“Ugh.” Danielle threw another shirt on the pile of rejected date outfits. “You’d think I’d be past this by now.” She muttered to herself. Her cute jeans were on and really anything would match them. It was just that none of them were right. Since when did she have too many overly casual shirts and too fancy blouses? She wanted to impress without him reading too much into it. And now she was saying ‘too’ too much in her head.
Diana peeked her head in. “Date’s here, Dan. Get a shirt on.”
Groaning, Danielle grabbed a pretty pale yellow blouse and jammed in over her head as she reached to pick up her shoes. When was the last time she was late getting ready for a date? This wasn’t even a first date.
…Maybe that was the problem.
She’d had plenty of first dates lately. Even some second ones. That’s when the numbers took a nosedive. It hadn’t even occurred to her that it would be difficult getting to date #3. This one was the first she’d had in almost a year. And her last third date had ended with her covered in sticky caramel. The guy didn’t even open her car door when he took her home. It was the sign she was coming to recognize as ‘no longer dating’.
Apparently gentlemen were only gentlemanly when you were dating material. Though she seemed to be having better luck with Brooks so far. Of course with this being the unlucky #3 she might find out otherwise before the night was through.
“Brooks.” Danielle nearly stumbled out of her room as she was trying to walk and tie her shoes at the same time. Not easy. Hence the stumbling.
“Danielle?” Brooks stood with a goofy smile. “You know you can take the time to finish getting your shoes on. We aren’t in that big of a rush.”
“Aren’t we? I hate being late.”
He shrugged. “I’m ok with a little lateness. I figure it’ll give me a little leeway if I ever find myself running a little late.”
“True. That is a good point. Seems fair enough.” Danielle grabbed her coat. “Now, where are we going on this fine date?”
“If I suggested it stay a surprise would you be less than thrilled?”
Danielle was shaking her head no before he even finished asking. “I’d say that I don’t have a good history of surprise-type dates. Will it ruin the date if you tell me?”
“Oh, no problem.” He held out his hand. “I’ll tell you on the way to the car. I just figured it would be more fun if it was a surprise. Maybe I have to wait till later dates to think of a good enough surprise. Or will you never like any surprises?”
Taking his hand with a bright grin she laughed. “Later dates means more dates in the future. So I’d say there is a definite possibility that surprises might be ok then. After all, you just surprised me with that little tidbit of info so I guess not all surprises are bad.”
“Does that mean I can keep today’s date details a secret till we get there?”
Danielle tugged him to the door. “You can tell me on the way to the car. Let’s take all this one step at a time.”
“Yeah, I guess the best surprises are fourth date material.”
Hiding her gulp, Danielle smiled. “That sounds rather nice. Now where are we going?”
“Nothing too special. I was thinking of maybe going over to Harmony Farms.” Reaching the car he opened her door and motioned her in. Once they were driving he cleared his throat a little and chuckled. “Does that sound good?”
“I’d like to say yes. I just don’t know what we would be doing at a farm for a date.”
“Oh.” He smacked his forehead. “I guess I should finish telling you what I was thinking. Sometimes you still make me so nervous. We’d go to the farm to pick produce. I think right now they have blackberries, peaches, zucchini, and I’m sure some other good stuff that I don’t remember right now. The website had a whole list.”
“Pick produce?”
“Yeah. Then have a picnic. We can eat what we pick.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Does that sound stupid? We don’t have to. Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t keep it a surprise. Right? We can do something different.”
Danielle laid her hand softly on his arm. “No. It sounds fun. Creative even. I’ve never gone blackberry picking before. This’ll be a first.”
“So we’re good?”
“More than good on my side of things. I can’t wait.” Laughing, she nudged him. “Good thing I didn’t try wearing heels. Dirt and heels do not mix.”
Brooks quickly smiled her way. “I wouldn’t have let you make that mistake. I woulda thought of a reason for you to change your shoes.”
“Aww. You’re so sweet.” Settling her head lightly on his shoulder she sighed. “To the farm we go.”
“It’s a bit of a drive. We may have to think of some things to talk about till then.”
They had reached the edge of town and there began to be less buildings.
“We could make a list of acceptable times for surprises.”
Brooks burst out laughing. “Birthdays?”
“Yes. And Christmas. Unless you’re breaking up with me, then I don’t think that kind of surprise should happen anywhere near those two days.”
“Agreed.” He reached over to take her hand. “However, if we were going to break up at all we would need to officially be dating and not just going on dates. Are you saying you want that?”
“With you?”
He did a double take. “Yes, with me.”
She laughed softly. “Well in that case I would say yes. Though I don’t have much luck with third dates so maybe we should save anything edging toward commitment until the end of the night. Just in case.”
“In case I suddenly discover I don’t find you gorgeous and funny anymore?”
She nodded. “That would be a big one.”
“Then I might as well ask you now because I definitely don’t see that happening. Will you be my girlfriend?”
“Really?” Danielle blushed, sitting up straight to look at his face.
He nodded.
“Best third date ever!”
After a full minute of silence Brooks nudged her. “Can I take that as a yes?”
“Yes.” Wringing her hands she smiled. “Yes. Sorry to keep you in suspense. I could have sworn I’d said yes before but maybe I had only screamed it in my head.”
