My stomach dropped when I found him sitting alone at the far side of the shop, his eyes so dark they were almost black as they glowered at my date. His gaze shifted and I met it defiantly, lifting my chin to let him know how I felt about this invasion of my personal space. His eyes softened and he arched an eyebrow at me.

“That’s the guy from the party,” Samson said, reminding me that I was ignoring him. I cast another black look at Nikolas and looked at Samson who stared at Nikolas with narrowed eyes. “Is he following you?”

I let out a sigh and made a note to thank Nikolas once again for complicating my life. “I told you my mother left when I was very young. Nikolas is from her side of the family and he found me recently.” Truth. “My mother’s family wants me to come and live with them and get to know them and Nikolas has appointed himself as a kind of chaperone.” Also true.

“A chaperone? He’s what – twenty?”

I lifted my shoulders then picked up my mocha. It had cooled off but I needed the fortification. “Try to ignore him. I do.”

Samson glanced over at Nikolas again. “He doesn’t look at you like a relative. If anything he looks jealous.”

I sputtered and coughed as coffee went down the wrong pipe. “Trust me,” I wheezed when I could speak. “You don’t know Nikolas. I’m a family obligation to him, nothing more.”

“Seeing his expression right now, I find that hard to believe,” Samson replied. Before I could refute it, he smiled and said, “But if you can ignore him, I can too.”

“Good.” Samson was handling Nikolas’s presence a lot better than most guys would in the same situation.

We stayed at the Hub for another thirty minutes and then Samson drove me home. When he put the Jeep in park, neither of us spoke for a long moment and I was suddenly nervous he was going to try to kiss me. Was that normal after a coffee date? How would I know if he did want to kiss? Did I want him to try? For the first time in my life I regretted not having girlfriends I could talk to about this stuff.

He looked over at me. “I had a great time today.”

“Me too.”

There was another moment of silence before he laughed and ran his hand through his blond hair. “Sorry, I’m not usually like this. I don’t know what it is about you, but I feel like an eighth grader on his first date.”

“Is that a good or a bad thing?” I asked and he laughed again.

“Bad for a guy who’s trying to look cool and ask a girl out again.”

“Oh,” I breathed, blushing to the roots of my hair. I looked away from him, across the waterfront, to see Chris walking toward his favorite bench again. My smile fell away as I was hit with an unpleasant realization. As much as I enjoyed Samson’s company, I couldn’t date him, I couldn’t date anyone. My life was so messed up right now; how could I start a relationship with anyone knowing I would eventually have to leave them? I was immortal; I could never have a life with a human. Hell maybe that was why Madeline had taken off and deserted my dad. I could never do that to someone I cared about, and I had a feeling Samson was someone I could come to care about a lot.

“I really like you Samson, but I’m not ready to date anyone right now. I have some stuff going on in my life and I need to figure it out before I do anything else.”

“Your mother’s family?” he asked without pushing.

“That’s part of it.” I made myself look at him. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled sweetly but he couldn’t quite hide the disappointment in his voice. “So it’s a ‘not right now’ instead of a ‘not ever’ thing.”

“Kind of.” I hated lying to him, hated my life fervently in that moment. I got out of the Jeep and walked around to his side. “I did have a nice time.”

“Same here,” he replied. I started to turn away and he said, “Oh wait, don’t forget this.” He held up the sketch I’d done of him. “So you don’t forget me.”

I smiled sadly at the sketch as I took it from him. “I won’t.”

Nate was in the kitchen making muffins when I got home. “Out with Roland?” he asked as I hung up my coat in the hall closet.

“No, I had a coffee date.”

There was a loud clatter as the muffin pan bounced off the tile floor. “A date? With a boy?” Nate gaped at me as I retrieved the pan for him.

“No, with Father Glenn.” I wasn’t sure whether to be insulted or amused by his look of disbelief. “Of course it was with a boy. I do know some you know.”

“So was it someone from school?” He tried to sound nonchalant but I could tell he was very curious.

“No, he’s a friend of Roland’s.” That’s all I was going to say since nothing would come of it anyway. “I’m going upstairs to work on an English paper. You need any help here?”

“No, go on,” Nate replied absently and I wondered if he was finally realizing what it meant to have a teenage girl under his roof.

Roland texted me as I was pulling my books out of my backpack but I didn’t want to talk to anyone.  Part of me reveled in the afterglow of my first date and the rest of me mourned the fact that it was likely my last date with Samson – or anyone else. I’d never thought much about dating and relationships until the possibility of having them was gone. I wasn’t the type of person who could casually date someone while knowing there was absolutely no chance of more between us. I guess deep down I’d always believed that someday I’d meet the ‘one’ and we’d live happily ever after. Ever after held a whole new meaning for me now and it wasn’t a happy one.