God, it was frustrating not to be able to define his goals.
And he did need goals. That was the issue, he decided. Carlos disapproved of complacency. That was his whole problem—he’d gotten everything he worked for, and now there was no goal to work for any longer.
He had a feeling that even if Pauline turned out to be the woman of his dreams, and he married her and moved to this gorgeous town and watched the sunset with her every night, he still wouldn’t be satisfied, because he wouldn’t have anything to accomplish.
Well, that was something to figure out, then, wasn’t it.
Because frankly, the rest of it was starting to sound pretty good.
***
Pauline
Pauline went through the next day in a haze.
She couldn’t believe she had a date.
She couldn’t believe Carlos had asked her on a date—handsome, successful men didn’t tend to notice her, unless they were the sort of jerks who noticed everyone with an XX chromosome and expected them all the be grateful for the attention.
Carlos didn’t seem like that type. Unless she was blinded by how handsome and charming he was.
But no, she had a feeling that the Davidsons—especially Lynn, who did not have a reputation for putting up with egos—wouldn’t have invited him into their house if he were that kind of jerk.
Maybe it would be all right to have a fling with him.
Pauline didn’t do flings. She’d hardly dated anybody apart from Gary, her ex-husband, who’d been her high school boyfriend.
Maybe it was time to start? Forty-five was probably too old, though. And it wasn’t like the men were pounding on her door.
Except for one.
God, she didn’t want to fall for him. He would leave town and break her heart, and then everything would be the same as it had always been, except she’d be missing a man she barely knew.
But she’d already said yes, and anyway, she didn’t want to say no. She wanted to go out with this man.
Yes, her owl trilled. This man. This one.
Don’t get too fixated, Pauline instructed sternly. Both to her owl and to herself.
The day dragged on and on. Carlos texted in the middle of an extremely dead shift to say that he’d love to take her to Nourish, the new tourist place that had opened up right near the Park a couple of years ago. Pauline had never been, because—well, because it was a tourist place, but also because she’d glanced at the menu once online and the prices were well out of her range.
She’d never been too wistful about it, because who wanted to go to a tourist place? And a place that probably had weird fusion organic gluten-free everything, at that.
But—well, it might be fun to try some weird fusion organic gluten-free something-or-other, just this once.
And that was the best way to look at this, she decided. A fun, one-time experience. Going to a restaurant she’d never normally go to, with a man she’d never normally be with, for a nice break from her life and her worries.
She’d do a quick check on Drew and Troy and Valerie after the date was over, just to remind herself what her real priorities were. Yes, that was a good idea, and the decision kept her from feeling guilty about obsessing over what the evening would be like instead of thinking about the kids.
One night. That was all.
***
Carlos
Carlos was nervous.
Which was crazy. He was never nervous. He’d stood in boardrooms engaging in hostile negotiations with some of the richest, scariest businessmen in the world. As a Marine, he’d faced down enemy forces trying their best to kill him and his platoon. After that, most of the regular things the world had to throw at him seemed like a nice sunny afternoon with nothing to do.