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purging. She just enjoyed herself. She was happy.
    It wasn’t too crowded for a Saturday, but there was a birthday party going on at a set of three picnic tables that had been pulled together in one long line. Presents were piled on the table, bunches of red, blue, green, yellow, and orange balloons were tied to the benches, and a large birthday cake was at one end of the table.
    Eight or nine-year-old kids ran in and around the arcade until a large woman in a loose yellow dress called for them to come to the table. While they ate, Jo and Tate watched the kids and the birthday boy who tore into his gifts after all the kids ate their hot dogs. Cake was served after the opening of the gifts.
    After Jo and Tate finished eating and had thrown their trash into a big metal drum that had a black garbage bag lining it, they walked into the dim arcade.
    The arcade had machines that ranged from video games to shooting galleries to basketball and to games where stuffed animals could be won. Tate and Jo went for the old pinball machines. Even though they’d grown up with all sorts of games, they’d always had fun playing pinball more than anything else when they were kids.
    Jo found herself giggling as they played one of their old favorites, and realized she hadn’t giggled in longer than she could remember. She was surprised at how good and freeing it felt to just let herself go. She beat him at making baskets in the basketball game and he had her beat in the shooting gallery. They were neck and neck at winning most games.
    It was late afternoon by the time they finished playing just about every game in the small arcade and had exhausted the last bunch of game machine coins Tate had purchased.
    Still laughing, they walked to his truck and climbed in. “Had enough for a day?” he asked her.
    She relaxed in her seat after she strapped on her seatbelt. “A great day.”
    “I still can’t believe you beat me at PAC-MAN,” he said with a shake of his head.
    She grinned. “I always was better than you at it.”
    “Ha,” he said, but laughed.
    “I could fix dinner at my place if you’re up for it,” she said before she even realized the words were out of her mouth.
    “Sounds good to me,” he said and started the truck.
     

Chapter 5
     
    Butterflies traveled through Jo’s belly as she and Tate headed back to her house. What was she doing, inviting him over for dinner? It was one thing to go out with him, another to have him over for dinner.
    She let them into the house. It was a large home that she’d fallen in love with when she moved back to town. She set her purse on the table in the foyer and he set his ball cap there too, before she led him to the kitchen.
    Hair had escaped her braid and she pushed it out of her face as she turned to face him. “What sounds good?”
    He hitched his shoulder up against the archway into the kitchen and hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his Wranglers. His T-shirt was pulled taut against his muscular chest and his hair was mussed from being under the ball cap. “Anything easy.”
    She rummaged around in the pantry and pulled out a package of angel hair pasta and a jar of three-cheese spaghetti sauce. “How about spaghetti? That’s fast.”
    “Great.” He watched her with an intense look that made her feel a little unnerved. “What can I do to help?”
    “Stand there and keep looking sexy,” she said without thinking.
    He grinned. “Sexy, huh?”
    She shrugged and tried to hide a smile. “You have your moments.” She grabbed the large stockpot she used to boil water for pasta and filled it with water.
    While the water heated, she washed up and then cut thick slices of the French bread she had recently bought and made several pieces of garlic bread with fresh garlic and olive oil. When the water was boiling, she put the angel hair pasta in then grabbed a package of pre-made salad from the fridge and put it into a bowl.
    They talked as she put together the simple dinner