He thinks she's distracted. He has no idea why.

Alec has been building up the nerve to ask Jessica out since a New Year's Eve party where things did not go particularly well. Tonight the restaurant is good, the conversation is better — and then her phone keeps buzzing, and she keeps almost excusing herself, and Alec starts to wonder if he's reading this completely wrong.

He isn't. But not for the reasons he thinks.

First Date is a standalone short story set in the world of the Punch-Girl series by J.M. Reilly — a warm, funny, and quietly tense look at the beginning of a relationship built on secretsneither of them can imagine yet.

Start with Punch-Girl Book One to experience the full story.