Max Robinson tossed a weary look at the cockatiel squawking in the black iron cage sitting in the corner of his kitchen. Seeing the brightly colored bird always reminded him of his sister, Cathy, and his annoyance ebbed away.

Fifteen years younger than him, Cathy was the only girl in his family and she’d charmed him and his two younger brothers from the moment she was born. So when she’d gotten the bird her junior year of high school, they’d all accepted it. Then when she’d decided to cross state lines to go to college, Max had taken Birdy in.

Birdy.

He hated the name and disliked the bird most of the time. But Cathy loved it, and every time he called to ask her how her classes were going, or if she was dating anyone new, she asked about Birdy.

So he set his guitar gently on the floor and crossed over to the cage to feed Birdy. “You can’t make so much noise while I’m gone,” he told it, knowing the cockatiel would do whatever it wanted.

His next-door neighbor, an eighty-two-year-old widow who should probably be losing her hearing, never hesitated to tell him that the bird chattered constantly while he was at work. He’d tried covering the cage with a blanket, but that hadn’t worked. No, Birdy was talkative and opinionated, and Max had learned to just smile and apologize to Matilda.

On his days off, he mowed her lawn and brought her pastries from the bakery. In the winter, he made sure her sidewalks and driveway were cleared of snow and salted. She made him dinner at least twice a week, and Max wasn’t suffering from want of food or attention when it came to Matilda.

He fed Birdy and gave him fresh water before taking his guitar and moving to the back steps. Evening shade had started to creep across the grass, and he let his fingers pluck though whatever chords they wanted. A sense of nervousness plagued him, because tonight he was going out with Fabi Fuller. Finally.

He’d met her in Oxbow Park about two weeks ago, during one of his volunteer sessions with the local pet store. He was working with the dogs, throwing a couple of them balls while people walked around the safety fair. There had been five dog adoptions that day, and it had taken all of Max’s willpower not to bring home the only remaining dog—a corgi that was blind in his right eye—himself.

He’d tried having a dog, but Birdy had gone berserk. So he’d resigned himself to being a cockatiel dad, a moonlighting guitar player, and the driver of one of two ambulances in Brush Creek.

Max drew in a big breath to calm himself. He’d been out with women before, but he’d sort of taken a break from dating over the past five years. Anyone who’d been in town for that long knew why, but Fabi hadn’t seemed to know about Irina at all.

“That’s because she’s nine years younger than you,” he said to himself, the guitar music still lilting in the background. He’d been married for a few years at age twenty-six, but Fabi hadn’t had a serious boyfriend in years. There were some perks to living in a small town, and being able to ask around about one of the town’s most familiar families was one of them.

Finally, it was time for him to get on over to Fabi’s and pick her up. A measure of surprise pulled through him that she hadn’t canceled, though her previous reasons had been valid.

He gripped the steering wheel with too much tension as he drove the few blocks to her apartment. She shared a place with her twin, and the pressure Max carried on his shoulders doubled. He wasn’t sure if both women would be there, and he sort of hoped they wouldn’t be. But Jazzy wore her hair long, and at least Max could tell them apart.

He parked and made it up the steps to the second floor, feeling like a fifteen-year-old instead of a middle aged man. His pulse bumped around in his chest as he lifted his fist to knock. He only had to wait a few seconds before the gorgeous blonde whipped open the door and leaned her hip into it.

“Hey.” She smiled in that magical way he’d seen at the park, her fingers curling around the side of the door. Her cute bob framed her face perfectly, making her blue eyes pop. Or maybe that was her bright red lipstick.

Max swallowed and told himself not to run his hand along his scalp. He’d gone bald at the age of eighteen and now just kept his head as hair-free as possible. Some women liked a bald man, but Max still had some self-consciousness about it, especially when faced with a woman who made his every male instinct come to life.

“Hey, yourself.” He smiled. “I can’t believe we’re finally doing this.”

She glanced over her shoulder as something sounded in the apartment behind her. Max searched for the source of the noise and found a gray tabby cat pawing his way across the carpet.

“Marbles,” Fabi said in a condescending tone. She glanced back at Max, a glint of her own nerves in her eyes. “Give me a second, okay?” She dashed away, making her flared skirt sway and drawing Max’s attention to her bare legs and pink-heeled feet.

He cleared his throat and looked away, unsure if he should go in or wait in the hall. He opted to wait in the hall as she swept the cat off the floor and took him out of sight. Female voices reached his ears, so her sister was clearly home, but Jazzy didn’t come out.

Fabi appeared again, more pink in her cheeks that before. She pushed her breath out and reached for her purse. “Okay. I’m ready.”

She joined him in the hall, and Max didn’t give her much room to squeeze in beside him. A charge passed between them he hadn’t experienced in the park, and she smelled like wildflowers and freshly washed cotton, also something he didn’t remember. But they’d interacted for ten minutes, outside, with five dogs surrounding them. Max didn’t want to think about what that smell had been.

“So, Clive’s, right?” she asked, stepping toward the end of the hall where the stairs were.

Max put his hand lightly on the small of her back, the touch casual and innocent yet also sending a jolt through him. He pulled back, realizing he hadn’t even made it out of the building before coming on too strong.

That was one thing he’d heard from the men around the fire and police departments. Fabi Fuller didn’t want a man who came on too strong. She liked being in charge of the relationship. And here Max was, already touching her like it was his right.

“Right,” he said. “Clive’s. I think you said you liked the stuffed mushrooms.”

Fabi stumbled, almost going head-first down the steps. Max grabbed her arm then, throwing caution to the wind as he slid his other hand around her waist to steady her. The last thing he needed was this date ending up with him driving her to the hospital. He did that all day, thank you very much. He didn’t need to do it for the woman he’d been crushing on for weeks.

“Whoa,” he said. She took a few seconds to find her feet, a nervous giggle filling the silence between them. “You okay?”

“Yeah. These heels are new.” She stepped out of the circle of his help and took a slow, calculated step down. She made it safely to the bottom and flashed him a flirtatious look over her shoulder.

His cowboy boots made loud, echoing noises as he joined her in the lobby. “I like them.” He hoped that was an appropriate compliment. Max couldn’t believe how nervous he was, and he slicked his palms down his thighs before hurrying to step in front of Fabi so he could open the door for her.

She paused for a brief moment, her eyes meeting his with a sparkle of flirtation in them. “Thanks. I like your boots.”

Max actually had to look down and see what he was wearing. His dark brown leather cowboy boots. As usual. Why his mind had gone so soft, he wasn’t sure. He’d dated plenty of women over the years. He’d been married, for crying out loud.

By the time he got himself to function again, he realized Fabi was already walking around the front of his steel gray truck. He hurried to join her, opening that door for her too, hit with the crisp scent of the black ice air freshener he’d put in that morning. He didn’t want her to know about his obsession with dill pickle sunflower seeds. At least Ed called it an obsession, and Max’s partner in the ambulance knew him better than anyone else.

He joined Fabi in the truck and started the engine. After adjusting the dials to make the air conditioning at the right levels, he exhaled, some relief entering his muscles. “Hey, so this is kind of odd, but I have something to ask you.” He glanced at her, the fear on her face a bit strange as well. She’d seemed fearless at the park a couple of weeks ago, and while she might be nervous about this first date, it didn’t warrant the wash of horror in her bright eyes.

“You can say no,” he added quickly, and that helped her relax. “So I’ve been talking to my partner about you and your sister, and he wondered if maybe Jazzy would want to go out with him. We could, you know, double. Or something.”

Feeling like a fool, he forced himself to stop talking. She blinked rapidly a couple of times and looked away, out through her window. She clutched her purse in her lap like it was a snake that needed throttling.

Max had spent enough time on the job to see and feel tension in small ways. And Fabi was seriously anxious.

“Look,” he said. “We don’t have to go.” He still hadn’t pulled out of the parking lot. She could go right back upstairs. He’d be disappointed, but she didn’t seem all that keen on going out with him. Funny thing was, she’d seemed plenty interested at the park, and in all their subsequent communications. It was hard to feel emotion and get intent in a text, though. Max understood that better than most.

“Of course we’re going to go,” she said, her fingers releasing a little. “But I think I’ll pass on the mushrooms. I haven’t been feeling super great, and fungus doesn’t sound appealing.”

“We really can reschedule.” He hoped she’d want that instead of just calling the whole thing off.

“No, no, it’s fine.” Her voice pitched up a notch. “My sister’s had the flu, and I think maybe I’m getting a touch of it.”

Max peered at her, glad when she graced him with a gorgeous smile. With his heart pounding, he said, “Maybe we should save Clive’s for a time when you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She tilted her head and gave him a flirty look. “What about getting a smoothie and finding a quiet spot by the river? We can just talk.”

Just talking sounded great to Max, and he relaxed a little bit more. “Sure. Do you want to go to Pick a Straw or Ruby’s?”

“Pick a Straw. They have an amazing mango strawberry concoction that uses the local berries.”

“Pick a Straw it is.” Max pulled out and headed down Main Street. Pick a Straw wasn’t even a real shop, in a brick-and-mortar building, but a little hut on the side of the road. Max wouldn’t even have paid it any attention if it wasn’t for the dozen cars and long line of people in front of the bright red stand.

He pulled in, trying to act cool and casual that he was out with Fabi Fuller. It’s a first date, he told himself. They weren’t dating. She wasn’t his girlfriend. He just wanted to get to know her better, maybe hold her hand on the next date, and kiss her down the line. At least he hoped that was the line they’d be following for a while.

She joined the line of people in front of Pick a Straw, her flared dress skimming the tops of her knees and making it clear she was on a date with Max. He stood maybe a fraction of an inch closer to her than was friendly for a first date, but she didn’t move away.

“So did you take that corgi home?” she asked.

“Nah.” He put his hands in his pockets. “I’ve got this bird I inherited from my sister, and she’s all I can handle.”

“A bird?”

“A cockatiel named Birdy.”

She half-coughed, half-laughed. “Wow. Birdy. That’s original.”

Max chuckled too. “Right? My sister—she’s awesome. I love her—but she doesn’t always have the brightest ideas.”

“Where is she?”

“Cathy’s going to school in Denver. My parents didn’t want to keep the bird, and Cathy was in a fit about getting rid of it.” Max shrugged, not really wanted to reveal this doormat side of himself so soon. “So I took it.”

“Wow, what a great big brother.” Fabi flashed him a smile and moved forward in line. “Other siblings?”

“Two brothers. The three of us are close in age. Ian is thirty-two. Rich is twenty-eight. Cathy is only twenty. She has us all wrapped around her little finger.” He grinned, another shrug joining the conversation.

“And your family is in Vernal.”

He’d mentioned that in the park. “My parents are. Rich lives there too and he’s been dating the same girl for a couple of years now. My mother’s dying for one of us to get married already, but Rich doesn’t seem to want to be the first.” Not that Rich would really be the first, but Max didn’t correct himself.

No one in Max’s family liked his girlfriend, and Max wasn’t really sure why Rich hadn’t broken up with Linnie or put a ring on her finger.

“So none of you are married?”

Max drew in a deep breath, not really prepared for all this talking. He’d assumed it would be surface stuff—favorite color, a movie that he loved. Not his family history and his entire romantic past.

“I was…once.”

Surprise lifted Fabi’s eyebrows and her eyes shone with curiosity. “Once?”

“Got married young. Didn’t last too long. Been single for a while now.”

“Any kids?”

“Nope.”

“How young?”

“Twenty-six.”

“How long?”

“Three years.”

Fabi nodded, though more questions swam in her eyes. “What about you?” he asked, though he already knew. He’d been driving the ambulance in town for a decade—before Fabi had even graduated from high school. If she’d gotten married, he would’ve known. Everything the Fullers did was big town news, and they’d had a few weddings recently, so he knew.

Fabi tipped her head back and laughed. “No, sir. I’ve never been married.” She sobered, but her smile remained. “Surely you know I hardly go on more than a first date.”

Max indicated that she could move forward to hide his surprise. “I didn’t know that.” He stepped beside her, their turn at the hut coming up quick. “Why’s that? Your choice or theirs?”

“I….” Silence hung between them, along with the sunshine and the smell of fruit and lemons and the chatter of other people surrounding them. She shrugged, her bare shoulders a sight that made Max’s mouth water.

“Sometimes both,” she said. “I…tend to act before I think. It’s something I’m working on.”

Max looked at her for a couple of heartbeats, glad he wasn’t the only one making revelations today. “Fair enough.” He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her forward again. She kept herself right beside him, their personal space mingling in a way that had Max’s bones tingling.

He knew one thing: He wouldn’t be the one to end things with her after only one date, and all he could do was pray that she’d go out with him a second time.