Free Catching Fireflies by Sherryl Woods Page A

house.”
    “Given what doctors charge these days, this is one pricey cup of coffee,” she said as she took her first sip. “Oh, my God, it’s worth every penny.”
    He laughed. “That’s what I think every time I take advantage of Erik’s good nature by sneaking in there before work. I think he considers the coffee to be his version of community service.”
    “I really do need to get to know him better,” Laura said. “Do you think Helen would mind if I start hanging out with her husband?”
    “She’d probably string you up a tree,” he said with conviction as he pulled up in front of an unfamiliar house.
    “Why are we here?” she asked, then remembered. “Ah, the date. Would you like me to escort you to the door?”
    “No, I think I’ll be safe enough from there to here. Just don’t drink her coffee.”
    “If she’s a real runner, she probably doesn’t touch the stuff,” Laura said. “I’m actually surprised you do.”
    “Some men have sex to start the day. Since there’s none of that in my life at the moment, I drink coffee. Seems to work,” he said right before he headed up the walk.
    Just as he reached the door, it opened and a woman came out with her red hair pulled high in a sassy ponytail. She was wearing running shorts and a tight-fitting sports top, both meant to display an awful lot of well-toned flesh. Laura glanced down at her sweat pants and ancient T-shirt and sighed. There wasn’t a woman in the world who’d buy that she was serious competition for the woman walking her way, talking animatedly with J.C. as if it weren’t practically the middle of the night. She might be up at dawn on weekdays, but most Saturdays she indulged herself by sleeping as late as she wanted. Today’s was the first Saturday sunrise she’d seen in ages.
    In the car, J.C. made the introductions, then headed for the park. As Laura had anticipated, Jan turned down the coffee and stuck to bottled water. J.C. practically gulped down a long swallow of the rejected coffee, then gave Laura an apologetic look. “Did you want this?”
    She grinned at his guilty expression. “Not to worry, I’m still savoring the first cup.”
    “Good,” he said and took another long slug of the coffee.
    “Careful there,” she said, lowering her voice. “You don’t want to choke in front of your date.”
    He glanced at her with a frown. “Was inviting you along a mistake?”
    She beamed at him. “More than likely. So far, though, I’m fascinated to see what’ll happen next.”
    Jan turned out to be a perfectly pleasant, intelligent woman who took her running seriously. When J.C. dutifully insisted on staying back with the lagging Laura, she ran on ahead, clearly determined to make it a real workout.
    “You could go with her,” Laura told him. “I’m not going to catch up. In fact, I’m thinking I wouldn’t mind sitting in the shade of that old pin oak over there for a while and enjoying the rest of my coffee. It’s a beautiful morning. It finally feels like fall.”
    He regarded her with amusement. “You really are out of your comfort zone, aren’t you?”
    “So far, you probably can’t even imagine it,” she admitted. “I don’t sweat. I don’t glow. A brisk evening walk is about my limit.”
    “Then I’m all the more grateful that you made an exception and came along this morning.”
    “I don’t think you really needed my protection. I hope it won’t destroy your ego, but I’m not getting the sense that Jan’s any more into you than you’re into her.”
    He looked surprised but not displeased by the assessment. “That’s what I thought, too, but Debra seemed so determined, it rattled me.”
    “I suppose you wouldn’t be the first couple to be pushed together by an overly zealous matchmaker, but something tells me you’re both made of tougher stuff than that.”
    He met her gaze, his curiosity apparent. “So, just for the record, why aren’t you married?”
    Laura shrugged off what had