Free Choosing Happiness by Melissa Stevens Page B

took another bite. They ate quietly, enjoying their food and talking little until both plates were clean.
    "Can I get you some dessert tonight?" Peg appeared next to their table.
    "Thanks, but not tonight." Andrea handed the waitress her plate. When Peg was gone Andrea turned back to Jake. “I have somewhere else I want to take you."
    "After this," Jake leaned back and rubbed his stomach. "I'll gladly go anywhere you want to take me, eat anything you want me to eat, see anything you want me to see."
    Andrea laughed again. "Nothing too exotic, I just thought we could go have some fun."
    "Whatever you want."
    Peg came back for another load of dishes and left the ticket on the table as she left. Andrea snatched it out from under Jake’s hand as he reached for it.
    "Hey," He scowled. "I was gonna get that."
    "Nope, I asked you out. I pay the bill."
    "But—"
    "No buts, it's a fair rule. I absolutely hate going Dutch, unless it's a bunch of girlfriends. On a date it's just tacky, but I don't think the guy should have to pay all the time, either. So if I ask someone out I pay the bill."
    "All right." He held up both hands in surrender. "It’s fair, but I was still gonna get it."
    "Too late now." Andrea stuck her tongue out at him, making him laugh.
    "Why don't you give me the keys? I'll go start the car and get it warming up, then I won't have to watch you pay and be bothered by it."
    Andrea laughed and handed him her keys. "I'll be right there." She stopped at the register and waited. Peg came right out and helped her.
    "You don't bring men around here often." Peg rang up the meal.
    "No, but this one's different. I want to show him all our town’s little secrets, share with him how special it is." Andrea looked toward the door Jake had just gone through, thinking of him.
    "Then he must be pretty special himself." She winked at Andrea.
    "He is." Andrea grinned and headed for the door. "He is."
    Back behind the wheel, Andrea maneuvered the car though the darkening streets with the comfort of someone who knew the area well.
    "This is my neighborhood." Jake looked around.
    "Yep. Where we're headed isn’t far from your place."
    "That's convenient."
    "I didn't choose the place because of the location, but it's a nice coincidence." She grinned at him before pulling into a small parking lot.
    "Wait a minute, I've been here."
    "Oh?"
    "Yeah, this is where Ben and I had that drink when he tried to scare me into leaving you alone."
    "I'm not really surprised, we both like this place." She got out and headed for the back of the vehicle.
    "What's up?" He met her at the back of the car.
    "Nothing, just getting something." She pulled a long slender case out of the back, slipped her driver’s license, some cash and her keys into her jeans pockets and set her purse on the floor under the privacy shield, then closed the back gate. "You coming?" She headed inside.
    Intrigued, Jake followed her inside, past the bar to the pair of pool tables tucked on one side of the room. He'd noticed them when he was here before but hadn't paid them much attention. Andrea walked past the first table where a pair of guys were playing and stopped beside the second.
    "Good." She laid the case across one corner and opened the latches. "I prefer this table anyway." Flipping the case open, she revealed a pool cue. She pulled the two pieces from the case and deftly twisted them together.
    "Am I about to be sharked?" Jake watched her with narrowed eyes.
    "Nah." She laughed. "I'm merely average. Ben got me the stick for my birthday a couple years ago." She leaned the assembled stick against the table and closed the case. "Why don't you choose a stick?" She nodded at the rack hanging on the wall. "While I rack 'em." She dug some quarters out of her pocket and paid for the game, tucking a couple more under the bumper so no one would take the table. After lifting the balls onto the table, she arranged them the way she wanted in the triangle and lifted the plastic, careful