“I honestly don’t know.” Natalie shook her head. “But I feel like you’re grasping at straws here. I honestly don’t think Jay has anything to do with Amelia. She may have been chatting with some older guy online, but it seems like a stretch to think it’s Jay.”

Her words seemed logical. But Natalie hardly knew Jay. She’d only met him a couple of times. Why was she so quick to defend him? Thinking back, Whitney realized that she’d met Jay while waiting for Natalie at a restaurant. And it was Natalie who ultimately talked her into going on their first date.

“Are you excited about your big date tonight?” Natalie came toward Whitney, wiggling her shoulders, a smile stretching across her face. They were at the warehouse, going through inventory. It was cold and drafty, and smelled like damp wood.

Whitney pulled her sweater tighter around her body. “Actually, I think I’m going to cancel.”

“What?” Natalie’s head whipped in her direction. The shirt she’d been holding fluttered to the ground. “Why?”

Whitney’s fingers wove around the fuzzy fabric of a nearby sweater. She nervously rolled it between her fingertips. In the distance she heard tires on asphalt, the breeze whisking over the outer walls of the warehouse. A chill brushed down her back. “I don’t know. I just feel like it’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?” Natalie picked the shirt back up and added it to her pile.

Natalie would never understand. She’d married her high school sweetheart more than twenty years ago. She had no idea what the dating world was like. Or the issues a single mom faced while dating.

“I don’t know...I mean, I don’t know anything about this guy. I even googled him and couldn’t find anything, but a private Facebook page.”

“Well, he’s not famous, is he?”

“Clearly not.” Whitney chuckled. “It’s just usually when I date a guy it’s someone I already know. This guy sorta came out of nowhere.”

“Uh-oh. Have you been watching crime dramas again?”

Natalie always teased Whitney about her overactive imagination, telling her she needed to stick to watching comedies or romances, not scary shows.

Whitney laughed, cocked a brow. “Maybe.”

“That night you met Jay, you could not stop smiling. The whole dinner all you did was talk about how hot he was, and how nice he was,” Natalie reminded her. “I think you should go for it. But if you’re really worried, I can come hang out in the restaurant, keep an eye on you.”

“Like as my bodyguard?”

Natalie laughed. “Incognito, of course.”

Whitney pictured Natalie in sunglasses and a black hat, sitting at the bar, watching them on their date. Laughing along, she shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine.”

She looked at her friend. Wondered. Was Natalie behind her meeting Jay? Had she known him before?