“Dad, are you nervous?” Nate asked, watching me as I got dressed for dinner.

“No, why would I be?” I replied, adjusting my shirt collar.

Nate gave me a look, as if to say he didn’t believe me. I stared right back at him. “This isn’t a date. I swear. I honestly just want to thank Winnie for saving your life. You know you could’ve been in big trouble if she hadn’t gone back for your inhaler.”

“I know. But you’re getting pretty dressed up for something that’s not a date.”

When did my six-year-old start acting like a teenager? A nosy teenager at that.

“I just don’t want her to think I’m a sloppy dresser.”

“Why do you care what she thinks?” Nate interrogated, grinning. When he smiled, he looked just like his mother.

I sighed, weary of his questions. “Because I’ll have to see her for the rest of the year, so I’d like to make a good impression. Is that a good enough answer, mister?”

“You like her, don’t you?” he teased, hitting the nail right on its head.

“Nate,” I warned. “Don’t be telling lies, especially when we get to the restaurant. I don’t like your teacher.” Liar, liar, pants on fire. I lied to protect him and Winnie, not myself. It would be just awful for them if anyone found out about my innocent little crush.

“I think she’s very pretty, and if you like her, then I’m okay with that. She’s really nice, too.”

Gee, thanks for your approval, buddy.

“Yes, she’s pretty and nice. But she’s not my type and she’s way too young for me,” I reasoned.

“You’re only thirty-nine, Dad. Not that old.”

“Too old for her. Besides, it doesn’t matter. Go downstairs and put on your coat. I’ll be down in a minute,” I told Nate.

He nodded and skipped downstairs, clattering on the landing.

“Be careful!” I called out. Helicopter parent. I really needed to stop that.

After Nate left, I checked my appearance one last time. I looked presentable. Freshly shaved. Hair gelled back. I was wearing a casual black dress shirt with jeans. Nothing fancy. Not something I’d usually wear to a dinner with my buddies, but Winnie wasn’t one of the guys. Far from it.

“You look handsome,” Nate complimented me as I buckled him in. “Ms. Williams is so gonna swoon.”

“You don’t even know what swoon means.”

“Yeah I do. It means when a girl falls over from liking a boy too much. I saw it on TV. This girl swooned when her crush walked past her.”

“I’m sure Winnie isn’t the type of woman who swoons,” I said.

“But since you’re so good-looking she won’t be able to help herself,” Nate reasoned.

I pinched his ruddy cheeks. “You better be keeping those opinions to yourself tonight.”

We arrived at the restaurant at ten to six and grabbed a booth by the window facing the parking lot. That way I could see her as soon as she stepped out of her car. The server brought us two ice waters and gave Nate a coloring sheet and a pack of three crayons. While he was busy filling in his pirate’s hat (staying perfectly inside the bold lines), I saw Winnie step off the bus and walk over. It’d been a long time since I met someone who still took public transportation. If I’d known that she didn’t have a car, I would’ve offered her a ride. I hoped it wasn’t a long journey for her.

She didn’t see me, so I ducked down a little and turned away from the window so I didn’t look like a creep watching her. Moments later, she walked through the door, and I waved her over. When Nate saw her, his face lit up. He dropped his crayon. “Miss Williams!”

“Hi Nate,” Winnie greeted. “Dominic.”

“Hey,” I said, trying to stay as casual as possible. I bent down to pick up Nate’s crayon and placed it back on the table.

Winnie slid into the padded leather seat across from us and picked up her laminated menu. “I’m surprisingly hungry.”

I looked at Nate. His stomach grumbled, as if on cue. “So are we.”

“I’m famished,” Nate said.

“Where’d you learn that word from?” I asked. My kid was just full of surprises these days. I noticed especially his vocabulary had been expanding exponentially.

“A book.”

“Nate’s very intelligent,” Winnie said. “Reads at a grade three level. You should really encourage him to read every night and take him to the library often.”

“Hear that?” I said to Nate. “Teach thinks you’re smart. I’m not so sure though…”

“If Ms. Williams says I’m smart then I’m definitely smart.”

“Oh yeah? What’s another word for smart, then?”

Nate chewed his lower lip and thought for a second. “Bright. Clever. Umm…resourceful.”

I raised my brows. “Impressive.”

I watched Winnie as she studied the menu, her tiny pink tongue flicking over her bottom lip once in a while. God she looked adorable when she was thinking. She glanced up from her menu after a minute. “You boys ready to order?”

We nodded. Every time we came to The Burger Shack we always got the same thing. Deluxe burger for me, with yam fries, and chicken strips with crinkly fries and an orange juice for Nate. I made sure to tell the server that Nate’s chicken and fries needed to be served on separate plates. He didn’t like his meat touching his veggies.

Winnie waved over the server. She let us order first. Then she ordered a crispy chicken burger with fries and a coke.

After the server left with our orders, I turned to Winnie and studied her. She’d swept her auburn curls to one side and pinned it up with a glittery hair clip. Two shiny golden studs graced her earlobes. Winnie wore a white cable knit sweater and skinny jeans, and carried a canvas tote bag. An effortless outfit, but nevertheless she looked like a goddess in it. She was the type of confident, upbeat woman who looked radiant in anything. She could probably make a trash bag look like high fashion.

“Dad, you’re staring,” Nate whispered loudly.

Winnie giggled at Nate’s observation. Music to my ears. “Is there something on my teeth?”

I shook my head. “No. I was just thinking about how to compliment you without coming off as flirtatious.”

“Did you come up with anything?” Winnie grinned.

“Still working on it.” I swallowed a gulp of ice water and turned to Nate, ruffling his hair. “Nate, what did you want to say to Ms. Williams?”

“Please, call me Winnie,” Winnie insisted.

“Ms. Williams…Winnie,” Nate began, fidgeting with his thumbs. “I just wanted to thank you for all your help. And from now on I’ll carry my inhaler in my pocket so you won’t have to go look for it.”

“You’re welcome, Nate. It was my pleasure, really.” Winnie dabbed at a few grains of spilled sugar with her index finger, then sucked them off.

The germaphobe inside me winced a little. Did she know how filthy that table was? Did she really trust she wouldn’t get salmonella poisoning from doing that?

“You’re my hero,” Nate continued. He wiggled in his seat and pulled something out of his jacket pocket. “I made this for you earlier.” He handed over the crumpled sheet of lined paper with a huge smile.

Winnie unfolded it, saw Nate’s drawing and burst out laughing. “Well, I don’t think I deserve a cape, but thank you.”

I’d already seen the drawing, but Winnie showed me again. It was a crude crayon depiction of a stick figure Winnie clad in a red superhero cape, holding a small square object in her hand. Stick figure Winnie towered over a rectangular building (presumably Walnut Hill Elementary), and was twice its size.

“You’ve got a gift for drawing,” Winnie complimented. “Thank you for this. I’ll keep it in my special folder.” She tucked it carefully inside her purse.

After our food came, Nate wolfed down his meal like a starved bear cub. I was pretty hungry myself, but ate more slowly and deliberately because I wanted to take the extra time to admire my son’s teacher. I never did give her the non-flirtatious compliment I originally intended, because it was so damn hard not to be flirtatious around someone I clearly found irresistible. The woman was like a drug.

There were so many things I wanted to tell Winnie Williams.

I wanted to tell her that I was captivated by her scent—she smelled like an English rose on a warm summer day.

Her hair was silky perfection, a vibrant mane I wanted to twist in my fist and stroke through with my fingers.

Her hands were delicate, like china, long and slender, like that of a pianist. Did she play?

I wanted to tell her that she had the cutest dimples, and the nicest chestnut eyes.

An infectious smile, and a vibrant personality I wanted to explore further, like a diver uncovering pearls.

But I said none of those things. I didn’t even dare compliment her on her clothes. Because I was afraid if I did, I’d end up crossing some invisible boundary and things would never be the same again. It was easy to play hero at work, but when it came to women, I was much more shy, especially after the way Lisa had burned me. What was that saying? Once burned…twice shy?

At the end of the night, after I’d paid the bill, I offered Winnie a ride home, but she refused. “It’s not that bad of a commute. Just thirty minutes on the bus. Besides, you already treated me to dinner.”

“It’s late. Let me drive you home,” I insisted. “You’d be doing me a favor. It’ll make me feel better knowing you arrived back safely.”

“This is a safe neighborhood. You have nothing to worry about, honestly.” Winnie readjusted the straps of her cross body bag.

I hadn’t noticed earlier, but colorful print read: ‘Don’t give up! Be strong. Be tough. Be a rock!’ I chuckled out loud. “I like your bag.”

“I laughed out loud too when I saw it at the thrift store. Just had to snag it.” Winnie fidgeted with her pink watch. “Thanks again for dinner.” She crouched down and gave Nate a light hug. “And you, little mister, I’ll see you Monday.”

“Good night Ms. Wil—I mean Winnie,” Nate said. He rubbed his eyes and gave her a tired smile.

Winnie gave us both a little wave. “Have a great weekend, you two.”

After we left Winnie at the bus stop, Nate and I made our way back to our Toyota Highlander, which was parked right outside The Burger Shack.

“You were acting really weird,” Nate pointed out. “Like you really had to pee, but didn’t go to the bathroom.”

“That bad huh?”

Nate nodded solemnly. “Were you nervous?”

“Yeah, a little,” I admitted. “That obvious, huh?”

“I told you so,” Nate said matter-of-factly as he slid into the backseat. “You’re in love with my new teacher.”

“No, not love,” I corrected. More like infatuation. “I just admire her, that’s all. She’s different, I like that.”

“Admire, love, same thing.” Nate rolled his eyes and buckled in.

“Don’t say a single word to her, you hear me? I don’t love her, and I don’t want you spreading rumors at school,” I demanded. “You could get Winnie and me in a lot of trouble.”

Nate mimed a zipping up his lips. “I don’t have to say anything to her. She probably already knows. She’s smart, like me.”

“She may be smart, but she can’t read minds, Nate.”

“Or so you think,” Nate shot back.

After putting Nate to bed, I thought about Winnie while I brushed my teeth. I hadn’t dated anyone seriously since Lisa left me eighteen months ago. I’d been too focused on (poorly) gluing back the pieces of my life she’d shattered with her abrupt departure. Nate was in a bad place for almost nine months; he kept pining by the window, waiting and watching, as if all it took for his mom to come back was a little patience. He kept insisting he saw Lisa’s Corolla drive by, and that he saw his mom waving at him through the window. For a few months, he convinced himself that his mom wouldn’t come inside because she was afraid to confront me. I didn’t have the heart to give him the sad, sorry truth: that his mother never cared about him or me at all. That she was a cheating, lying bitch who didn’t hesitate to jump ship when a better, richer man came along. He thought Lisa divorced me because she found a better job in Brazil. Maybe one day I’d tell him, when he was older. Until then, it was my cross to bear and my secret to keep.