Chapter 7
After the pie shop, I led him to a park at the edge of town. It’s full of rolling grass mounds dotted by white, pink, yellow and blue wooden benches, interspersed by cool sculptures of all shapes, sizes and colors. We sat on a yellow bench under a willow tree and near a sculpture of a mother holding a child intricately depicted in finely worked metal that shines gold when the sun hits it.
We made a valiant go at eating all the pies, but even I had to admit defeat before we were even halfway done.
“So, what did you think?” I ask. “Do you love pie now, or what?”
He looks at me from the side and makes a sound that’s something between a chuckle and a scoff. “I think I went right past liking it to eating so much I never want to see it again.”
I laugh, perhaps to cover the mortification of hearing him say that and the blushing it caused. Or just because it’s funny. I don’t even know. Maybe it’s all the sugar, but I feel like I’m floating aways off the ground and it’s been that way since he joined me in that tea shop. I’ve read about this. It means I like him. Or it could just be the sugar in all those pies we sampled.
“Sorry,” I say. “Maybe I went a little overboard.”
He chuckles and brushes his hair off his face, looking at me from beneath his raised palm. He suddenly looks a lot younger. Boyish even. He’s not old. He’s my age, maybe a couple of years older, but there’s this tiredness about him. Like he’s been carrying a great burden for a long time, and it’s made him wary and weary.
“Nah,” he says. “That was actually the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time. You’re a very sweet girl.”
I don’t know if that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. It kind of feels nice, but mostly not. All I’ve ever been, for my whole life, is a nice girl, to everyone. I don’t think that’s what he’s looking for.
“Thanks.” I smile anyway and feel my cheeks growing hotter as he gives me a very inquisitive look. Like maybe he can read my smile isn’t one hundred percent genuine. But I’m getting way ahead of myself and whatever this is. If it is anything at all.
“Are you staying in these parts for a while?” I ask.
The quizzical look in his eyes grows amused. “Would you like that?”
I nod and this time my smile is one hundred percent genuine. “Yeah. I would like that very much.”
My twin sister Summer does this thing with her eyes and her lips when she likes a guy—to let him know she’s interested—and I think I’m doing it too. At least, I hope. Could be my face just looks grotesquely deformed right now.
“You sure?”
The smile on my face falters, I can feel it fading as a shadow crosses his eyes and seems to engulf his whole face. But maybe that’s just because twilight is falling.
“What is this?” I ask. “Are you trying to push me away? Because you’re not interested?”
For the first time since I met him today, he seems confused. Probably not a good thing. I can’t believe that just came out of my mouth.
Then he grins and all seems right in my world again. Man, he’s really got me twisting. Probably because I’m so inexperienced with this whole thing. I’ve dated. But never anyone I was so very drawn to—mind, body and soul. That must be showing all over my face.
“That’s the last thing I want to do,” he says. “Yes, I am sticking around for a while. As long as you’ll have me, actually.”
The breath I was taking gets stuck in my throat. I clear my throat and nod.
“Where are you staying?”
“This lovely place called Fire Heart Inn,” he says. “Ever hear of it?”
I shook my head and was about to tell him that no, I’ve never heard of it, but his grin turns mischievous like he just pulled one on me yet again.
“I didn’t think you would’ve,” he says. “It’s not your kind of place.”
“I can be fun,” I say. “I’m not just all about reading. Let’s go there now. Have a drink. Or whatever.”
He actually looks shocked at the suggestion, his eyes trailing down my face and across my breasts, leaving a trail of fire.
“You’re not dressed for it,” he says. “And like I said, it’s not your sort of place.”
I open my mouth to argue but he shakes his head. No one has ever been able to silence me with just a look and shake of the head, but he just did.
“Some other time then,” I say. “I’ll wear something more suitable.”
“And I’ll take you for a nice dinner then,” he says. “Not to some nasty biker bar.”
“Is that a promise?” I ask.
He grins. “It’s a date. Tomorrow night.”
Then he stands up. “Because right now, I have to go.”
I stand up too. “So they won’t give your room to someone else at that fancy inn?”
“They won’t,” he says and picks up the box with the pies we weren’t able to finish. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”
What I want is for this date to just keep going. I feel like I’ve known him forever, like he’s one of my oldest friends, like Hunter or Chance. But there’s this electricity flowing between us, this attraction, that I’ve never had with anyone else, and it adds a whole new level to the whole thing.
I’m sorry now that I left my car right next to this park. I wish it was on the other side of town instead. Or at least by the tea shop.
“This is me,” I say as I spot my beat-up silver coupe. I never gave much thought to the car I’m driving. As long as it starts with no issue and gets me where I need to be, I’m fine with whatever. But right now, I wish I was driving something cooler.
“This is me,” I say and unlock the door.
He gives the car a once over, then me, and then he holds open the door for me.
“I had a great time,” he says, leans over and kisses me on the cheek. The ground turns to quicksand beneath my feet and that’s not an exaggeration in the slightest. If a kiss on the cheek floored me this badly, what would a kiss on the lips do? I want to find out. Now.
But he’s already standing back and I slip into the car, glad that I don’t have to trust my legs to hold me up anymore.
“Tomorrow night,” he says. “Eight PM. I’ll pick you up.”
“You better,” I hear myself say, making him chuckle.
“Nothing could stop me.”
I really, truly, with everything I have, hope he’s not just saying that.
He hands me the pie box, but I shake my head. “No. I got those for you. I’m sure you’ll get hungry again soon.”
I have no idea what that look in his eyes is, but it’s not something I’ve seen there before.
“Drive safe,” he says and closes the door.
And then I have to start the car and leave. I don’t want to, I want to get back out and get that proper kiss from him. But I manage not to act on that and drive off instead. I feel him looking after me all the way down the main street and out of town. Long after he can possibly see me, I still feel him looking.
Is this what love at first sight feels like? Must be, because I’ve never felt anything this strongly before.