Smoothing down the maroon colored blouse I’d decided on, my eyes shifted to the window again. I was already nervous enough about my first date in eight years, but the fact that another man would be driving my child around was what was making my heart really pound.

Mentally cataloging, I made sure I had everything I’d need in this stripped-down diaper bag. Lennon’s car seat was on the floor next to us, ready to be put in Jake’s car as soon as he showed up. He’d insisted on driving, something I was having a hard time letting go of control for.

I was showing up to this date with literal baggage. I let out a quick laugh, thinking that if he could handle that, then the man must be too good to be true.

“Mommy, where we go?” Lennon danced around the lobby of our apartment building, jigging to some imaginary music in her head.

“We’re going on a little adventure with a friend.” I stared out the glass front doors again.

“Yeah, but where?” Her questions never stopped these days.

“You’ll see when we get there.” I couldn’t very well tell her that I wasn’t sure myself, because this would only attract more attention and questions.

My palms were sweaty, and I examined my white jeans and simple white Keds. I’d gone cute and casual for the date, but was a little daring with my white before Memorial Day. My long dark hair was down, blown dry thanks to a few minutes of Sesame Street distracting Lennon. And I was panicking. At least I had a buffer in my daughter, and an excuse if the “date” got weird or I just wasn’t feeling it.

Part of the reason I was a little schitzy was because before now, I guess I hadn’t allowed myself to really appreciate how attractive Jake was. Sure, I’d had a few fleeting images of him since we’d met, or I guess seen each other again, outside of the monuments. He had that classic movie star look, like James Dean or Guy Madison. Pure American male, the brown hair dusted with gold, and a dimple to boot. I hadn’t seen him standing outside of his truck yet, but from what I’d seen, I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

“Park! I want to go see ducks!” Lennon grabbed onto my leg, pulling at my shirt.

Back in Seattle, I would take her to the park almost every Saturday to throw little bread crumbs at the ducks in the pond. It was the first time she’d asked me since we’d moved, and I guess I now had to find a similar park somewhere close to us.

“Hey.” A male voice and the glinting of the sun off glass as the lobby doors open attracted my attention.

Damnnnnn. Would it be inappropriate for me to whistle?

Jake strolled across the lobby on long, jean clad legs, his body large and lean, taking up space even though the ceilings were vaulted. His hair was brushed back but still a little wild, his muscular arms peeking out of a dark gray T-shirt that showcased the sculpted body underneath. A grin covered his full lips, the dimple popping out and making my stomach drop.

This man looked like one of those supermodels for Abercrombie & Fitch, but all grown up. Like at any moment, you could pop him on a beach on Nantucket with a classic pigskin football in his hands and he would look totally natural. If Derek was anything to go by, Jake was completely opposite of my type. I liked beards and tattoos, a little rough around the edges. It was odd that this man, who I embarrassingly did not remember from college, was doing something for me.

“Hi, Jake.” I smiled back, genuinely happy to be doing something different this Saturday.

“Ice cream!” Lennon ran to him, holding out her hands like he was going to provide her with a loaded cone from his back pocket.

He chuckled, bending down to her level. “Hey, Lennon, good to see you. I don’t have any ice cream today, but maybe we’ll get you something later.” He looked up at me, green eyes taking in my entire body. “If it’s okay with your mom, of course.”

My daughter doesn’t even look at me. “It’s okay, promise.”

I roll my eyes as he stands. “You can see who the boss is around here.”

“I’ll be sure to remember that. It’s good to see you, you look really nice.” He leaned in, his lips meeting my cheek for the briefest of seconds, sending tingles across my skin.

The move was a statement; while my daughter might be accompanying us, this was definitely a date. My heart rate kicked up.

A tiny hand reached out from below and latched onto Jake’s. Looking down, Lennon had already claimed his as her own.

“We go now?” She looked up at him with her big brown eyes, and I swear I saw the minute he fell under her spell.

I hiked the bag on my shoulder up and bent to retrieve her car seat, but it was lifted before I could pull it up.

“I got it. Need me to take that too?” He held the car seat like it weighed nothing, while Lennon gripped his other hand.

Jeez. My ovaries may have swooned. “I’ve got it. So where are we going?”

We walk to his car, a smaller black SUV, and he fishes out his keys to unlock it.

“Who’s more impatient, you or your daughter?” He smirks, his dimple mesmerizing me.

He was teasing me, and I liked it. It felt better that he wasn’t trying to yes me to death, or act like an overly-smooth gentleman. I smiled to myself as I put Lennon’s car seat in the back, strapping it in well.

“I sit up front.” Lennon crossed her little arms across her chest and gave that pouty lip that made me want to scream and kiss her at the same time.

“Maybe in a year or two, big girl. But for now, why don’t you help me navigate from the back seat? I need someone to help me look out the windows.”

Jake seamlessly pacified her, and she climbed up and into her seat with his help. Amazed, I silently buckled myself into the passenger seat, noting how clean his car was.

“Did you get your car cleaned for today?” I had my suspicions, and it just popped out.

As he slid his seatbelt across his broad torso, he paused. “Is it that obvious?”

I titled my head and smiled. “It smells like that nice wash the professional carwash uses, and there are no crumbs in your cup holders. I should probably never have you in my car.”

Jake kept his eyes on the road, but I could feel the proximity now of my body to his. Lennon hummed in the back, occupying herself like she sometimes did.

“So how was your week?” He breaks the silence.

I sigh, resting into the seat because I’m glad it’s the weekend. “Busy, but productive. I’m getting up and running at work, trying to settle us both. It’s been an adjustment, but it’s nice to be home.”

I couldn’t remember what he studied at Madison, and I hoped he didn’t know more about me than I knew about him going into this. Honestly, I couldn’t even remember him from back then, which showed how much attention I must have been paying to overlook a guy like Jake.

“And what is it that you do? Sorry, I can’t remember what you were studying. Not that I knew or anything … we barely said hi in college. I wasn’t some creep.”

That made me laugh, because maybe we were thinking the same things. “Good to know. I work for the National Parks Departments as a … coordinator of sorts. I’m the contact in the national office for every park ranger around the country.”

Jake weaves us through traffic as he raises an eyebrow. “Impressive. Is that what you went to school for?”

It was nice to have someone genuinely asking about what I did. It wasn’t often that I got to talk about my career, something that I was, in fact, very proud of.

“Actually no, not at all. I went to become a teacher and kind of … ended up working for a national park out in Seattle after school.” I didn’t know if I should disclose anything about Derek, or the relationship I’d had with Lennon’s father.

Was that too heavy for a first date? Then again, I had brought my three-year-old so, clearly, he knew I wasn’t a snow white virgin.

“That’s cool, and now you’re big time, huh? I bet you’re awesome.” He smiled, casting a quick glance on me. “I didn’t know you grew up in the area.”

We take a turn off the highway onto familiar territory, and I try to guess in my head where he might be taking us. “Yep, went to high school just outside near my mom’s house in Virginia. How about you, was Madison close to home?”

Jake’s hands grip the steering wheel, his big fingers flexing and controlling the car with ease. “No, actually, I’m from upstate New York. Buffalo area, wing capital of the world.”

His wink has me laughing, and Lennon laughs from the backseat too just to mimic me. “So you’ve always been focused on food then, huh?”

“Truthfully, I went to college for business. Which I guess is good, since I started one. But my family is all still up there, running the largest chain of car dealerships in the region. It just wasn’t for me.”

His voice is tinged with something, but I leave it alone. Maybe I’m not the only one with baggage in this vehicle.

“President!” Lennon shrieks, pointing to a big white building that is most definitely not The White House.

I can’t help the laugh that bubbles forth. “Ever since I told her we’d be moving back, she is obsessed that we live in the same town as the president. Not that I think she even knows half of what the president does or even who he is, but it’s a selling point so I’ll take it.”

“Lennon, are you going to be president someday?” Jake yells to the back.

She claps her hands, her sweet baby noises still melting my heart. “Yes!”

“Believe me, she can do anything she sets her mind to. Like clogging the toilet with a baby doll, painting the rug in spaghetti sauce. She’s really very talented.” I reach my hand around the seat and tickle her legs, her loud belly laugh filling the car.

“It takes real talent.” Jake nods soberly and pulls the car into a parking lot.

Looking up, my lips spread wide in jubilee. “You didn’t.”

“I did. One of the funnest places on earth, not to mention DC Come on, let’s go.”

Peering up at the building, I can’t wait to get inside. I know Lennon is just going to love the Smithsonian National Zoo.