The Summer of Sunshine and Margot(50)

The complications and weirdness piled on top of each other until she barely made it through the rest of dinner. She excused herself as soon as she could and bolted for the stairs. Once she was alone in her room, she realized that she would much rather have spent more time with him, which made her incredibly dumb and just as socially awkward as Francine had always claimed.

  In the end, Sunshine agreed to meet Norris for a drink rather than coffee. She traded a Saturday evening off for a Thursday, arranged for Connor to spend the evening with his friend Christopher and confirmed Declan would pick up his son there no later than seven-thirty. Declan had made her swear that Christopher’s mother wasn’t anyone he had to worry about, which would have been funny if she hadn’t been so nervous about her date. She’d assured her boss that Christopher’s mom was happily married and that Christopher was a change-of-life baby, so she was well into her fifties and therefore far too much woman for him.

Sunshine spent nearly an hour trying to figure out what to wear. She wanted to look good, but not sexy. Pretty. She’d never been one to use her sexuality to get what she wanted in life—guys just kind of appeared. The difference now was she wanted to make better and smarter choices.

When she was nearly out of time, she settled on a light blue dress with a higher scoop neck and a full skirt. It came to just above her knees. As it was sleeveless, she slipped on a cream-colored, three-quarter-sleeve cropped sweater. She curled her hair, went easy on the makeup and, when she was done, realized she looked much more like she was applying for a choir director job than going on a date. On her drive to the restaurant bar where they were meeting, she would have to develop a sparkling personality and hope for the best.

She handed her keys to the valet and then, ignoring her quivering nerves and the urge to bolt, went inside. Norris was already there, looking handsome and professional in his dark suit. He saw her and waved her over. As she approached, she saw he’d claimed a small table for the two of them.

“You made it,” he said, sounding happy. He took her hand in his, then leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you. You’re very powerful yourself.”

He chuckled. “It’s the suit. Men have it easy. We all look decent in a well-made suit.”

They sat across from each other. He motioned for the server to stop by. “Sunshine, what would you like?”

A margarita with a shot of tequila on the side, she thought grimly. She wasn’t a dater, she never had been. She met a guy, they fell in lust and that was it. There was no getting to know each other over cocktails or awkward fumbling at the end of the night. She didn’t know how to do this and she wasn’t sure she wanted to learn.

Only this was what normal people did, she reminded herself. They went on dates and got to know each other.

“I’d love a glass of white wine,” she said with a smile.

“Bourbon on the rocks.”

When their server had left, Norris shifted closer. “Thanks again for your help with the cake. It was a huge hit.”

“I’m glad. How’s your sister doing?”

“She’s getting cabin fever. She hates the bed rest, but it’s only for a few more weeks. Our mom moved in with them and that’s helping a lot.”

“It’s nice that she can do that.”

“Oh, my mom would change the rotation of the earth if she thought it would help one of her kids.”

Sunshine thought of her own mother walking out on her twins when they were still toddlers. Everyone had a story, she thought, and some of them were bad.

“So it’s you and your sister?” she asked.

“I have a younger brother. I’m the oldest. What about you?”

“I have a sister. We’re fraternal twins. Our family is gone, so it’s just the two of us. She lives nearby and we’re pretty close.”

The server brought over their drinks. Norris drank from his. “Have you been married?”

“No. You were, though, right?” She remembered he’d mentioned something about being divorced when they’d first met.

“Divorced. Nothing dramatic. We just weren’t really right for each other. It’s been a couple of years. I dated a lot and then that got old. These days I’m looking for something different.”

He stared at her intently as he spoke, as if delivering an important message. The problem was, she had no idea what he was trying to convey.

“And you’re in finance?” she asked.

“I am. People don’t know anything about money, which is bad for them and good for me. I give them a plan and suddenly they’re growing their portfolio. I get to be the hero.”

“Then it’s a win-win.”

“It is. You’re a nanny?”

“Uh-huh. I love working with kids. I had no idea what I wanted to do after high school. I sort of fell into the nanny thing and discovered I had a knack for it. Now I’m working on getting my degree in child psychology.”

Which sounded so much grander than it was, she thought, not sure why she’d said it like that. She was taking her first class and had yet to figure out what she was doing. Was this what dating was? Telling half-truths to look better to the other person?

Before she could correct what she’d told him, he spoke.

“So you live with a family for a couple of years, then move on? Is that hard?”