I turned around and there was a man standing over me, the light from the plate-glass window streaming behind him, making his handsome face radiant and otherworldly. He was tall but not too tall, with sandy blond hair that was tousled but not sloppy. Blue eyes twinkling, he smiled at me with the straightest, whitest row of teeth.

I stood up, though I’m not sure why, and he said, “I think this might belong to you,” in the most swoon-worthy Southern drawl I’d ever heard.

I was so relieved I threw my arms around his neck and said something super cheesy and embarrassing like, “Chivalry is not dead! Knights in shining armor do exist.”

He smiled, showing off this adorable cleft in his chin and saying that his mother raised him right.

“She did,” I whispered, forgetting that I was in a restaurant, that I was supposed to be talking about a book. “Wait, how did you find me?” I asked. This was great but also probably some sort of major security breach I couldn’t let happen again.

“Your dad called, I answered, and he told me where you were.” He grinned again. “Nice guy.”

“Let me buy you a drink to thank you,” I said impulsively, suddenly feeling something I never felt: shy.

He shook his head. “How about I buy you dinner to thank you?”

“Thank me? For what?”

“For leaving your phone in that cab so I’d have to come find you.”

His name is Parker Thaysden. He is from North Carolina, which my mother will absolutely despise. He went to Princeton, and he’s brilliant, but he doesn’t know it. He’s in marketing, which my father will love. Now I’m looking at my watch every five minutes waiting for him to call. I can’t even think straight. And I’m dreading getting on that plane back to Palm Beach tomorrow because Parker isn’t in Palm Beach. I’m already figuring out how I can work in New York more and he can take long weekends in Florida. And, just like that, maybe I have time to date after all.

Amelia RIPTIDE

AFTER THAT SOFTBALL GAME, I couldn’t have eaten dinner if my life depended on it. And not because I ate too many lemon squares.

I made certain my sister-in-law, Trina, was sitting beside me at family dinner, where I had to break the news about Thad and Chase. I loved Trina. She was pretty and sweet and the most involved mother I knew. Bless her precious, manicured, highlighted heart, no matter what storm was brewing in our family, she was as steady as the tide.

I hoped she wouldn’t be worried for me, that she would just give me that sweet smile of hers and say something optimistic. Because this was going to be ugly. I felt so sick I hadn’t even touched the pimento cheese and crackers Mom put out before dinner, which was really saying something because her pimento cheese was the best in the world. I swallowed a sip of chardonnay from a crystal goblet, which I also worried contained lead, for courage. If I didn’t get this over with, I was going to be too sick for dessert, too. And that would really be bad.