Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
This particular Monday morning clearly had a vendetta out for Haleigh.
After that rather stressful family dinner the night before, she let herself sleep in until ten, only to wake up to rejections on three of the four job applications she’d sent out. The silver lining was that none of them were for the publishing job she really wanted, but it meant she had to spend the rest of the morning back on the job sites.
Then she managed to smash her knee against the footboard of her bed.
And then she finally left her room, only to discover that Ryan had left her a note apologizing for eating her last bagel.
It was a good reminder of why she was applying for jobs and planning to move out. Having two roommates, she was learning, increased the likelihood of missing bagels, empty OJ containers, and unstocked toilet paper. Stanton was great, but his schedule was hectic and sometimes he took what he needed and would replenish it when he had time. Add in Ryan’s similarly hectic schedule chasing stories for the online magazine he wrote for, and Haleigh’s bagel (and toilet paper) supply had become a little too unreliable.
Throwing on whatever clothes from her floor didn’t smell, she wandered across the street to the corner café for an egg sandwich and another round of job hunting.
Her phone rang immediately after she took a huge bite. “Hello?” If trying to enunciate while chewing was an Olympic sport, Haleigh would not qualify.
“I’m really sorry if I’m calling at a bad time. Stanton gave me your number. I’m Brian.”
This had to be the guy Stanton was raving about at dinner. Why did his voice sound so familiar? It took Haleigh another second to remember. “The autocorrect victim.”
He laughed. It was a great sound. Low and throaty. “I know it’s like the eighth deadly sin to call when you could text, but I’ve got a ton of appointments today and I get way into my head about sending texts to new people… Anyway…” His voice trembled a little, and Haleigh found her own cheeks flushing in response. She was making this incredibly attractive man nervous. Her. “I was wondering how you feel about dumplings?”
“I feel very good about dumplings.”
“Thank god. I would be side-eying you otherwise.”
Silence settled over the other side of the line. Haleigh broke her sandwich into small pieces and folded one into her mouth. “Were you calling to take a survey?” she joked.
Another laugh pressed against her ear. “I didn’t know if you’d want to go out for some tonight? There’s this place in North Quincy that’s amazing.”
No planning. No need for archaic dating rules about ac cepting same-day invitations. Haleigh was in. “That sounds perfect.”
Delectable Dumplings had the world’s smallest parking lot, and Haleigh’s stomach dropped when she realized that Brian was sitting outside on the bench watching her make a forty-five-point turn to get her car into the last open spot.
Of course. Why wouldn’t the universe insist that Haleigh commence this date by demonstrating her inability to ever accurately estimate the size of her car?
Brian gestured toward the lot as she approached. “That was impressive.”
“You mean impressively ridiculous?” Haleigh quipped.
“No, like, seriously impressive. I wouldn’t have trusted myself with how badly everyone else is parked.”
“I hate parallel parking more.”
Brian grinned. “If there isn’t a sprawling Target-sized parking lot, I want nothing to do with it.”
Green Flag Number One.
They headed for the restaurant, Brian leading the way. As she followed in his wake, Haleigh was struck all over again by how hot he was. He was a few inches taller than her, and though narrow in the shoulders, it was clear from how his olive-green sweater hugged his arms and chest that there were lithe muscles underneath it. His face was all sharp angles under dark hair expertly mussed. And his eyes, they were so damn expressive that they made her knees loose every time he glanced at her.
Now she was glad she’d decided to wear one of her favorite outfits: a teal floral swing dress with bell sleeves, paired with her lace-up knee-high brown leather boots, and a series of stacked long necklaces. Her hair was loose, flowing almost to her waist.
People were going to be jealous of how good they looked together.
Inside, the restaurant smelled like spices and pork and deliciousness, and Haleigh had to stop herself from visibly inhaling.
They were seated at a small table in the corner, where they had a clear view of the rest of the diners. Instead of taking the chair across from her, Brian joined Haleigh on the vinyl booth seat. He cleared his throat. “I hope it’s okay that I sit here. I hate having my back to the door.”
“Worried about assassins?”
Brian chuckled. “More like I’m afraid I’m missing everything.” He leaned in a little, his cologne—citrus with a hint of musk—filling Haleigh’s senses. “Like over there.” He nodded toward a couple at the window table. “What do you think? Are they on a first date too?”
Haleigh grinned. He was a people-watcher.
“Definitely a date, but maybe not first? They don’t seem nervous enough,” Haleigh pointed out. The couple kept brushing hands and blushing, so homed in on each other that they’d barely been able to look away to tell the server their order.
“But you don’t seem nervous either.” Brian’s voice was hesitant.
“You should see me on the inside.”
“If it helps, I’m feeling the same,” he admitted. “I’m actually surprised you agreed to this after that angel/angle incident.”
“I did hesitate for a second.” A flush rose into Haleigh’s cheeks, even as she joked. She’d never be able to wrap her head around the idea that she made someone nervous. She was full of so much energy and chaos that she was practically a cartoon character. Just ask Joey.
Brian picked up his menu and handed Haleigh the other one. “What do you feel like? I love literally everything here.” He shot Haleigh another smile. “I’ve had it all except the eel. Logan says he will lock me out of Sundae’s if I ever bring that into the building.”
Haleigh’s hands tightened on the plastic edges of the menu. “Moment of realness? I’ve had gyoza and potstickers, but I’ve never been somewhere that only served dumplings like this.”
Brian’s dark eyebrows arched. “I’m about to change your life.” He rested the menu on the table between them so they could look together. “What if we order the classics? And then obviously chime in with anything that jumps out at you.”
“Just no seafood, if that’s okay?” Thankfully there were no oysters on this menu. Bradley Cooper (not that one) had ensured that Haleigh would never go near those sea slugs again.
“Allergic?”
“Only mentally?” Haleigh offered him a sardonic grin. “Not to be that person talking about another date on a date, but last week, a guy tried to spoon-feed me oysters against my will, and I’m not over it yet.”
Brian grimaced. “There should be dating jail for that.”
“No passing Go, no collecting two hundred dollars.”
“And probation until you prove you’ll do better.” Brian returned his attention to the menu. “I promise no feeding you anything, and no seafood.”
He ran his finger down the page. Haleigh noticed his nails were jagged, like he bit them. “We definitely need to do pork bao, probably two orders. Oh, and the juicy pork. It will change your life. And maybe a chicken?” He looked to her for input.
She suggested a cucumber appetizer and some vegetable potstickers.
A moment later, the server arrived to take their order.
When he left, Brian smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I probably got us way too much.”
“I don’t think that’s possible with dumplings,” Haleigh noted. “They make excellent leftovers.”
“I like the way you think.” Brian leaned back in the booth so he could see her more fully and crossed his arms. “So that questionnaire was a ride.”
“I know how to get right at people’s souls.” Haleigh propped her chin on her hand. “What was your favorite question?”
“The dinosaur versus alien one. I sat at my desk for a good twenty minutes trying to figure out how I felt.”
A smile broke out on her face. Haleigh loved that he’d taken his answers seriously. “Well, as a vet, I imagine they’d both be fascinating specimens.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you think aliens would look like us?” Haleigh and Jack had this discussion every time they watched a sci-fi movie. Or, more accurately, Jack listened to Haleigh pontificate on how movies set such unrealistic expectations for aliens, while he shrugged and said some version of I didn’t take enough science classes to have a dog in this fight. “I get so frustrated in movies and shows when the aliens look like a guy in a suit.”
“Well, they are a guy in a suit.” Brian grinned.
“I know, but we have CGI and whatnot. Have some imagination. I refuse to believe that the life that exists on other planets have their heads and limbs and organs in the exact same places we do.” A blush blooming in her cheeks, Haleigh swallowed, cutting off her rant. “Sorry. I get weirdly worked up about this.”
“Why are you sorry? You’re right. We don’t look like horses or octopuses. And we definitely don’t look like whatever the hell lives in the far reaches of the ocean, so why would something from a completely different planet look even marginally similar?”
Haleigh slapped the table with her palm. “Thank. You.” She shook her head. “Sorry, Predator .”
“And Avatar .”
“And Star Wars .”
Brian pressed his hands to his chest. “That one hurt.”
Haleigh’s whole body glowed with warmth. This was… fun. And not just because he agreed with her.
“I will now be able to focus only on the anatomy and physiology of aliens whenever I watch sci-fi movies.”
“I’m here to help.” She was feeling bold, so Haleigh added, “Or we could watch them together and discuss.”
Brian gave her that not-dorky wink. “I can get behind that plan.”
All the food Brian ordered barely fit on the table. Together with the server, it felt like the three of them were doing a puzzle getting all the plates to fit.
There was an angular dish with four squat, perfectly browned dumplings sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds. Two steamer baskets stacked on top of each other. A plate with four shell-shaped pot stickers, and a bowl of quartered cucumber pieces marinating in what looked like soy sauce with chili and garlic. Plus their two pots of tea.
“Okay,” he said, his face serious. “The ones in the steamers are soup dumplings. So you want to use this”—he picked up a ceramic spoon from the table setting that looked like a mini ladle—“and then guide the dumpling into your mouth with your chopsticks.”
Haleigh picked hers up. “I am… um… bad at these.” As if to prove it, she positioned them between her fingers using a method she’d seen online, then tried to grab a cucumber. The chopsticks slipped and clacked together, and the piece of cucumber went flying, almost catching in Brian’s hair as it slapped the wall behind him.
For a second, they were both silent, staring at the same spot on the tile. Then they burst into laughter.
“I was going to say I bet you’re fine,” he wheezed, “but now I believe you.”
Haleigh grinned. “I’m not the self-deprecating type. If I say I’m bad at something, it’s true.”
“Noted.” He scooted closer. “Here.” He wrapped his arm around Haleigh and helped her adjust her grip on the chopsticks. “You hold one like a pencil.”
Haleigh was having a hard time paying attention as Brian adjusted her fingers around the stick. His skin was warm and soft, and this close up Haleigh could catch whiffs of something sharp like lemon coming off his hair, even through the aroma of the food in front of them. She found herself relaxing into him, so her back rested against Brian’s chest.
“Like this?” she asked, displaying her chopsticks in one hand as she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear with the other. She looked up at Brian shyly through her lashes.
“Just like that,” Brian whispered against her cheek.
Haleigh’s heart hiccupped.
As they turned their attention back to the food, something thick and electric buzzed between them. Haleigh was sure if they hadn’t been in such a public place, Brian would have kissed her.
And she wanted him to. For a minute, the idea of catching his full bottom lip between her teeth was all she could think about. She had to focus hard on her chopstick grip to chase the thought away.
Brian lifted the top off the first steamer basket and guided a dumpling onto his plate, while Haleigh chose one of the pan-fried ones at her elbow. Her mouth actually watered as she secured the dumpling in her chopsticks and raised it to her face.
She was biting down on it, using the spoon as a net in case she lost her grip, when Brian’s dark eyes flared wide. “Wait—” he started. But it was too late.
Two things happened at once: heat like Haleigh only imagined one could find on the inside of an active volcano exploded in her mouth. And then juice from the dumpling was shooting toward the ceiling, into Haleigh’s lap, and across the front of Brian’s sweater.
Haleigh let the dumpling thump into the spoon and set it down, guzzling water and handing napkin after napkin to Brian, apologies blasting from her eyes like lasers. “I swear I’m not usually a weapon of mass destruction when I eat.”
“It’s my fault,” he insisted. “I meant to warn you those were nuclear levels of hot and capable of explosion.”
Haleigh frowned. “You’re going to have grease stains on your cute sweater.”
Waving her off, he dabbed at the spot with a napkin. “Dish soap gets everything out.” Once he was satisfied he wouldn’t be able to mop up any more of the grease, he selected one of his own juicy pork dumplings from the plate.
Haleigh immediately ducked, which made him snort in the most adorable way. “Please don’t take your vengeance out on me. I’m pretty sure I’m already going to have scars from these burns.” Haleigh touched her forehead gently where she’d been spattered.
“I swear, no vengeance will be sought.” Brian stabbed two holes into the top of the dumpling. “Helps cool it down,” he explained.
“So does letting it burst all over you and your date.” Haleigh guided the now edibly warm dumpling into her mouth. She had to fight not to groan in pleasure. The pork inside was tender and salty and she could taste the onion and garlic and herbs mixed in. It blended perfectly with the crispy fried dumpling wrapper and the ginger soy sauce she’d poured over it. A perfect bite. Like this imperfect date that was somehow still perfect.
Proof that a mess didn’t always have to be a bad thing.
Brian laughed and shook his head. His hair ruffled with the movement, and Haleigh found herself wanting to see how soft it was. After easing another dumpling into his mouth (in this graceful way that Haleigh found unbelievably hot), he took Haleigh in with a full stare. “Tell me something about you that’s hard to share.”
It was such a direct question that Haleigh actually jolted in surprise.
Brian’s cheeks reddened. “Sorry. Was that too blunt? I’m so bad at this.”
“No, it’s—”
“Maybe I should just read from your questionnaire.”
Smiling gave her a second to think. She was surprised to find that she wanted to tell Brian about her jobs, her life. That she wasn’t even wary as the words left her mouth. “I don’t really have a normal job.”
Brian’s brows arched. “Are you a porn star or something?”
Haleigh choked on her water. “What—god. No. Sex with the lights on feels exhibitionist to me.”
That earned her a hearty laugh. “Fair.” His eyes scanned Haleigh, and his expression turned mischievous. “We’ll work on that.”
It had been a mistake to try to take a sip of water. Haleigh was pretty sure the entire thing had been sucked into her left lung by her gasp. It had been so long since someone she liked had flirted with her.
So long since she felt this draw toward someone besides Jack.
She was coughing and tongue-tied and ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “Did you know Play-Doh started off as wallpaper cleaner?”
Brian had been about to eat another dumpling but he lowered his spoon and chopsticks. “Do you work for Play-Doh?”
“No, I’m just randomly spouting facts to try to hide the fact that while you’re sitting here all cool talking about sex with the lights on, I’m exploding dumplings and drowning in a glass of water.” Haleigh sat back against the booth and rubbed the heel of her palm to her forehead. “This is the first good date I’ve had in forever and I’m afraid I’m systematically torpedoing it.”
Brian set his hand over hers. “I’m having a great time. You’re so completely… real. I can’t remember when I last met someone that didn’t feel like a person who had been photocopied one too many times.”
Haleigh’s heart returned to its frantic rhythm as he slotted their fingers together. His palm was solid and reassuring (not a swamp like Haleigh’s must be—here was hoping that Brian liked real and clammy), and for the first time tonight the jittery sensation in her chest was pleasant, more akin to excitement than terror.
“Okay, well, in the interest of being real, I don’t have a full-time job. Just a lot of part-time ones. But I’m trying to fix that.”
Brian shook his head. “That’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I’m twenty-five and I don’t have stable health insurance or retirement.”
“I think that’s more typical than you think.”
His words loosened Haleigh’s muscles. She’d never thought of it that way. She was surrounded by so many overachievers that it was impossible not feel behind. But maybe Jack and Joey and Stanton were really far ahead. Maybe Haleigh wasn’t a mess.
Maybe she was normal.
God, she wanted to kiss this man.
And she did, an hour later, when the staff had to ask them to leave because they were closing.
Haleigh and Brian walked to his car and hugged goodbye. Before they could pull apart completely, she let her hands linger at the back of his neck.
“I want to kiss you right now,” she said.
“Good, because I want you to kiss me right now.”
That was all Haleigh needed to hear. She leaned in, slotting her mouth over Brian’s smiling lips. They were supple but firm, and he tasted like tea and savory dumplings. Haleigh loved how they melted together, loved the feel of his strong body against hers.
“I’m really glad I can’t spell,” he mumbled against her mouth.
When Haleigh broke out laughing again, he caught the sound against her lips.