The Single Dad's Second Chance Read Free Page A

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
    R achel 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.
    “And I don’t think he’d pop the question in this kind of venue if he wasn’t sure of the answer,” she noted, before asking him, “How did you propose?”
    “Oh.” He pushed his now-empty bowl aside. “It wasn’t very well planned out at all.”
    Her lips curved, making him suspect that the tips of his ears had gone red as they sometimes did when he was embarrassed.
    “Impulsive...and in bed,” she guessed.
    Since he couldn’t deny it, he only said, “She said yes.”
    Her smile widened, and he couldn’t help noticing the way it lit up her whole face. She was an attractive woman—he could acknowledge that fact without being attracted to her. But looking at her now, he felt the stirring of something low in his belly that he suspected might be attraction.
    “Did you at least have a ring?” Rachel asked, as she dipped her fork into the slice of chocolate-raspberry cake that had been set in front of her.
    “No. We went to get one the next day.” He realized, as he shared the details with Rachel, that it no longer hurt so much to remember the special moments he and Nina had spent together. He’d grieved for his wife for a long time after her quick and