“I don’t like Valentine’s Day because my ex-wife used to hate it and it eventually rubbed off on me. Now I get grumpy when I see construction paper hearts and those little candies that have sayings on them like ‘love you’ but spelled L-U-V.”

Nell nodded and made an ahh I understand now sound.

“There’s the red flag.”

Surprisingly, Quinn laughed out loud in one booming burst. It triggered her own smile.

“You know, that’s actually what my last date said. When I wouldn’t bad-mouth my ex, she said the divorce must have been my fault and that was just too many red flags for her.” He didn’t look hurt at all about the news, so Nell leaned into it.

“Why won’t you shit-talk your ex?”

Quinn shrugged. “Because she’s my son Owen’s mother and it’s my rule that I don’t hurt him by disrespecting her.”

“Wow,” Nell breathed. “That’s the sexiest and sweetest red flag I’ve ever heard.”

He laughed again. It drew looks from the teens in the corner.

“Apparently my date didn’t think so. My single dad status was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Nell shook her head, making tsk tsk sounds.

“She didn’t even give you a chance to show her your real red flags, huh? How thoughtless.”

“Exactly,” Quinn agreed. “We hadn’t even breached the whole topic of me not having any social media accounts.”

This time Nell didn’t have to fake or mock shock. She rocked forward a little, eyes wide, like he’d just sprouted wings.

“You don’t have Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? TikTok?”

“Nope. I barely even Google.” He motioned to the open book he’d been reading and then to her. “I prefer real life to all this tech and internet crap.”

“‘All this tech and internet crap.’” Nell shook her head and whistled. “Boy. You think you know a total stranger and then this happens. What a ride.”

Quinn laughed again and Nell kept smiling. Their waitress showed up right after and distributed their respective plates of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, green beans, and buttered rolls. After she walked away, there was a moment of silence for the table. Then Quinn spoke up.

“What are the chances she spit in my food, too?”

Nell snorted.

“I guess there’s no way to know until we dive in, sweetheart.”

Quinn never went back to his book, and their meal was good. The conversation was easy but never really deep. Other than his divorce and the fact that he had a kid, he didn’t give her any more personal details, and Nell didn’t offer her own, either. It was nice to just be with someone who she could make laugh and who did a surprisingly good job of making her laugh in turn.