Free Hardline by Meredith Wild

somehow looked even younger beside him, her expression soft and almost girlish in his presence.  
       Blake came up beside us. “Richard, I’m Blake Landon.”
       Richard grinned and shook his hand. “We meet at last.”  
       Blake’s eyes narrowed.  
       “We’ve attended a few of the same events around town. I’m a journalist, so I’ve been there to cover local stories and what not.”
       “I see. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you formally, Richard. Should we eat?”
       Marie clapped and smiled. “Let’s.”
       Blake caught my hand and nodded toward the approaching maître d’.  
       We settled at our table, and Marie peppered me with questions while we waited for our meal. Where and when would we have the wedding? Who were we inviting? When I was going dress shopping? I answered as many as I could. Blake and I would need to figure out some basic wedding plans before anyone else had the chance to pump me for details. Not having answers was driving me crazy and adding to the mountain of anxiety I was already dealing with.  
       I turned my attention to Blake’s conversation with Richard, desperate for an escape.  
       “Do you write for a specific publication?” Blake asked.  
       “I have a staff position at the Globe , but occasionally I write for others.”
       “Richard is asked to travel quite a bit,” Marie chimed in.
        “What kind of stories do you report on?” I asked.
       His gaze shifted to me. Something passed behind his eyes. Curiosity, vague interest maybe, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “The type of reporting I do really runs the gamut, but I take a special interest in political coverage.”
       “Do you enjoy it?” I hoped the disinterest wasn’t evident in my voice when I asked.
       A charming grin lifted his lips. “What isn’t entertaining about politics?”
       I could think of a thing or two. I laughed lightly, unwilling or maybe unable to give him an honest answer that wouldn’t open a can of worms not conducive to polite dinner conversation.  
       “What about you, Erica? Do you have any interest in politics?”
       “Not especially, no.” I put my napkin on the table. “If you’ll excuse me a moment. I have to use the ladies room.”  
       “I’ll join you, dear,” Marie said.  
       “So what do you think?” She freshened her makeup in the mirror, brushing gloss over her bottom lip.  
       “About Richard? He seems great. Definitely very charming.”
       She shot me a sassy grin. “He charms the hell out of me.”  
       I rolled my eyes and laughed. “TMI, Marie. Anyway, I thought things were kind of rocky with you two? What changed?”
       “He was traveling for a while, and we didn’t see much of each other. Honestly, I really thought things had fizzled between us. The past couple weeks have been different though. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain, but maybe we’ve just passed a certain point with each other.”
       “I guess that’s good, right?”
       “It’s good enough for now. I’m having too much fun to push the issue. What about Blake? You must be on cloud nine.”  
       I smiled, warming at the mere thought of him. We’d been apart for all of four minutes and I missed him. Was I ever hopeless.  
       “I am, yeah. He caught me completely off guard, so I think I’m still getting used to the idea of all this marriage stuff.”  
       She shook her head and patted my cheek. “My little girl. I can’t believe it. You’re going to beat me to the altar. If I didn’t love you so damn much, I might hate you a little.”  
       I laughed. “Blake’s the one who seems to be in a rush, otherwise I’d be happy to give you a head start.”  
       She cocked her head slightly. “You sure about this? Blake seems wonderful, but you know you don’t have to do this if you’re not ready. I don’t want you to be an old maid like me, but you have plenty of