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said slowly, and Reid’s face lit up, “we could give it one more try.”
    “Great. I thought we’d go to the beer garden. It will take a while to find parking. Do you want to meet at my house at three?”
    “I have to work until three,” she said, shaking her head. “How about three-thirty so I can run home and change?”
    “I can do three-thirty,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”
    Jillian nodded and watched him walk back across the street before closing the door, hoping she wasn’t making a big mistake. As eager as she was to get out there again, the truth was her heart was still very fragile.
     
    Just after three there was a knock on the front door, and Reid opened it to find Jillian on his porch wearing a long causal cotton skirt and tank top with a sweater in her hand.
    “Hello,” he said.
    “I was able to leave work a little early,” she told him, smiling. “I knew you were hoping to head out sooner.”
    Reid grabbed his own jacket from a nearby closet. “I was all right with the later time, but this is great. You all ready then?”
    She nodded.
    “So where exactly did you have to take off to when we were at dinner?” Jillian asked as they pulled onto the freeway.
    “New York,” he replied with the ready answer.
    “How long were you gone for?”
    “The whole five days,” he said. “I just got back yesterday morning. How was work today?” he asked in an effort to turn the conversation in a different direction.
    She shrugged. “The usual. A lot of people that were going to the game as well. Or getting ready to watch it from home.”
    “I probably should have asked this before, but are you a baseball fan?”
    “I can’t stand baseball,” she said.
    Reid’s head snapped in her direction and caught the playful grin on her face.
    “I’m teasing,” she said. “I don’t normally follow baseball, but I always enjoy going to Safeco Field.”
    Reid turned his attention back to the road.
    “You should have seen your face,” she said, laughing. “Do you really think I would have agreed to come if I hated it so much?”
    He couldn’t help laughing with her. “I would hope not.”
    “Football is a different story though. I’m getting excited for the upcoming season.”
    “Have you been to any Seahawk games?”
    “Loads,” she said. “My dad has season tickets.”
    “I heard there was a waiting list for those.”
    “Now, but he’s had his for years.”
    Reid noticed she didn’t mention her mother and thought back to the pictures on her dresser.
    “How about you?” she asked.
    “I’ve been to a couple of games,” he said. “I try to watch them if I’m home.”
    “Well, if my dad ever can’t make it to a game, maybe I’ll invite you.”
    Reid glanced over to catch her smile again. He liked it a lot better than the frown she was wearing at the end of their last attempt at a date. At least this time there wasn’t any chance of him getting called in, so the odds were already improved.
     
    Reid managed to find parking only a few blocks from the stadium, and they joined the throngs of people stepping off the buses nearby and migrating towards Safeco Field. Reid took Jillian’s hand as they waited to cross an intersection, and she gave him a shy smile. His grip was sure and solid, and she couldn’t help but imagine how those hands might feel…elsewhere. When the walk signal changed, he led her across the street to the Pyramid Alehouse beer garden where they waited to be carded before entering.
    “I hope you don’t mind,” he said with a frown, “but I have a friend meeting us here.”
    “Oh.” Jillian tried to hide her disappointment.
    “The tickets were handed out at work so there will be other people in the stands I know, but Aaron and I made plans to meet here before the game.”
    She forced a smile. “That’s fine.”
    They made it past the entrance and she scanned the crowd with Reid, not really knowing who they were looking for. But then she saw a man with