He didn’t like her questioning herself. Dena was determined and hardworking. She got in the middle of things and accomplished her goals. She wasn’t afraid, and that was a good thing.

“I’m taking you to dinner,” he said, a plan forming. He glanced at his watch. “Be ready in an hour. Dress casual.”

She shook her head. “You don’t have to take me to dinner or do anything else. Seriously, Micah, I’ll be fine.”

“An hour,” he said firmly. “Don’t think you can get out of this. I know where you live.”

She laughed. “All right. Thank you. I’ll agree, but only on one condition.”

Sex? Could it be that they made love? Because for that, he was all in.

“Anything.”

“We’re not going to talk about this again,” she told him. “It makes me feel pathetic, and I don’t like that.”

“I won’t bring it up. You have my word.”

They both rose. He started for the door, then turned back.

“She’s wrong, you know,” he said. “That woman? She’s wrong about a man not wanting you because you had a baby on your own. Being that kind of person makes a guy wonder how far you’d go for the man you loved. It makes him think it would be to the ends of the earth.”

Micah’s kind words stayed with Dena for the next hour. She had a quick talk with her principal about the guitars, then hurried home to change for her dinner with Micah. She had no idea where he was taking her. They were meeting at four thirty, which seemed a little early for the evening meal, but as she would be spending time with him, she wasn’t going to complain.

As friends, she reminded herself. Only friends. Nothing more.

Dressed in jeans and a pretty holiday sweater, she was pulling on her scarf as Micah walked into the lobby of the B and B.

He looked good, which wasn’t a surprise. She doubted he ever looked bad. There was something about his deep blue eyes, or maybe it was his smile. Or his easy stride or the way he walked directly to her, as if there was no one else in the room.

“That man,” Winona murmured under her breath from behind the front desk. “He does give a woman pause.”

Amen to that, Dena thought.

“Right on time,” he said with a wink. “See, you’re full of good qualities.”

“Yes, punctuality is one of my strong suits.”

“We’d better get going. We have big plans for tonight.”

He hustled her out to his car and drove through town, by-passing The Wreath. She tried to think of any restaurants on the other side of town, but none came to mind.

“Where are we going?” she asked, curious rather than concerned.

He pointed to a sign as they turned onto Red Cedar Highway. “There.”