John put down his menu and stood when Amity reached the table.
“This is a treat. I didn’t expect to see you here,” Amity exclaimed. She cast a friendly glance in John’s direction. “Always a pleasure to see a handsome guy.”
John grinned. “Won’t you join us?”
“I don’t want to intrude.” Amity brought a long nail to her lips, the hot pink perfectly matching one of the colors in the fringed kimono top she wore over black leggings. “Everyone has been raving about the Bellyburgers here so I thought I’d pop by and get one to go.”
“Stay,” Hope urged. “Eat with us.”
If she and John were going to try to make their marriage work, socializing with friends would be part of the plan.
“Since you insist.” Amity slid into a chair across from Hope and cast John a curious glance, and Hope began to fill her friend in on the details of her wedding. When Hope told her about their teenage elopement, Amity sat slack-jawed and demanded to know every “scandalous” detail.
The waitress had just brought Amity a menu and a glass of iced tea when Pastor Dan strolled through the door.
Interest flared in Amity’s eyes when the minister caught sight of them and started over. “Who’s Mr. Hunky? He looks familiar. Was he at the soup supper?”
Hope didn’t have time to reply before Dan was at the table.
John rose to shake his hand. “Good to see you.”
“I decided it was time to check out the Bellyburgers everyone is talking about,” the pastor said.
“That’s why I’m here too.” Amity gazed at Dan through lowered lashes. “Will you be taking one home to your wife?”
Hope recognized the predatory gleam in her friend’s eyes. She stifled a groan. The pastor might not know it yet, but he was in Amity’s crosshairs.
“I’m not married,” Dan said with an easy smile.
“In that case”—Amity gestured to the empty chair—“join us.”
“I don’t want to intrude—”
“Don’t worry your gorgeous head about that,” Amity told him. “I already intruded on Hope and John’s little tête-à-tête. What’s one more interloper?”
Dan laughed. “When you put it that way . . .”
The minister—looking very un-ministerial in jeans and a chambray shirt—took a seat, and this time it was John who performed the introductions. Hope wondered if the omission of “pastor” was deliberate or an oversight.
The waitress took their orders, and Amity’s gaze remained focused on Dan. She tilted her head. “I was certain I knew every handsome man in this town. How did you escape my notice?”
“I thought I knew every beautiful woman,” Dan returned. “How did you escape my notice?”
“I like your style.” Amity batted her long, dark lashes at him. “Do you like to dance?”
“I do.”
“There’s a street dance this coming Saturday night,” she told him. “Part of the Harvest Festival. I think it’d be fun if the four of us went together. Unless you have a girlfriend. Five would definitely be a crowd.”
“No girlfriend.” Dan cocked a brow. “What about you?”
Amity laughed. “No girlfriend for me, either.”
“What about a boyfriend?”
Hope’s friend tossed her head, sending those dark curls cascading down her back. “I know you’ll find this impossible to believe, but I’m completely unencumbered at the moment.”
“Lucky for me,” Dan murmured.
“Totally lucky for you,” Amity agreed. She shifted her gaze to Hope.
Hope could see the question in her gaze.
“Sounds like fun.” She turned toward John.
“It’s a date,” John said.
The waitress delivered the food and Amity was halfway through her burger when a thought seemed to strike her. She ignored the question Hope had just asked about an upcoming wedding she was planning and fixed her gaze on Dan.
“I don’t believe you told me what you do for a living.”
He smiled, dipped a fry into a mound of ketchup. “I don’t believe you asked.”
“You’re going to make me guess.” A smile crossed her lips. “I love guessing games. I’m really good at them.”
Hope and John exchanged a quick, significant glance and smiled.
Amity went through a number of occupations, then scowled in frustration. “Okay, I give up. Tell me.”
“I’m a minister.”
“Har-har.” Amity rolled her eyes and stole one of his fries.
“He’s giving it to you straight,” Hope told her friend. “Dan is the minister at my church.”
“Get out of here.” Amity’s startled look changed to amusement. “I’ve never had the hots for a preacher before.”
Hope wished she could clap her hand over Amity’s mouth before she dug herself into a deeper hole, but Dan only grinned.
John leaned close to Hope’s ear. “Something tells me Saturday night will be an experience we won’t soon forget.”