Twelve
Ameila
“ T his is a stupid idea. I shouldn’t go on this date,” I say as I get dressed.
Penny’s lying on the bed, watching me get ready.
“I mean, I was gone all day and couldn’t take you on a good walk. Maybe I should tell him I can’t go because I have to take you for your good walk,” I say.
But she just stands up and spins in a circle on her blanket before plopping back down.
“You’re no help,” I say as I look in the mirror.
My hair is curled in loose waves, and I have a touch of makeup on.
“Alright, sleepy girl, it’s time to go out one more time since you didn’t give me a reason to stay home.” I walk to the front door and put my Chucks on. I’m looking back at Penny when I open the door and walk into something hard, causing me to scream. “Holy fucking son of a shit.”
“You should pay attention to your surroundings.” He huffs.
“You scared the shit out of me. I was going to let Penny out,” I snap back. “It’s my house. I have a dog who needs to go out, and I wasn’t expecting you for another”—I pause as I look down at my watch—“ten minutes.”
Shaking his head, he says, “Regardless, it isn’t safe to walk out and not look around you. Plus, I’m early because if my mom found out I was late for our first date, she’d kill me.”
I turn back to him and immediately feel bad. I have no reason to get defensive. I was just startled. My thoughts immediately stop when I fully look at him. Damn, he’s the most attractive man I’ve ever seen. His dirty-blond hair is just long enough that you can tell he recently ran his hand through it like he’s nervous, and his green Henley brings out the specks of green in his eyes.
As my eyes make it back up to his, I see his smirk. Knowing I was busted checking him out, I blush. Penny breaks the moment by nudging my leg.
“Oh, I still have to let her outside really quick,” I say.
“No problem, we’re not in a rush,” he says, moving to the side of the door as I give her the command that it’s okay to go outside. “It’s amazing that you can just let her out and not worry about her running away.”
“I probably should. She has no fear of strangers. So if someone tried to get her in their car, she’d most likely follow,” I say as we watch her trot around to find the perfect spot.
“Oh, I have something for you. I was told that even though you grow things, you’re not a fan of flowers, but I hear you’re a fan of books,” he says and hands me a paperback.
I look down and read the title. Break Out by Marissa James . Not only did he get me a freaking book, but a hockey romance? Which is my favorite type of book.
This man surprises me more and more each time I see him.
I look at him and open my mouth to say something, then close it again. I’m at a loss for words, and I feel like a shitty person for not wanting to go on this date because this is the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time. I fight the tears in my eyes as I look back up at him.
“It was a stupid idea. You don’t have to take it. You probably already have this one,” he rushes out.
“No! No. I don’t have it. Thank you so much. This was very thoughtful, and I appreciate it. I was just thrown off because I’ve never had someone buy a book for me before,” I say as Penny comes back up to my side. We stare at each other for a moment, and then I say, “Uhh, let me just get Penny settled and grab my phone and wallet, and we can go.”
“No problem. Do you still want to grab some food on the way, or do you want to wait till after?” he asks while he stays at the door.
“Um, we can grab something quick on the way, if that’s okay?” I say over my shoulder while I hand Penny her antler.
After scratching her on the head, I turn on her dog TV and then head out the door.
Grabbing his keys from his pocket, he says, “We can see what’s on the way and grab something, or we can sit down somewhere if you want.”
“If you don’t want to go to the diner, we can find a sit-down place outside of town, but I’m good with a drive-through, and then we can head to the mini golf place,” I say.
“Well, we can see our options on the way,” he says as we walk to his truck.
His very large truck that I don’t think I’ll be able to get in easily. Luke is right behind me, ready to open my door.
“Why is your truck so tall?” I say over my shoulder as he opens my door.
“It’s not that tall, you’re just that short.” He chuckles and, grabbing me by the waist, lifts me up.
“I told you I’m not short. I’m fun-sized. I could have gotten in on my own,” I say.
“I know, but I’m trying to make a good impression here. So I was just helping.” He smirks as he closes my door, and I buckle up.
I put my hands in my lap and twirl my anxiety ring as he hops in.
“All right, I wanted to take you somewhere nice, but we don’t have many options here. So, it looks like, on the way, we have a McDonald’s, a Taco Bell, and Sonic. On the count of three, you’re going to say the first one that comes to your head, and that’s what we’ll get,” he says as he turns the truck on and backs out of the driveway.
I take a breath because he has no idea how refreshing it is that he doesn’t have the whole date planned out to the minute. Leo used to do that, and he wasn’t flexible at all. Everything was always such a big deal, which gets exhausting after a while.
“Okay, one . . . two . . . three!” he says.
“Taco Bell!” I say with none of the hesitation that’s normally there when I have to make a choice about food.
“Perfect. We can eat that and head to play some mini golf.”
Music fills the cab, and I’m shocked he’s a country music fan. I don’t really know why I am, but I am.
Of all the things he could have been listening to, it’s the one style of music I don’t listen to.
He reaches for the radio and turns the music down. “Let’s play twenty questions.”
I’m thankful I don’t have to try and find something to talk about because until I know someone, small talk is hard for me.
“Uhhh, okay,” I say with a chuckle.
“Favorite color?”
“Orange. You?”
“Green.”
“Favorite sport?” I say.
I love all sports, but Leo hated that I could talk about sports with his coworkers more than he could.
“Hockey. You?” he replies and turns into Taco Bell’s parking lot.
“Same. Who’s your favorite team?”
I don’t care what team he says as long as it isn’t Colorado.
“The Bruins. You?” he says.
“The Wings,” I answer as I hear the person ask for our order.
He angles toward me. “What do you want?”
Without thinking, I lean over the center console and say, “Chicken quesadilla with a hard shell taco, no lettuce. A side of nachos and cheese and a frozen Baja Blast to drink, please.”
Thank goodness the cheese here doesn’t bother me.
I blush when I realize I’m half in Luke’s lap.
“Sorry,” I whisper and lean back to my side of the truck.
He stops me by putting his hand on the back of my neck, and we’re face-to-face.
“I’m not,” he says.
He leans in and kisses me on the cheek before letting me go.
I just stare at him as he places his order, wondering if I can mentally tell him to kiss me again.
Shaking my head, I reach for my purse to grab my card.
“Put it away. I asked you out, so I’m paying for it,” he says as we pull around to the window.
“Okay. As long as you’re sure.”
Honestly, I don’t care who pays, but I hate when people just assume someone else is paying.
We get our food and eat on the way to mini golf, continuing our questions.
Some of my anxieties start to fade away.
While this isn’t our first date, technically, this is the first one I officially agreed to, so in my mind, this is my first real date in over five years. I wasn’t sure I would ever be ready to take this step. However, Luke is easy to talk to. There’s no pressure here, and we have a lot in common.
We continue our questions way past twenty as we pull into the parking lot for mini golf.
Bringing one of the chips to his mouth, he asks, “If you could pick anywhere else to start your farm, where would it have been?”
“This is where the grant was, so New Mexico won by default, but if the grant wasn’t state specific and I could be anywhere, it would have been around central Florida,” I say as I gather our garbage and open the door to jump down.
“Really? That’s vastly different from here,” he says as he rounds his truck and grabs my hand like it’s the most normal thing to do.
He looks at me and smiles as he squeezes my hand.
“Yeah, I actually hate winters. It’s a pain to plan for the greenhouse to have a heating source so the plants can grow all year, but I’ve figured it out. Plus, I love Universal and Disney,” I say with a shrug.
“Huh, never would have guessed. Not that it’s a bad thing, but not what I pictured you would say,” he responds as we walk up to the counter where the young college kid is on his phone.
“Just the two of you? Are you doing nine or eighteen holes?” he asks without looking up.
Luke looks at me. “Wanna do the full eighteen?”
“Yeah. I’m down. More holes I can kick your ass on,” I say with a laugh.
His eyes sparkle with laughter, but he doesn’t say anything as he pays the kid. We grab our clubs and pick the balls we’ll use.
“I’ll take it easy on you, sweetness. I don’t want to hurt your feelings while we’re on a date,” he teases.
“Whatever you say, hot shot,” I reply.
What he doesn’t know is that I played a lot of mini golf after my breakup with Leo because it forced me out of the house when I didn’t really want to leave, but he’s about to find out. Although he’s lucky because I’ve never played this course before.
“Ladies first.” He bows and sweeps his arm forward dramatically.
“Such a gentleman,” I say as I look at the first hole and try to figure out how I want to take the shot.
I line up my shot and swing, and the ball goes about halfway where I need it to. But it’s lined up so that I can hit it into the hole at the next shot.
I smile and look over my shoulder. “Your turn, champ.”
He looks at the ball and then at me and says, “I take it this isn’t a thing you do every once in a blue moon, is it?” He scrubs a hand down his face. “I’m totally gonna get my ass handed to me during this game,” he groans.
“Yeah, I played once a week for a while before and after COVID. Ya know, to force myself out of the house and away from work when Pam was working.”
He grumbles something that I can’t make out fully, but it sounded like he was doubting his choice of date night options.
That thought makes me pause. Why do I feel so comfortable? This is my third time seeing him, and we barely know each other.
Hearing him say something, I look at him. “Sorry. What was that?”
“Am I boring you already?” he asks with a chuckle.
“No, I’m so sorry. I was trying to figure out how much of a lead to give you,” I say quickly.
“I forgot I’m with a pro mini golfer,” he jokes.
“Nah, but I’m half decent if I actually try,” I say as I take my second shot and watch it roll into the hole. “So, how are you liking the great town of Griffin’s Den so far?” I ask, as I watch him take a couple shots until he finally makes it in the hole.
“I enjoy it. I didn’t realize how burned out I was on the big-city life until I moved here. Like I knew I wanted to move, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go. I’ll admit it’s been a struggle not having the food selections I’m used to, but the big box stores are close enough that it’s not so bad. What about you? You’ve been here for five years, right?” he asks as we head to the next hole.
“Yeah, and it’s been great. I love how welcoming everyone has been, and the fact that I had Pam here with me just made it that much easier to transition to small-town life,” I say. “Do you have any family back in Boston?” I ask and take my shot.
I smirk when it gets about halfway down, knowing it’s going to go in the hole, so I turn around to hear his answer.
“Uhh, you aren’t going to watch where the ball goes? What the hell? You just got a hole-in-one,” he says and laughs while looking at the scorecard. “Well, you’re one hundred percent going to kick my ass at this game.”
“I told you I was going to kick your ass, Grant, so I don’t know why you’re acting so surprised.” I laugh.
He shakes his head with a smirk. “To answer your question, no, I’m an only child, and my parents are retired and living it up in Florida. What about you? Any family?”
“No, I’m also an only child. I don’t know my dad, but my mom died during my last year of high school. Pam and Sam’s parents took me in since I was under eighteen. Then I went to college and had a shitty relationship and then moved out here when it ended,” I say, hoping he doesn’t ask for details about my last relationship.
“I’m really sorry to hear about your mom, but I know how great Sam’s parents are, so I know you were in great hands. It’s funny, he only talked about Pam, but he said several times that he had two sisters. I guess I never really thought more about it since we became friends after you moved here,” he says.
The conversation flows easily as we finish the rest of the course, and once we finish and turn in our clubs, I find myself sad that the night might be ending.
Taking a quick peek at the scorecard, I see I beat him by a solid twenty putts. I turn to him and smile. “I think you should frame this scorecard and label it ‘The last time I underestimated Amelia.’” I laugh as we walk into the parking lot as the sun starts to set. In the distance, a sprinkler system kicks on and a few streetlights flicker to life.
“If we’re framing it, we have to take a picture to go with it,” he says as he grabs his phone from his pocket and stops in the middle of the parking lot. Pulling me close, he flips the camera to face us.
I smile, and he clicks the shutter button before putting his phone back in his pocket.
“Hey, maybe I want to see that to make sure I look okay?” I ask with a pout.
“You look beautiful, sweetness. Trust me, I know these things,” he says, smirking at me.
I roll my lips together and look away from him, feeling the blush creep up my neck. Movement catches my eye near the ground, and I stop walking. The cutest little black and orange kitten comes out from behind the tire of the car next to us, and I immediately crouch down.
“Oh my goodness, aren’t you the cutest little thing. What are you doing out here on your own?”
“I’m glad it came out. The way it was hidden, I don’t think the person next to us would have seen it before backing out,” Luke says.
“You don’t have a collar, and you look so dirty. I’m going to take you home with me,” I say without thinking too much about it and slowly move to grab the kitten, hoping I don’t startle it.
“Uhh, you sure you want to just take it home? What about Penny?” Luke says. “Maybe the kitten has a family out here.” He looks around the mostly empty parking lot.
“I’ll come back tomorrow to see if more are out here. But there’s no way I’m leaving this precious baby out here for another night.”
He’s going to think I’m impulsive just taking this stray cat home.
I chew my lip as I turn to him. “You don’t care if we stop at the pet store on the way home? It’s early enough that we can stop and grab some stuff. Wait, are you allergic to cats? If so, I can have Pam come and get me.” I stop talking when I realize I just told him I’m bringing this cat home in his truck without actually asking him.
“I’m not allergic, sweetness. I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing. Of course we can swing by the pet store,” he says as he grabs some blankets from the back of his truck.
We work together to get the kitten settled into the blanket on my lap, and we head off to the pet store.
I’m suddenly nervous about this drastic change of plans. “I’m sorry this put a wrinkle in any other plans you might have had for us.”
He reaches over the console and grabs my hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss the back of it. “I had no set plans. I’m just happy to spend time with you.”
Once he pulls into the parking lot, he quickly parks the truck and hops out. He comes around to my side and opens the door. I hold onto the kitten as he helps me down. He puts his arm across my shoulder and pulls me closer as we walk into the pet store.
I settle the kitten in a cart and head to the cat section, where I load it with double of everything I can think of: litter box, litter, wet food, bowls, treats, toys, a cat carrier—which I put her in—a cat bed, and a medium-sized cat tower. Every time I throw something new in the cart, Luke chuckles at me.
He thinks I’ve gone off the deep end, but I’m not going to leave her alone at home when Penny and I go to the farm. She’ll come too.
“I don’t think when this cat woke up today, it knew it was going to get so spoiled by the end of the night. How do you think Penny will act?” he asks.
“She loves cats. I have to drag her away from the cat area when we come here if there are cats in the cages. I’ve been thinking about getting one for about a year now,” I say as we check out. “Oh, that reminds me, I need to shoot an email to my vet to see if I can get this little one in tomorrow to get the first round of shots and such.” I go to grab my phone before I forget.
After the cashier rings us up, I press the donate button and finish checking out.
Luke loads everything into the truck, and we take off for my house. This isn’t what either of us expected, and I’m thankful he didn’t get upset about the change of events.
Not allowing myself to think too much about it, I reach over and grab his hand. Giving it a squeeze, I say, “Thanks again for this evening and for the semi-change in plans after mini golf.”
He squeezes my hand back and shoots me a smile. “It’s been a great night.”
After pulling into my driveway, he turns the truck off and grabs the cat carrier, and I follow him to my door.
He steps to the side with his hands full. “I’m excited to see Penny’s reaction to the cat. Are you going to give it a bath tonight?”
“I think I’m going to let Penny do some sniffing through the carrier, but I’m going to set her up in the bathroom just in case she has any accidents. But also because Penny has no sense of a personal bubble. But yes, after all that, I’ll have to give her a quick bath tonight since I’m sure she has fleas,” I say as I put the code in the door to open it.
We walk in, and I call Penny because I want her to go potty before she gets distracted. Penny’s nails pitter-patter against the floor as she gets closer. She pauses for a second, and then her tail starts to wag.
“Go potty, then you have a surprise.”
She bolts out of the house and does her business faster than I’ve ever seen her.
“Luke, can you put the carrier on the floor?” I ask.
“Um, yeah,” he says, sounding nervous, but he sets it down next to him.
He watches the carrier closely as Penny comes barreling back to the house.
“Penny, sit.”
She sits with her tail thumping on the floor, but she’s looking at me.
“Okay, go sniff,” I say.
Happily, she trots around the carrier until she reaches the front, and she lies down, peering inside. Slowly, the little kitten comes up to the screen and starts to investigate. Penny leans forward and licks the front of the carrier screen, which makes the cat just look at her and purr.
“Holy shit. I would have never guessed that’s how this would go,” Luke says, amazed. “I’m going to grab the rest of the stuff real quick and bring it in.”
“Okay,” I say, looking back at Penny. “Penny place.”
She pauses and looks at me like Are you serious right now? But she goes back to her bed and lies down with a huff.
A few minutes later, Luke walks in with all the stuff I bought, and I show him to the guest bathroom.
Together we work to get a little cat palace set up for the night, or longer if she’s sick and until she has her flea treatment started.
Once we finish up, I let the kitten out and close the door. We walk to the living room, where Penny is still pouting.
“Oh, you baby. Okay, break,” I say.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a dog as well trained as she is,” he says, watching her lie outside the bathroom door.
“Like I said, she mostly came to me that way. I just really worked with her to keep her skills up. She is perfect, though,” I say with a smile. I turn to him. “Umm, do you want to stay and watch a movie or something?”
I wait for him to say something, and when he just looks at me, I start to get nervous.
He groans. “Sweetness, I would love to stay and watch a movie, but not tonight. Tonight, you’re going to walk me to the door, and I’m going to kiss you and tell you I had a great night and that we should do it again soon. I like you, but I don’t want to rush this.”
“Oh, okay,” I say kind of breathlessly because that’s not at all what I was expecting him to say.
It’s like he knows how nervous I am about how to move forward.
Grabbing my hand, he walks me to the front door and opens it.
“Thanks again for a great night. It’s really been perfect,” I say, stepping onto the porch.
He rubs his thumb over my wrist, and my stomach dips like I’m on a roller coaster.
“The pleasure is all mine, sweetness. I just hope we can do it again,” he says as he steps into my personal space, and my breathing picks up.
He grabs me by the nape of my neck and pulls me toward him, bringing his mouth to mine. I freeze the moment our lips touch, second-guessing if this is a quick kiss. I decide to relax, and I grab his shirt to pull him closer.
The moment I do, he pushes me up against the side of my house, and I gasp. Taking full advantage, he pushes his tongue into my mouth. I moan and spear my fingers through his hair. He groans into my mouth.
I forgot how much I love kissing. The feeling of getting lost in another person.
Goose bumps erupt over my skin when his tongue glides against mine, and I lose myself in the taste of him. I can feel him hardening against me, and I groan as I roll my hips against him when he puts his leg between mine.
“God, fuck, you taste so sweet. You’re tempting me not to be such a gentleman,” he says against my lips.
I keep rolling my hips against his leg, knowing that if we don’t stop, I’ll come all over his leg.
I moan, “Do you have to be a gentleman?” And then I pull his mouth back to mine.
He presses his fingers into my hips, and I can’t tell if he’s trying to pull me closer or push me away.
I’m so lost in the moment that I don’t care that I’m about to get off on his leg right here on my front porch where anyone could see. Before that can happen, he pulls away with a groan and removes my hands from him, taking a step back.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but yes. We’re not doing this out here for your neighbors to hear,” he says, and a blush creeps up my face because damn, that’s exactly what was about to happen.
“No, don’t be embarrassed. The first time we’re together won’t be outside on your porch.” He cups my face. “I was serious. I like you and want to see where this can go. This isn’t a one-time hookup for me. Do you get what I’m saying?” His eyes are boring into mine with a look I can’t quite decipher.
“Yeah, I got you,” I say.
“Okay, now you’re going to walk into your house and lock the door. I’m going to get in the truck and drive home and text you when I get there. Then we’ll plan our next date. Sound good?” he says as he brushes a stray piece of hair out of my face.
“Sounds like a plan,” I say, torn between wanting to say fuck it and drag him back inside and appreciating that he isn’t rushing me.
He puts his hands on my shoulders and turns me to face my door. “Sweetness, that means you have to walk back into your house.” He chuckles.
“Oh yeah, right,” I say. Taking a step, I look back over my shoulder. “Bye, Luke.”
“See you soon, Amelia,” he says before walking back to his truck.
He sits there with his truck running, and I realize he’s waiting for me to shut and lock the door. After closing the door and throwing the lock in place, I walk to my couch and fall face-first onto it.
Turning my head to look at Penny, I reach out and pet her as she licks my face. “Holy shit balls, my girl. I’m fucked.”
I get up and go through my nighttime routine, let Penny out one more time, and give the little kitten a quick bath. She gives me a death glare as I dry her off, and I burst into laughter at the look on her face.
I set her down, and her legs shake as she walks. I notice the reddish hair mixed with the blond, and I call her the first name that comes to mind.
“I think I’m going to call you Ginny.”
Why is that the first name that came to my head? Maybe because I just finished rewatching Harry Potter, but it feels right.
With a clean, semi-dry kitten and a dog who won’t leave the bathroom door, I walk to my room and crawl into bed. I check my email one last time, as well as my calendar, to make sure I haven’t missed anything. Thankfully I didn’t set any meetings for the morning. The last thing I remember before falling asleep is getting a text from Luke that he made it home, and that makes me smile.