Samuel stood up and waited while Danielle gathered up her handbag and logged out of her computer. “Pappa’s Burgers is just down the street,” she said, almost salivating as she craved a shrimp po’boy. No need to tell Samuel that she had eaten lunch there every day for the last two weeks. “Can you drive?”

“Sure,” he said, following her out of her office.

There was also no need to tell him that she didn’t have a car. There was a city bus stop on the corner near her office. The bus stopped just walking distance from Pappa’s Burgers.

As he fell into step beside her as they walked through the open lobby to the elevator, she couldn’t help but notice that he was a head taller than she was. He was a good height for her. Not that she was interested.

The dating moratorium was firmly in place.

They got into the elevator and went down from the fourth floor to the first. He held the door for her as they walked through the almost-deserted first-floor lobby to the front door. The security guard nodded as they walked past.

When they got to the parking lot, she followed him to a charcoal gray Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. Danielle smiled to herself. One thing she’d learned a long time ago. True Texas boys drove pickup trucks. He held the door as she climbed inside.

Samuel’s truck smelled new and was spotless inside. He went around and got into the driver’s seat. “Pappa’s Burgers, right?” He asked, giving her a smile that sent tingles down to her toes.

“Yes,” she said. “Do you know it?”

“Are you kidding?” He asked as he pulled onto Westheimer Road. “It’s a Sunday tradition in my family.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. My parents, my brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, my youngest sister, and both sets of my grandparents eat there for Sunday lunch all the time.”

“That is so special. I’m jealous. My dad and his family live in Alabama, and my mom and her family live in California, so I don’t think my entire extended family has ever been in the same restaurant at the same time.”

“How sad,” he said.

“Yeah,” Danielle agreed, feeling her eyes tear up. It was odd, because it had never bothered her before. It was just life as she knew it.

They pulled into the little parking lot, and before he jumped out, Samuel glanced at her and said, “wait here.”

He came around and opened her door. Then he held his hand out to help her climb down from the cab. She put her hand in his, and he latched on to steady her. Her eyes met his ocean blue ones, and she forgot she was supposed to be moving. Her hand felt small in his, and a sensation of being in safe hands washed over her.

She swallowed, and with a slight tug on her hand, he guided her from the truck.

When her feet were on the ground, he released her hand. This is not good. It’s not a date. He’s a lunch escort.

They went inside and stood in line to place their order. It wasn’t crowded today. There were only three people ahead of them.

“I’ll be right back,” Danielle said, dashing toward the restroom. I must have been drinking too much water lately. After washing her hands, she put on some clear lip gloss and ran a hand through her hair. The colorist at Visible Changes had gotten her hair exactly right, brunette with a few tasteful purple highlights woven throughout. They’d called it a mermaid balayage. It was Danielle’s first time to have hand-painted highlights, and she absolutely loved it.

By the time she got back to Samuel, he was waiting at the counter to order. The guy behind the counter smiled. “A shrimp po’boy with coleslaw?” He asked.

Samuel glanced at the menu on the wall. “That’s not on the menu,” he pointed out.

“It’s okay,” she said, feeling her cheeks flush that the guy had remembered what she’d ordered every day for the last two weeks. “They make it for me anyway.”

“Huh,” he said. “Make that two,” he told the checker.

They got their sodas and found a booth near the back, next to the windows.

“How long have you lived in Houston?” He asked.

“Six weeks,” she said, sipping her cola. “And you?”

“My entire life.”

She frowned. “How are you working for my dad in Dallas and still living in Houston?”

“Unfortunately,” he said, “that’s about to end. I’ve got about one more week before I have to move.”

“Oh,” she said, not bothering to keep the disappointment from her voice. Despite her dating moratorium, she could still enjoy his company. Samuel seemed like someone she wanted to keep close.

“The real question is,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “With your mother in California and your father in Dallas, how did you end up in Houston?”

That was a door she didn’t want to walk through. She decided to stall a bit before answering. “My dad actually lives in Alabama with his second wife Savannah.”

“I know,” Samuel said. “But still, he has a business in Dallas – or technically Fort Worth – either way, they aren’t here.”

“Yeah,” she said, biting her lip. “That’s kind of a long story.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to be,” he said, settling back in his seat, his eyes focusing on her. Danielle felt the heat rise in her cheeks again. Despite her dating moratorium, she was not immune to having a handsome man’s undivided attention.

The server brought their sandwiches and French fries, giving her a moment to think about how much she wanted to reveal.

He took a bite of his po’boy. “This is really good,” he said. “I think they used to have these on the menu.”

“That’s what they told me.” She nibbled on a French fry and took a deep breath. “I’m in Houston because my boyfriend was transferred here,” she said.

He narrowed his eyes and watched her.

“We broke up five weeks ago,” she added, feeling a need to set that straight. She didn’t want Samuel to think she had a boyfriend. Not that it mattered either way, she reminded herself. Was that relief she saw flicker across his features?

“Wait. You’ve lived here for six weeks, and you broke up five weeks ago?

“Technically five weeks and four days ago.”

She could see him doing the math in his head, but he let it go. “You moved from California?”

She nodded.

“That must be quite a change.”

“It’s a huge change,” she admitted, biting into her sandwich and closing her eyes. She was addicted to these things.

“Are you going to be moving back?”

“I don’t know yet. I have a job here. A job I really like.”

“There’s a chance you might get back together with your boyfriend?” He asked.

“Ha. Never. Not a chance.” Was she supposed to ask about his dating status? It was hard to know how to keep this from feeling like a date.

It already feels like a date.

“Why did you break up?”

She shook her head, shrugged, and looked into those blue eyes.

“I know it’s none of my business,” he said. “But you came a really long way to be with him. For what? Three days?”

“I don’t know. We’d been together on and off for about five years. I thought it was going somewhere, you know. But it turns out he didn’t.”

“He cheated,” Samuel said.

Danielle’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“Two sisters,” he said with a grin.

“Right. Two sisters.”

“If you’re so close to your family, why are you leaving?” It occurred to her that he might be moving because of a girlfriend. Or maybe a boyfriend.

“It’s a great opportunity to work with your father. He’s legendary, you know. And it’s not like I have anything else going on.”

“No girlfriend?” She asked, unable to resist.

He shook his head.

“A boyfriend?”

He laughed. “I’m heterosexual.”

She laughed back and he stared at her. “That’s good to know.”

“Why is that good to know?” He asked.

“Well,” she said. “You know. So I know how to talk to you. If you like boys, I don’t want to ask you about girlfriends, and if you were gay, well, you know.”

He laughed again.

Danielle was intrigued. Joey hadn’t laughed with her in a long time, and she hadn’t even realized it until this moment. In retrospect, there were so many clues that he was no longer into her.

“I’m glad we got that sorted out,” Samuel said.

She smiled. “Me too.”

Suddenly, she couldn’t eat another bite. “I’m stuffed,” she said.

“You barely ate anything,” he pointed out.

“I know. I do that sometimes. I’m still a little queasy from… you know… earlier.”

“Yeah,” he said, finishing off his sandwich. “Are you gonna get that to go?”

She shook her head. “No thanks.”

He reached over, picked up the other half of her uneaten sandwich and proceeded to eat it.

Danielle laughed.

“This is too good to go to waste,” he said. “How did the checker know what you wanted to order?”

“I ordered it yesterday,” she said. There was no need to tell him that she’d ordered it not only yesterday, but every day for the past two weeks.

“We’ll have to get it again,” he said.

Danielle sat back in her seat and squeezed her hands together under the table. This was dangerous territory. He used the word we. Danielle was nothing if not well-versed in the language of relationships.

She and Joey had been on and off for several years. Danielle always dated in between – during the “off periods.”

This was more than an “off period.” This was more of an exclamation point. The end to their relationship. Catching him cheating on her when she’d just moved all the way out here, alone, to be with him was more than she could take.

Hence, the moratorium on dating.