Dream Date (12 page)

“Was it obvious that they’re together?”

“They seemed quite close. She was sitting right next to him, in fact.”

“Did she look territorial?”

Judith thought about that for a few seconds.

“I did get that vibe.”

Amanda sighed, closing her eyes.

“
You’re not going to let that stop you, right?”

“
Maybe not. Like you say, she might be his sister. The way Nathan’s taken interest in me, I’d be surprised if she really is his girlfriend.”

“
Take your chance anyway. You’ve been the odd girl out for so long. I understand losing Liam was terrible, but it’s been years.”

“
What should I do?”

“
Throw yourself into a relationship. You haven’t dated any guy in years. It’s time you come out of your dry spell.”

Amanda laughed, shaking her head.

“
I’m serious. You need to let yourself feel again.”

“
And you’ll have me date the first guy who catches my eye?” Amanda said as she closed her locker and continued to walk. “When he may or may not have a girlfriend?”

“
I don’t give a damn about her. It’s you I care about. I want to see you happy.”

“
Sometimes I wonder if I can be happy.”

“
Don’t think like that, friend. Of course you can be happy. You’ll see.”

Amanda thought about it as she walked. She had to admit to herself that she felt attracted to Nathan. And he seemed to feel the same way. However, things seemed to have become more complicated. Amanda now had to contend with the possibility that he had a girlfriend.

Amanda didn’t think she would be able to handle that. Judith may not care about the woman, but she did. She’d hate to see her guy pining after another woman. Amanda couldn’t do that to her.

After classes ended, Nathan and Ashton walked back to their dorm. As they were on their way, the latter stopped and looked around.

“What’s up?” Nathan asked.

“I wonder if Judith’s still around. Maybe I should go see if I can find her.”

“You sound like you doubt it. Come on, man. You’ve got a chick radar built into that head of yours.”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“You liked that girl, didn’t you?”

“A lot, man. She was really sexy. Why didn’t you tell me Amanda had such a hot friend?”

“I didn’t expect you to be interested.”

Ashton laughed.

“Anyway, weren’t you so enamored with Grecia? It puzzles me that you two haven’t so much as spoken to each other since last summer.”

At the reminder, Ashton’s face turned serious. He avoided Nathan’s gaze.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Ashton replied, shaking his head. “See you later.”

Nathan’s eyebrows furrowed as he watched his friend walk away. He shrugged and then continued walking in the direction of the dorm. Nathan needed to get his car to go to work.

As he drove, Nathan turned on the radio and set his iPod to play a song at random.
Wait for Love
by Matt White started to play.

Listening, the song reminded Nathan of Amanda. He pictured both her and Kayla in his mind.

Can I pick one without hurting the other?

Nathan was starting to feel surer that his attraction to Amanda would only grow stronger until he could no longer resist it. And he needed to confess it to Kayla before he ended up hurting her.

After all the years that’d passed, Nathan thought he’d managed to forget Amanda. He felt chagrined at realizing that it wasn’t the case.

If love at first sight is truly real, then I wonder if the day I met Amanda is it,
Nathan found himself thinking.

Nathan stopped at a red light for a moment. Then he continued driving.

Just as he was passing by a pet store, he spotted Amanda walking out of there. Nathan looked ahead and saw that there was no red light, so he turned right onto a parking lot next to the store.

There’s no way Nathan could have predicted what he saw when he looked in his rearview mirror. Amanda, who was with a young man, was approaching her car. Before they could reach it, two men appeared. One of them jumped on Amanda’s friend. He’d anticipated the move, but couldn’t react fast enough. The other man grabbed Amanda by the arm.

Nathan didn’t stop to think. He dashed out of his car. As he ran, he noticed none of the two men had bothered with wearing masks. All they wore was sunglasses.

They didn’t sense Nathan coming. Just as Amanda was struggling with her attacker, Nathan pushed him. He fell, releasing his hold on Amanda.

The other guy advanced on Nathan. He was ready. With a quick uppercut, the man became dazed long enough for Nathan to launch a kick. Unfortunately, the man blocked it. He threw a right hook at Nathan. He had to duck to avoid the blow.

Angry, the downed man tried to surprise Nathan from behind. Amanda prevented it by screaming at him. When the assailant turned, Amanda brought her palm up hard onto his nose. She followed with a kick to the groin. The man fell again, groaning in pain.

Nathan struck the second man in the neck. He then finished him off with a punch straight in the face. The man fell backward, knocked out.

When Nathan turned around, he saw Amanda looking at him in awe.

“
Are you all right?” he asked, walking up to her. He cupped her head with his hands.

“
Yes,” she said. “You…where did you learn to fight like that?”

“
I haven’t studied martial arts, if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t have a fancy fighting system. It’s just, when I saw those men, I sure wasn’t about to let them hurt you.”

“
You’re strong,” Amanda told him, bringing her hand up and touching Nathan’s arm. He looked behind him.

“
Who’s your friend?” Nathan asked, walking towards the young man. Amanda followed behind. As they neared, Nathan recognized the guy.

“
Oh, it’s your guard.”

Amanda shook Kellan. After a few seconds, he woke up. He looked shocked.

“
Amanda, what…?” he asked, and then he got hastily to his feet. “You’re safe. What happened?”

“
Nathan here saved me,” Amanda said, grabbing onto Nathan’s arm.

“
I was just passing by and came upon this…robbery attempt, by the looks of it. I rushed to your help.”

“
Well,” said Kellan, looking impressed. He took the pulse of both men at their necks. “You should call the police to take these two away. I’ll find something to restrain them.”

“
Do what you need to,” Amanda said, and Kellan went to Amanda’s car. She turned to Nathan.

“
Thank you.”

“
It was my pleasure. I’m just glad you’re okay,” he replied, touching the side of her face. Nathan allowed himself a moment to lose himself in her beautiful eyes. Amanda smiled in gratitude. Then Nathan took a quick glance towards Kellan, and lowered his hand.

Amanda pulled out her smartphone and dialed 911. She told the operator what had happened.

By the time Amanda finished her call, Kellan had the crooks bound by their wrists with cable ties.

“
Now we wait?” Amanda asked Kellan. He beckoned her to come forward. They began to speak low enough to keep Nathan from hearing. His eyebrows furrowed. After a few moments, Kellan looked at Nathan.

“
Thank you for protecting her. We can take it from here, if you have somewhere to be.”

Nathan really didn’t want to leave Amanda. He would skip work for her, but it seemed she was no longer in danger.

“
You’ll be safe, right?”

“
Yes. Thankfully, I’m not hurt.”

Nathan nodded, looking at Kellan.

“
Okay. Just call me when you get back to your place, will you?” he said, writing his number on a page from his notepad and handing it to Amanda.

“
I will,” she said, showing a hint of a smile.

“
See you,” Nathan told her, waving his hand. Amanda watched him walk back to his car. He got inside and revved the engine. When he got on the road, Amanda turned to Kellan.

“
Thanks for helping.”

“
No problem, Ms. Tilley. Grayson is on his way here.”

As promised, Grayson arrived before the police did. He drove Amanda back to her apartment.

“
Let me make sure it’s safe, Ms. Tilley,” Grayson said. He entered the apartment, closing the door behind him. Amanda waited outside for a few minutes.

“
It’s all clear,” Grayson announced after opening the door. Amanda stepped inside.

“
It was him, right?” she asked, turning to look at her head of security.

“
We don’t know, ma’am. Most likely. Hughes and I will work with the police. They’ll tell us who the men are.”

Amanda walked to the sofa and sat down. Grayson stood by the door while she switched on the TV.

Although Nathan had been tempted to follow Amanda to her apartment, he resisted doing so. The whole drive to work, he thought about her. Nathan couldn’t even imagine what could have happened if he hadn’t been there to save Amanda.

Nathan scanned a customer’s purchases. As he did so, he wondered if Ashton had found Judith, or if he had wised up and looked for Grecia. It was obvious that those two loved each other.

When Nathan turned and saw a woman with long black hair, he remembered Kayla. All the excitement of the previous hour had made him all but forget about her. He worried about that. Nathan felt that Kayla was supposed to be the first girl in his thoughts.

When things were slow enough, Nathan took a small bathroom break. Inside, he pulled out his smartphone from his pocket. He was about to call Amanda when he remembered that he hadn’t even asked her for her phone number.

Nathan set the phone on the edge of the sink, looking at himself in the mirror. As he was fixing his hair, Nathan’s smartphone vibrated. He answered the call right away.

 “Nathan Ferland,” he answered.

“Hi, Nathan. It’s Amanda.”

“Hey, I meant to call you, but I realized that I didn’t ask you for your number. Are you okay?”

“Yes. Hughes brought me back to my apartment. It’s all clear here. No danger.”