Fish Tacos

Thad gently reached out and touched her arm causing her to stop.

"No. That's my job," he said as she looked over at him and their eyes met.

"Oh. Okay. Another very pleasant surprise," she said quietly as he continued to look at her.

The look was so intense Fallon had to look away as her brain sent out all kinds of signals to her body; signals she had to ignore to avoid making a fool out of herself.

Thad finally looked away, too, then said, "I'll be right there."

He ran around and opened her door and helped her out.

Fallon thanked him and as their eyes met again she was hoping he might at least try and kiss her on the cheek again, although an actual kiss wouldn't be so bad, either.

He closed her door then said, "I know this wasn't a date, but..."

"But?" she repeated as he gently took the fingers of both her hands into his.

"But I would really like to kiss you, Fallon," he told her.

"I don't think a date is required in order for two people to kiss," she said, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"I'm glad," he told her as he leaned down and kissed her softly.

Fallon's body tingled from head to toe as the gentle kiss lingered for a second or two longer than she thought it would.

When it ended, she again felt like she was back in high school and had no idea what to say.

"Fallon? May I see you again? Soon?" Thad asked before she could sort out her thoughts.

"You want to see me again?" she asked not sure she heard correctly.

"Yes. Very much. I mean, if you'd like to, of course," he told her.

"I...I think I'd like that. A lot," she managed to say.

"Really? Great! Then I'll call you. Tonight."

"Okay. Yes. Please do," she told him too confused to think through what she was saying or why.

"I will," he said before finally letting go of her hands.

"Thank you for lunch, Thad. I really did have a wonderful time."

"Me, too," he assured her as he became aware he was also receiving signals from his brain; signals manifesting in an old, familiar...swelling...he hadn't experienced in the presence of a woman since Sarah was alive.

Fallon walked into the shop having momentarily forgotten about Beth who'd seen everything.

"Oh...my...God!" she said immediately. "He kissed you!"

"Okay. So he kissed me. It's not a big deal," Fallon insisted even though every fiber of her being was tingling.

"Um, it looked like a pretty big deal to me," Beth said.

"Well, it was kind of nice," Fallon said as she pretended to straighten a floral arrangement.

"I knew it! He's a really good kisser, isn't she?" Beth said nearly begging for confirmation.

"I'd say...great more than 'really good', but yes!" Fallon replied finally sharing her excitement.

"I want details. Lots and lots of details. Did you hold hands? Did he kiss you before that? Are you seeing him again?"

Fallon held up her hand and said, "Hold on, okay?"

"Okay. Okay. I'm just SO excited, you know?" Beth bubbled. "I would die to kiss a guy like that!"

Fallon didn't say anything so Beth said, "So? Are you seeing him again?"

Unable to keep it all to herself Fallon finally smiled and said, "Yes! He told me he wants to see me again—soon—and he's going to call me tonight!"

Beth grabbed her hands and Fallon actually did a kind of dance in a circle with her as they celebrated.

"I am so happy for you!" Beth said.

"Thank you. I...I haven't felt like this since. Well, since I was your age," she told Beth as she floated dreamily back down to earth.

"Do you know if he has a brother?" Beth asked only partially teasing. "Younger, older. Maybe a second cousin even?"

Fallon laughed and told her she'd be sure to ask, certain Beth knew that wasn't going to happen.

"This is all so new to me," Fallon said as her head began to stop spinning.

"Well, the first thing you do is send him a text. Tell him how much you enjoyed seeing him and how you can't wait to see him again," Beth informed her.

"That sounds a little forward," Fallon said not sure that was good advice.

"Um...it's 2017, Fallon. Trust me, okay?"

"Well, I guess one short little text couldn't hurt, right?"

Thad was with a patient when the text came in so he didn't read it immediately, but he did smile when he saw who it was from.

The first moment he had a break he texted her back and told her he felt the same way.

Beth hounded her until Fallon showed him what he wrote before doing a 'happy dance' of her own. Fallon didn't join in so she asked if something was wrong.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm getting all excited over nothing, you know? I mean, well, Thad and I haven't really discussed our...differences."

"What? Like politics and religion?" Beth naively asked.

Fallon smiled before saying, "No. Those might be important, but I mean our, you know, slight difference in age. Am I crazy to think he doesn't really notice or even crazier to think he really might not care?"

"There's only one way to find out, Boss Lady. Ask him."

Fallon was too jazzed to blog that night. Or at least she thought that was the right word for what she was feeling. Then after Thad called and they talked for nearly an hour, she could barely sleep.

He'd invited her to have dinner at his house on Saturday, and Fallon agreed without hesitation. She'd volunteered to cook dinner although she wasn't much of a chef. Thad, on the other hand, was, and had so informed her in a way that was very self deprecating. Modesty was a huge turn on to her, and even being a gorgeous doctor, Thad was anything but arrogant—one more huge plus.

She barely slept that night—until, after laying there for hours and reliving their...date...and the kiss, she let her fingers do the walking and brought herself to her first orgasm in many, many months. She didn't even need to imagine making love with him. Just the thought of the handsome young doctor taking her somewhere and asking her dance was enough. As she pictured herself putting her hand in his she imagined him then slowly placing it on his shoulder where she released it and slid her arm around his neck. She could hear him whispering, "You are so beautiful" and that was it. It was game over. Her body trembled and shook as she gasped for breath. As it did, Fallon imagined one long, passionate kiss the calm 'afterglow' set in allowing her to finally fall asleep.

Beth teased her several times the following day when she realized the same person was texting her boss every few minutes.

"Welcome to romance in the 2010s," she said with an evil smile after two texts arrived back to back.

"How did people ever get by without texting?" Fallon asked once in a rhetorical way as she read his sweet words.

A customer had come in and if not for Beth, the woman may have stood there for quite a while as Fallon tapped out her reply.

"Don't mind her. She's in love," Beth told the woman who had no idea what she was talking about.

"We're not in love," Fallon said having heard her. "We're just...getting better acquainted."

Beth pretended she was telling a secret to the woman she'd never met as she said loudly enough for Fallon to hear again, "She's also totally delusional. Yeah. It's a hopeless case."

The woman gave her a strange look then asked if they had any carnations.

"We do. Follow me, please," Beth said.

As they walked passed Fallon, Beth said, "Tell Dr. Romeo I said hi! And don't forget to ask about male relatives, okay?"

Too happy to care, Fallon just smiled as she typed.

"Okay. Sounds good. See you tonight at 6!" she wrote in response to Thad's more formal invitation to dinner.

The shop closed at 5pm on Saturdays giving Fallon time to run home and change before heading to Thad's. She'd insisted on driving rather than being picked up, and now she found herself smiling as she 'worried' about what to wear.

Being a business owner, Fallon dressed professionally every day, and that meant either dresses, skirts, or pants that weren't jeans. Tonight she wanted to look nice but not elegant; pretty but not formal.

After holding up three different dresses, she decided that was too much. It was very chilly outside so she started looking through the many different sweaters she had and it didn't take long to decide.

Her long, dark hair would look great against a soft, buttery kind of yellow and she had the perfect top in mind. Bright yellow didn't work for her, but this shade did and when she pulled it on, she was very happy with the way it looked. It was a crew neck and showed just the slightest hint of cleavage while showing off her still-firm breasts while hugging the waistline she kept very small thanks to those regular workouts.

She paired it with a black skirt that fell to three inches above her knee while the suntan-colored hose she wore went very nicely with the sweater.

She thought about wearing flats but only for a second. Even kitten heels were too subdued. She slipped into a pair of 2 1/2 black heels then added a gold, teardrop necklace and a pair of matching earrings. Dressy and sophisticated but still somewhat close to casual. Okay, maybe not quite casual, but Fallon was very pleased the way it all came together.

She brushed out her silky hair which still had shine and bounce in it then touched up her makeup and shamelessly added a coat of shiny lip gloss before calling it quits.

For the...what was it? The third time? The fourth? She felt like she was meeting a date back in high school as she rang the doorbell on the very nice home in one of the best developments in town.

To her delight, a very pretty young girl answered the door and said, "Good evening. My name is Sophia. Welcome to our home. Won't you please come in?"

Fallon was so surprised by her well-spoken words and manners that she wanted to hug her as soon as she finished speaking.

Instead, she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sophia. My name is Fallon."

"I know. My daddy told me," she said sweetly as Fallon stepped inside.

Sophie closed the door and locked it then told Fallon, "Won't you please come with me?"

Smiling from ear to ear, Fallon said, "I would love to!"

Sophie led her into a very tastefully done living room then said, "My daddy will be down in just a minute. Someone called and he has to talk to them because a little boy has measles. His parents didn't vaccinate him and now he's sick."

"Oh, my. Yes, quite a few parents are doing that nowadays," Fallon said speaking to her the way she would another adult.

"People think kids can become autistic if they get vaccinated, but that's not true. It's just like thinking you can get the flu from a flu shot when it doesn't use a live virus."

"You are a very intelligent young lady," Fallon told her.

"Thank you. My daddy explains things like to me so I won't make the same mistakes when I have children someday," Sophie informed her.

"Do you want to have children?" Fallon asked.

"Well, I have to find a husband first," she said with certainty.

"That's usually how it works," Fallon said trying not to smile.

"Do you have children?" Sophie asked.

"I do. I have a son who's name is Stone. He's 18 and a senior in high school."

"I never heard the name Stone before," Sophie said.

"It's not a very common name, but my husband and I...my ex-husband, liked it a lot."

"My mommy picked out my name. It was her favorite name of all the girl names in the whole world," Sophie told her. "My mommy died when I was little."

Fallon felt so bad for her she couldn't possibly laugh at Sophie's unwitting comment about having once been 'little' when she was still so young.

"I heard that. I'm so, so sorry, Sophia," Fallon told her.

"It's okay. My daddy and I are best friends so..."

"That we are!" they heard a male voice say.

"Hi, Daddy!" Sophie said. "Miss Fallon is here. She's really nice."

"Why, yes she is, honey," he told her.

"And she's very pretty," the little girl added.

"Ohh! Thank you, sweetheart!" Fallon said. "So are you!"

"Thank, you," Sophie said very sweetly.

Her dad sat down next to her and Sophie put her hand up to his ear and said, "I really like her, Daddy!"

Fallon heard and smiled as Thad said, "You know what? So do I, honey."

As Fallon sat across from them just looking at them together, some part of her felt like she should be sitting there with them with Sophie in between her and her father. It wasn't a rational thought as there was no basis for it, but she couldn't help thinking it. She'd just met Sophie and she already loved her. Of course, she'd only recently met her father, and there was no way she could be in love with him. Or perhaps the better way to say it was there was no way he could be in love with her.

"Fallon? Would you like a glass of wine?"

"I'd love one," she told him.

As Thad got up, he took Sophie's hand as she also stood up. Sophie smiled at Fallon and reached out for her hand.

"Come on. I'll show you where the kitchen is."

Thad smiled and nodded imperceptibly so Fallon took her hand as they left the living room.

"I really like your home, Thad," she said as they entered the kitchen.

"Thank you," he replied. "We like it, right Soph?"

"Yes, we do," she agreed.

"Red or white?" Thad asked.

"White, please," she said with a smile.

"How about you, Sophie?" Fallon asked with a smile. "Red or white?"

"Oh, I can't have wine. It's against the rules," she informed Fallon.

"Oh. I see."

"Rules are important," Sophie let her know. "They provide the basis for boundaries and boundaries provide shtruckshure."

The pronunciation wasn't perfect, but she was clearly a very smart young lady.

"Okay. And...do you have a lot of rules?" she asked as she glanced at Thad.

"No. Not really. Just important ones."

"Such as?"

"Well, like always telling the truth and never taking anything that doesn't belong to you. Oh, and getting up and being ready for school on time and reading at least 15 minutes each night," Sophie told her.

"I guess that's okay," Fallon said not wanting to challenge an eight-year old girl.

"Do you take issue?" Thad said as he handed a glass of white wine.

"Well, I just think children need room to grow and make mistakes without the fear of punishment," she said but rather carefully.

"Well, we don't waterboard around here," Thad teased.

"No. No waterboarding. But I might lose part of my allowance or get grounded," Sophie explained having no idea there tension might be building.

"So...your father takes your money away if you're late getting ready?" she asked.

"Well, it really isn't my money," Sophie unintentionally countered. "It's my daddy's money and he gives it to me. That's why it's called an allowance. I didn't actually earn it."

Fallon couldn't argue with that although it still struck her as 'mean'. Rather than escalate the matter, she decided to move on.

"What is that that smells so heavenly?" she asked.

"That would be the house specialty—garlic chicken with green beans almandine," Thad told her.

"It smells positively delicious!" Fallon said.

They made small talk during dinner and when it was over Fallon was wondering if she should excuse herself when Sophie asked if she'd stay and watch a movie with them.

"Oh, I don't know, honey. I don't want to overstay my welcome," she said while looking at Thad.

"I can assure you that can't happen," he told her with a smile.

"See! We both like you!" Sophie said as she took Fallon's hand and led her back to the living room before she could protest any further.

"What are we going to watch?" Fallon asked.

Sophie sorted through a stack of DVDs then found one she'd seen her dad watch when he thought she was asleep. She'd watched from the stairs and seen him cry when someone with a British accent kissed a younger girl.

"How about this one?" she asked excitedly as she held up Love Actually.

Before her father could say, "That's a little too much," Fallon said, "Oh, I love that movie!"

Again, before Thad could protest, Sophie popped it in the tray and closed it then grabbed the remote.

"Sit with us, Miss Fallon," she said sweetly as she took the middle of the sofa.

"Oh. Well, thank you," she said as she sat on her left while her daddy sat to her right.

As Sophie skipped the commercials at the beginning, Fallon realized she was now exactly where she'd thought about being earlier that evening. Just before the movie itself began she said, "This is very nice."

Sophie looked up and smiled at her then Thad glanced over and said, "Yes, it is," as he couldn't remember the last time he felt...normal. Perhaps it was when the three of them sat there watching a movie together just days before Sarah fell ill.

After a few minutes Sophie asked if they could have some popcorn and her dad said that sounded great. She paused the movie so her dad could microwave a bag for them.

"Don't worry, Fallon. I won't put any salt or butter on it," Thad told her knowing how she watched her figure. He smiled when he did and realized he'd been watching her figure, too. The knit top she wore made it impossible not to notice how nicely everything fit and flowed and it flowed quite well.

Just minutes after he returned with the goods, Sophie said, "It's past my bedtime, Daddy. And I still need to read."

"No. You can stay up this one time, honey," he told her.

"No. The rules are the rules," she said just as she'd heard him say many times.

"I can't argue with that," her dad said to her while catching the look of disapproval on Fallon's face.

"I'll go brush my teeth and read, and you don't have to tuck me in tonight," she said sweetly.

"No, I always tuck you in," her dad said just as sweetly. "Call me when you're ready."

"Don't you want to stay down here and watch the movie with Miss Fallon?"

"Well, sure. But no one is more important than you, so, I'll be up to tuck you in."

"Can Miss Fallon come, too?" she asked politely.

Sophie's sweetness melted Fallon's heart. She not only forgot about 'the rules' comment, she choked up slightly when she said, "I would love to. If it's okay with your father."

"I think that would be fine," he said as he smiled at the beautiful, older woman still sitting on the couch next to him.

They were waiting for Sophie to leave when she said, "Daddy? I need a hug."

He reached out for her but Sophie didn't move so Thad slid to his left playing right into his daughter's plans. He hugged her then went to move back, but Sophie said, "I think you should stay right there, Daddy."

He realized what was going on and said, "Fallon and I don't really know each other all that well yet, so she might not feel comfortable if I stayed here."

Sophie looked at Fallon who also 'got it' and said, "You're quite the matchmaker, young lady. Do you know what a 'matchmaker' is?"

Sophie giggled for the first time and said, "Of course I do. I'm not little, you know."

The adults both chuckled as Fallon said, "May I have a hug, too?"

Again Sophie said, "Of course you may!" before throwing her arms around Fallon's neck.

"See you when you come to tuck me in!" she said as she hopped and skipped to the stairs then bounded up to bed.

"She is so adorable!" Fallon said, aware that Thad hadn't moved away.

"I haven't seen her this happy since..."

Fallon knew what he meant and reached for his hand.

"I understand," she told him. She not only didn't let go of his hand, Thad readjusted his grip and their fingers were now interlaced.

"She is matchmaking, isn't she?" he said as they movie started back up.

"And doing a pretty good job of it, I'd say," Fallon replied with a bright, happy smile.

"You are so beautiful," he said out of nowhere as he continued to look at her.

Her heart began beating faster as he stared into her eyes.

"Thank you," she said softly before he leaned over and kissed her.