’t think so.”
    “Why not?  Don’t you like to dance?”
    “Sure.” He shrugged. “At a club or something. But I’m not a dance class kind of guy.”
    “Well then.” I leaned forward in my seat, thinking that if we were dancing then we wouldn’t have to be talking. “I guess if I want to dance with you, it’ll have to be at a club.”
    His eyes flicked to mine as if the idea had finally occurred to him. “Know of any good clubs around here?”
    Jackpot. I kept my gaze on his. “Plenty.”
    He considered my answer for a few seconds, then leaned forward in his chair.  “How about Friday?”
    “Tomorrow night?” Finally, he’d asked me out on a real date. But, there was still Patti’s rule to contend with. “Why don’t you call me?”
    “I will. By the way . . .,” He finally reached for his burger, “Red’s a great color on you.”
    “Thanks.” A decent compliment and a date, even though I hadn’t officially accepted. Things were starting to look up.
    So why did I still feel down?
    ****
    “Thanks.” I tipped the pizza delivery gal and breathed in the yummy scent of pepperoni and cheese. I kicked the door closed, then brought our dinner to the coffee table. “Pizza’s here!”
    Patti came in from her room and flipped on the TV. “Aw, honey, you cooked.”
    “Your turn tomorrow night.” I handed Patti a slice on a napkin, then noticed the red light blinking on my cell. I dialed into my voicemail to check my messages.
    Hi, it’s Nick. Checking to see if we’re on for tomorrow night. Call me.
    I glanced at Patti, wondering if she’d give me the thumbs up. Then, my phone announced message number two.
    Mel, it’s me, Erica. This is the third message I’ve left you, so call me back. We need to talk.
    I pressed the delete button, then my phone informed me I had another message.
    Hello, Melanie. It’s your mother. Ron and I are leaving this weekend and will be gone for three weeks. We’ll be hiking and camping in the mountains so we won’t have cell reception. Just wanted to let you know. Call if you get a chance. Bye.
    I hung up the phone and tossed it on the sofa chair, wondering who Ron was, and how long she’d keep him around. Hearing her voice made me want to dial her number, but she then I remembered Kristen’s comment about people not being done with me just because I’d hurt them.
    Yeah, right. Tell that to my mom. Clearly having a kid had cramped her style or she wouldn’t have needed to go “find herself.”
    Patti picked up the remote, and started flipping through channels. “Who was that on the phone?”
    Taking a seat on the sofa, I reached for my