Pushed

Chapter 26

On my wayout the door at the end of the evening, I plucked a sunflower from Mom’s garden for AJ. The flower shop would be closed by now, and I didn’t want to show up empty-handed. Not when I hoped this would be the start of a new phase in our relationship. A real one this time.

My heart thundered in my chest as I waited for her to open the door. Would it be awkward? Did she regret our parking lot kiss? Our texts throughout the day gave me hope, but I wouldn’t know until I saw her.

She opened the door and all my anxiety melted away. Her smile glowed like the moon above us. “Hey. About time you get here. Come on in.”

“What do you mean, about time? Didn’t you just get off work?”

“Yeah. But it took you forever to get here. Or it seemed like it, anyway.”

“Ah, so you missed me.” I leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I missed you too. And this is for you.” I handed her the flower.

“I love sunflowers. Thanks for thinking of me.”

“Thinking of you is easy, Princess. Stopping those thoughts is the challenge—it’s a miracle I got anything done.”

She smiled shyly and brought the flower to the kitchen.

I followed her. “I’d have bought you a bouquet, but this was all I could manage at this time of night.”

She filled a tall, thin vase with water and placed it on the counter. “So whose garden did you pillage for this one?”

“My mom’s. She would gladly have donated it, and all the other blooms in her garden, if she knew I was bringing it to you. You made quite an impression staying with me at the hospital like you did. She’s your biggest fan now.”

“Tell her I said thank you. The sunflower is beautiful.” She pulled a pot from her cupboard, placed it on the stove, and added some oil to it. “I was just about to make some parmesan herb popcorn. Thought it would make a good late-night snack. You want in on that?”

“After the lunch you sent me today, count me in on whatever you’re cooking.”

“I’ll remember you said that. Too bad that bag from Farmer Floyd is down in the Moonstruck fridge.” She smiled cheekily, before pouring seeds into the hot pan. “Want to watch a movie once this is done?”

“Sure. Whatever you want to do.” Honestly, I was happy to simply be in her presence. It didn’t matter what we did. We could sit and stare at each other for all I cared.

As much time as we’d spent together in the last month, we didn’t really know a lot about each other, making this seem like an awkward first date. While AJ focused on cooking, I wandered around her apartment looking at all her things to gleam little tidbits about her and her life.

“This is a great picture.” I pointed to a framed photo on her bookshelf.

“Ah, one of my favorites. That’s me with my two best friends from college, Paige and Javi. We were celebrating finishing our last finals.”

“Looks like a fun time. Are you three still close? Where are they now?”

“They still live in the city, so I don’t see them as often as I’d like. The biggest downside of moving here.”

When the popcorn was done, she set the bowl, along with two bottles of water, on the coffee table and sat on one end of the couch. I took the other end. We both reached for a handful of popcorn at the same time and our hands touched, causing a shock of electricity to shoot up my arm. She yanked her hand back. I smiled to myself, reassured that she felt it, too.

With a handful of popcorn, I sat back. “Hey, Princess, how good are you at catching things in your mouth?”

“Fair. As long as the toss is on target.”

“Alright. Let’s see how you do.” We faced each other, and I tossed a piece of popcorn in an arc toward her.

She opened her mouth, leaned forward, and caught it. “Yes!” She raised her hands in victory. “Okay. It’s your turn.”

I opened my mouth to give her a target. She tossed a piece and it hit me in the eye. “Almost. Try again.” She launched another and it bounced off my forehead.

“One more time,” she pleaded.

“Fine. But let’s make it a little more interesting. If you make it, I answer a question. If you miss, you answer one.” She opened her mouth to argue, but I raised a hand to stop her. “We both have to make an honest effort. This is to get to know each other better, so there’s no winner or loser.”

“Alright.” She tossed another piece. This time I caught it. “Yay! Okay, what is your favorite food?”

“Easy. Alaskan King crab legs. I went on a kayaking trip to Alaska a few years ago. Our guide caught ‘em and cooked ‘em up right on the shore. Mmm…nothing better.”

“That would be good.” She got a wistful look on her face.

“You’re imagining what you could make with fresh crab legs, aren’t you?”

She chuckled. “You got me. Occupational hazard.”

I picked a piece of popcorn from the bowl. “Your turn to catch. Open up.”

She opened her mouth and the kernel landed right in it, without her needing to move at all.

“Yes! And that’s how it’s done. Nothing but net.” I did a little victory dance from my end of the couch. “Your question… If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

“This might seem cliche, but I’d like to travel and cook with some native chefs, to learn their methods and recipes.”

“Which types of food would you like to learn authentically?

“There are so many, but the top of the list would be Italian, French, Indian, and Mexican. Sure, I learned about them in culinary school and have several dishes from these places already on my menu, but I’d like to expand and perfect it.”

“Wouldn’t it be cool to travel all around the world and pick up recipes from each place? Our menu could reflect food from all over the globe.”

Her face lit up. “I love that idea. Hard part is finding the time and money to make that happen. Life has a way of getting in the way.”

Wasn’t that the truth.

“Someday, Princess. And while you’re learning their secret recipes, I’ll be off on an adventure of my own. Every place has something to explore and experience to push my limits. That’s what I like to do when I travel.”

When we got tired of tossing popcorn, and the floor was littered like confetti after a parade, we just traded questions.

She faced me, our knees almost touching, “What was the hardest part of moving back home?”

“Oof. No beating around the bush for you, I see.” I opened my bottle of water and took a swig. “At first, it was convincing my dad to let me help. He kept saying I had enough to do already and didn’t have time to help.”

“You’re handling it all now.”

“Hmpf. Barely.”

“I get it. You’re afraid if you can’t manage everything now, your dad would have been right.”

I nodded, wiping the condensation from my bottle with my thumb. “Being the jokester was a way to stand out amongst my siblings. But my family still sees me as that irresponsible kid. The one who was always goofing around, couldn’t sit still, and didn’t take anything seriously. Even though I still like to have fun—it’s a big part of my personality—it’s not all I am. I’m trying to prove to them that they can count on me.”

She moved closer and put her hand on my forearm, her gaze filled with unexpected softness. “You’re a good man, Jasper. Surely, they must see that.”

I shrugged and looked back at my bottle. “Sometimes it’s easier to see things from an outside perspective.” I shoved a handful of popcorn into my mouth, ready for a change of topic. After I’d swallowed the last of it, it was my turn to ask her a question. “This is a question that’s been bothering me since the night we met. Why don’t you like the name Aurora?”

“It’s been bothering you all this time? Why didn’t you just ask?”

“Didn’t think you’d answer.”

“Good point. I probably wouldn’t have. It’s a simple question, but it doesn’t have a simple answer.” She curled her legs underneath her and hugged a pillow. Her gaze fixed on the popcorn bowl, and she bit her bottom lip. Her guard seemed to drop, revealing the vulnerable girl she kept hidden. One I would do anything to protect.

“You don’t have to answer if it’s too personal,” I said, not wanting to push her if she wasn’t ready.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll answer. I’m just trying to figure out how to boil it down.” She took a deep breath and looked at me for reassurance.

I slid closer and put my arm around her shoulders.

She relaxed a little more, settling into the cushions. “I grew up in an affluent family, and from the moment I was born, I was being groomed to be what my family wanted me to be, an upstanding woman of society. I had tutors and an etiquette coach to mold me into something like a Stepford wife.”

I snorted, “You? A Stepford wife? I can’t imagine that.”

“Neither could I. I rebelled at every turn, which only worsened the situation. My parents planned for me to marry well and elevate their social standing through my marriage. They wanted me to go to an ivy league college, not for the academics, but for the accessibility to rich boys. I was expected to study acceptable pursuits like art history, interior design, or maybe hospitality so that I could host fancy parties.”

“How did you break away?”

“Our next-door neighbor, Marianne, was always very kind to me. She would see me escaping and climbing a tree. Actually, the tree was in her backyard, but I didn’t know that at the time. She lured me out of the tree with fresh-baked cookies. She was an amazing cook, but she had no family. She was a widow who never had any children. Guess we kind of adopted each other.”

“Is she the one who taught you to cook?”

“Uh-huh. And told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. That my life was mine and nobody else’s, so I needed to live a life that made me happy.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I owe everything I am to Marianne. Without her, I shudder to think what I would have become.”

“I’m so glad you had her.”

She leaned into my shoulder and laced her fingers with mine. “She passed away my junior year of high school and left me everything. I was completely shocked and so were my parents. Her will explicitly stated that I would gain full control of all assets upon my eighteenth birthday, but my parents were not to touch it. I was to use some of the money to attend the college of my choice. She also included brochures from several of the top culinary schools. When I told my parents about my plan to go to culinary school, they were livid and said they would disown me if I disobeyed them. As soon as I got my high school diploma, I moved out, changed my name to AJ Scott. That was Marianne’s last name. I’ve never looked back.”

“So Aurora was the name your parents gave you?”

“Yeah,” she laughed. “Guess I got so caught up in telling my story that I forgot your initial question. I haven’t been called Aurora since I left home. I was completely thrown off when I saw that name listed at the gala.”

“Interesting. And what about the nickname Princess? Why did that bother you?”

“When I was younger, kids at school would tease and bully me because my parents had me dressed up and acting like a princess, not to mention Sleeping Beauty’s name was Aurora, as you pointed out the night we met.” She gently elbowed me in the ribs. “Hearing you call me that brought up memories from the past that I’d rather have kept buried.”

“Jeez, I’m so sorry. And I kept opening up the wound and pouring salt in it every time I called you Princess. What an idiot. No wonder you hated me.”

“Hearing those names bothered me at first. But I’ve gotten used to it. Now, when you call me Princess, I can hear the affection in your voice. It didn’t seem like you were calling me that to be mean. Flirtatious and playful, yes, but not mean. That might have been my imagination, though.”

“You didn’t imagine it. It was definitely affectionate, even that first night. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you or cause you pain.” I placed a kiss on her temple. “If you would rather I didn’t call you Princess, I’m sure I can come up with another term of endearment that would suit you just as well.”

Sharing this deeper level of trust and connection with her, and knowing the challenges she’d face to get where she was only intensified my feelings for her. I knew I’d do whatever I could to make her smile and shield her from pain.

I was all in.

She placed her hand on my chest and her eyes met mine. “No, hearing you call me Princess, and even Aurora, has changed how I feel about both names. Coming from your lips, they seem to be magically transformed. Now when I hear them, it actually makes me smile.”

“I can think of other magic my lips would be more than happy to provide.”

She playfully smacked my chest. “That was cheesy even for you.” Then she grasped my shirt and pulled me toward her, “but who am I to turn away magic lips?”

Our lips touched and it was magic, indeed.