Chapter 23
D elilah already knew this would be a sex date. If she hadn’t known it, the fact that Quinn cooked dinner for her at his place would have been an unmistakable signal.
At least, she thought he cooked—until she spotted some takeout containers from Indigo Moon in his kitchen trash can.
He’d made everything beautiful. His house was spotless and inviting, the table was set with cloth napkins and candles, he’d chilled a bottle of Chardonnay, and a vase of flowers—yellow calla lilies—was displayed on the countertop that separated the kitchen from the dining area.
She’d almost wanted to let his deception go, but once he’d plated the food with the care of a chef and placed it in front of her, she couldn’t help herself.
“This looks wonderful,” she said, admiring the seafood fettuccine on her plate.
“Ah, well.” He waved her off. “It’s just something I put together.”
“This must have been a lot of work. And yet you managed to get the kitchen spotless before I came,” she said.
“I just … planned. I planned it out, is all.” He was starting to blush a little.
She took a bite of her pasta and moaned with pleasure. “God, this is delicious. You know what it reminds me of? A dish I ate recently at … what was it called? Indigo Moon?”
He scowled at her. “You saw the takeout boxes.”
“Yes. Yes, I did.”
He sighed. “Is this going to affect my chances of getting lucky? Because I put a lot of thought into this even if I didn’t—”
She leaned over and interrupted him, pressing her lips to his. As she pulled away, his eyes were still closed, his lips still gently pursed.
“Okay then.” He opened his eyes as though he were waking up after a long nap. “Okay.”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to put in the effort,” he said later as they lay in his bed in the glow of the candles they’d brought in from the dining room. “It’s just that I can’t cook. And I wanted this to be nice, so…”
“It’s all right.” She rolled onto her side to face him and gave him a long, lingering kiss. “It really was nice, so you achieved your goal.”
“Well, good.” He ran his hand up her arm to her shoulder and back down again. “But the dinner wasn’t the nicest part.”
He hadn’t wanted to get Delilah into bed to satisfy his physical desires. Well, okay—yes, he had. But it wasn’t only that. He’d just wanted to be close to her.
Something about Delilah made him feel comforted and warm and well-tended.
So, yes, he’d wanted to sleep with her, but more than that, he’d wanted to be one with her.
And, yeah, that sounded wussy as hell, but there it was.
He’d thought he wanted to keep his freedom and avoid complications. He’d thought he wanted to keep things simple and low-risk.
He hadn’t known what he wanted, because it turned out he didn’t want freedom or simplicity or to keep himself unburdened by someone else’s baggage.
He just wanted her.
He didn’t think she was in the same place as he was—not yet—but he’d get her there. The whole thing felt too right for him to believe otherwise.
Then again, maybe this wasn’t about Delilah at all. Maybe he was just so damned lonely since his family had cut him loose that he was looking for a substitute family he could belong to.
If that were the case, it would mean he was using her—even if he didn’t realize it or intend it.
Well, that was why you were supposed to date someone for a while before deciding on whether to commit to them. The problem was, he didn’t have time. He only had until January first.
“So. How do you like Cambria?” he asked, feeling her out. If there was any chance she might stay …
“It’s lovely. Really. The beaches and the forests … the boys and I saw a flock of turkeys yesterday.”
He could hear the hesitation in her voice. “But?”
She shrugged. “But after this, we have nowhere to go. I have to decide what happens next. We can live at my parents’ place until we figure it out, but after that …”
“What do you want to do?” He propped himself on one elbow to look at her.
“I want … I need … to find out who I am when Mitch isn’t forcing me to be whatever it was he wanted. I just don’t know who that will turn out to be.”
Quinn wanted to be there with her when she became that person. He knew that, if he knew nothing else. He wanted to watch her as she transformed into someone new, someone who was more than what she’d been.
Later that night, when Delilah came home, Dolly was sitting on the sofa at Otter Bluff watching a TV show on low volume.
“Are the boys asleep?” Delilah asked.
“Sleeping like angels. We had dinner at my house, then when it was time for bed, I brought them over here.”
“I can’t thank you enough.” Delilah reached for her purse and took out her wallet.
“Oh, you can just put that away.” Dolly reached for the remote and switched off the TV. “I had so much fun, it would hardly be fair for me to expect payment too.”
“Are you sure? I’d like to give you something.”
“Honey, I was just being neighborly.” She patted the seat next to her. “Now, sit down and tell me how your date with Mr. Handsome went.”
Delilah’s first instinct was to say some vague thing or change the subject.
But somehow, she found herself talking to Dolly about it.
She sat down and let out a contented sigh. “It was wonderful. Really wonderful.”
“Oh, Delilah, that’s great. Tell me all about it, and don’t leave anything out.”
She did leave some things out, mainly because she wanted to keep the conversation G-rated. But she told Dolly about the dinner, and how Quinn had bought flowers and lit candles, and how it had made her feel special and wanted.
“It’s been so long since a man has treated me this way, I almost didn’t recognize it.” Then, upon further thought: “Actually, no man has ever treated me this way. I met Mitch when we were both young, and I’d barely dated before that. And it seemed like he was always too busy to pay attention to me.”
Dolly scowled. “I want to ask you why you put up with that, but you were young, and we all tend to undervalue ourselves when we’re young.”
“I guess we do. And it was always supposed to be temporary.” Delilah sank back into the sofa cushions. “You know? All of the busyness, and the way he prioritized everything but me. First, it was just until he graduated college. Then, it was just until he got through law school. Then he had his first job with a big firm, and he worked sixteen-hour days, and it was just until he could make partner. And then? He left me for someone else before we could get to the end of the just until .”
“My first husband was like that,” Dolly said. “Always worrying about his career, always working long days that stretched into night. Finally, I’d just had it. ‘Bob,’ I said, ‘you can have that damned job or you can have me, but you can’t have both.’”
“What kind of work did he do?” Delilah wanted to know.
“Oh, he was a financial analyst. Still is. His second wife left him a few years after I did.” She shook her head, frowning. “He had a stroke two years ago. The way he’s going, it won’t be his last.” She perked up and patted her hands once on her thighs. “But, my Harold is a gem. If I hadn’t gotten that divorce, I never would have met him. Things have a way of working out, honey.”
Delilah was beginning to feel the first stirrings of hope that for her, they just might.