July Flame

The restaurant was a little café. It was nicer than the types of places I usually frequented, but it was nothing showy. My shoulders relaxed as my eyes scanned the place. I didn't know who I was looking for, though. Abby had refused to tell me anything but a first name and an address. I had only been standing in the lobby for a second or two when a warm hand landed on my shoulder. I nearly jumped out of my skin, spinning around and running straight into a man's chest.

My face flushed before I even looked at him and once our eyes connected, I knew my face was scarlet, "Oh... sorry."

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't meant to startle you. But I was wondering, are you Emmeline?" The man had a deep voice and it made him seem older than he probably was. He was dressed nicely, dressed up but still casual, which was appreciated and duly noted.

"Yes, that's me," I smiled softly, "So, I'm going to assume you are Jonathan then."

He smiled, "Yes; how about we grab a table?"

Nodding, I followed him into the dining room, where we sat down at a table that was off to the side. I was pleasantly surprised when he pulled my chair out for me. Not a moment after we had sat down, a waitress came over to give us menus and take our drink orders. Jonathan thanked the waitress, who smiled at him flirtatiously. He smiled awkwardly before looking down at the menu. I cracked open my menu, my eyes slightly widening at the prices, though they were not overtly extravagant. Okay, so this place was a lot more upscale than I thought it was.

"So, uh, Abby said you two work together?" Jonathan wondered. My eyes left the menu to meet his.

"Yeah, we work at the same doctor's office. How do you know her?"

Jonathan furrowed his brow, pursing his lips as he watched me carefully. It was almost as though he was examining me to see if I was being honest. Suddenly, he began to laugh.

"I'm going to assume I just said something extremely stupid..." I trailed off, unable to prevent myself from feeling self-conscious.

"No, no, sorry," Jonathan said between breaths as he tried to regain composure. "It's just - you're not from here are you?"

I shook my head, opening my mouth to reply just as the waitress came back with our drinks. I took a sip of water before I answered, "No, I've only been here for six months... But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I play hockey with Sharpie - er, Patrick," Jonathan explained. Abby had set me up with one of Patrick's teammates? "I'm kind of the captain..."

My eyes widened and I choked on my water. Abby had set me up with the captain?

"Is that... is that okay?" It was Jonathan's turn to be self-conscious.

I coughed, "Yes. It was just - unexpected. It's cool, honestly. I can't say I know much about the NHL, though."

"Don't worry about it, It's actually refreshing to meet someone in this city who doesn't know every single thing about me," Jonathan assured, smiling at me softly.

"Well, consider yourself refreshed, Jonathan. I don't even know your last name."

"That's probably a first in quite a while," he said, glancing up from the menu, "It's Toews."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Toews."

We chatted idly, Jonathan casually suggesting a few different items on the menu he enjoyed. Our waitress returned and took our orders. I ended up ordering some sandwich that sounded vaguely good and didn't cost an obscene amount of money.

"So, since you've only been here for six months, where did you live before?"

"Western New York, Rochester to be exact" I supplied, taking another sip of water. "I'ts just some dinky city near Lake Ontario."

"Isn't there a hockey team there?"

"Mhm, the Amerks, er, Americans. I'm not completely ignorant about hockey," I grinned at him.

"It wouldn't matter if you were; it's nice to know someone's whole life isn't devoted to hockey like mine is," Jonathan replied.

'Yeah, my life is just devoted to my child,' I thought quietly to myself.

"So, what about you, Mr. Hockey Player? With a last name like Toews, you must be from somewhere super exotic," I teased.

"Not quite," he responded, "More like Winnipeg, Manitoba. It's not the most exciting place, either."

"For a girl who had never left western New York until recently, a place with a name like 'Manitoba' is pretty damn exotic."

There was a light sprinkle of flirtation in our conversation throughout the rest of the evening. For a while, we talked more about our hometowns and a little about our families before things drifted to work. Jonathan's job was far more interesting than mine, being a hockey player and all, but he seemed genuinely interested to hear my banter about nursing school and working at the doctor's office with Abby.

After we finished dinner and Jonathan had paid the bill, he suggested we go out for a drink or something. For the first time since Abby had begun setting me up on these dates, I genuinely wanted to say yes, but we had spent so much time at dinner and I knew I had to get home to relieve Patrick and Abby of the duties because I was sure Cam was refusing to go to bed as he always did when I wasn't home.

"I-I can't, Jonathan... I really want to, believe me, but I really have to get home... you know, work in the morning and all..." I bit my lip nervously, unsure of how he was going to react. He smiled.

"Hey, I understand completely. Don't worry about it. Can I call you sometime, though? Maybe we could do this again?" Jonathan asked curiously. I nodded and we exchanged numbers as he walked me to my car.

We briefly hugged, pulling away from each other with a smile, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Emmeline."

As I watched him walk away, a silly grin spread across my lips as I squealed softly, climbing into my car in a bit of a daze. Had this night really happened?