Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
"Wait, you left too?" How did I not know that? "When?"
"Not long after you." Scott balled up a napkin and tossed it onto his empty plate. "Working here was always my future. I knew that. Hell, I even wanted it. But something was missing."
"You wanted to make it yours." I marveled at the flavors he packed together in the sandwich. It was delicious and decadent. It was a touch of gourmet in Lost Creek.
"Yeah. I guess that's the heart of it."
"I can understand that." I had the travel bug from the first days I could remember, always asking my mother if I could go to wherever the characters were in the books she read me. I wanted to see those places for myself. But I also knew my dad wanted me to take over his business, and I knew I would always feel handcuffed if I tried to do it exactly the way he did. "Well culinary school clearly worked. This is delicious."
"Thank you. Now I just have to figure out how to keep Thomas DeGroot from stealing all my ideas."
"Who is Thomas DeGroot?"
"The new head chef at the Lodge at Lost Lake. He's a pretentious prick with no imagination."
"And I imagine it's not great for business if you're serving the same things."
Scott picked up a French fry and dipped it into the sauce. "They run a full restaurant and have a lot more customers than I do. This is just a side hustle. So even though I come up with everything first, it looks like I'm the copycat."
"And that just pisses you off even more." It would infuriate me.
"Pretty much. But I hear college has done well for you too. Business is booming, or so the grapevine says."
"As of this morning, I have zero vacancies until June."
Scott grinned, which made my stomach do a backflip. "Putting our own marks on our family legacies is paying off."
"Thanks. Losing Dad...I wanted to make him proud."
"He was always proud, Mackenzie."
Tears popped into my eyes. "And here I thought you barely knew I existed."
"And forgot about you," he teased.
I got the very distinct impression Scott had paid a lot more attention to me than I ever realized. "Is it true what Aunt Sharon and Maeve said? You watch me?"
"I certainly noticed you avoiding me." He grabbed another fry. Then another. Was Scott nervous?
He seemed nervous.
And he wouldn’t be nervous if he didn’t like me, at least a little. The flutter in my chest started to pound.
Scott scratched the back of his neck and shook his head. "Your aunt and her pack of murderous book nerds just couldn't let me do this my way, could they?"
My heart stopped dead. "Do what?"
His gaze skipped up to meet mine. "Ask you out."
I sat there, stunned silent for the third time.
"I wanted to figure out what I did wrong and make it up to you. Then, when I earned your trust, I was going to ask you on a date."
That was so kind…and evolved. Scott cared.
All those confusing feelings slammed together and twisted into something new. This was no crush. "What kind of date?" I never dared to dream what a date with Scott Hamilton would look like. It seemed as impossible as becoming an astronaut and going to the moon. The best I ever hoped for was a smile.
But now that smile was real and it was mine and I wanted to know just how wild to let my imagination roam.
Another blush. "I, uh, thought we could hike up to my favorite fishing spot. We'd catch dinner and I could cook. Or, if that's too outdoorsy, we could?—"
I reached across the table and gently pressed my fingers to his lips. Why? Because he'd just proposed the perfect first date and I didn't want to hear another word. But I hadn't accounted for how it would feel to touch his lips or how awkward the silence would be.
"That's perfect," I whispered.
His eyes twinkled as I pulled my fingers away, stopping them with his own. "I like it when you touch me."
And I liked touching him. "How long have you been planning this date?"
Instead of letting me go, he threaded our fingers together. "First tell me if they're right. Did you watch me ?"
Well, I certainly couldn't expect him to give me the truth if I wouldn't do the same. "Yes. Do you know how cool you are, Scott Hamilton?"
"I'm not cool," he laughed.
"You are. You don't care what anyone thinks of you. When we were younger, I wanted to be more like you. But then..." Okay so there was sharing and then there was too much.
This was too much.
But he tugged on my hand and used those soft brown eyes of his to break down my defenses. "But then?"
I gulped. "But then high school happened." I couldn't bear to look at him now. The embarrassment was very real and very deep.
He ran his thumb over the back of my hand, sending tingles up my arm. "My junior year this girl came into my physics class to give Mrs. Hopkins a piece of equipment."
My heart stopped beating altogether. He remembered.
He remembered.
"And time stopped for a second, you know? She had this incredible hair."
"You noticed my hair?"
His eyes danced as he spoke. "I did. And your ass, if I'm being honest."
Scott...oh my god. Scott was attracted to me? In high school? The order of my life jumbled and reset.
"And I just thought...who is that? How do I not know her? And then you turned around and it was you. The girl I'd always thought was the nicest, smartest kid with the biggest dreams...but you weren't a kid anymore."
"Why didn't you say anything? You never flirted with me. Not once!" I definitely would remember Scott flirting with me.
"You were a freshman. I thought it was an infatuation that would pass."
But based on the sound of his voice, "It didn't?"
"No. It got worse. I told my mom and she was pretty shocked. She said I shouldn't be dating girls two years younger than me. And I don't think she was necessarily wrong. Or right. High school is a tricky time."
Of that, there was no doubt.
"I thought if I still had the hots for you when you came back from college, then I'd give it a go."
"But I only came home for the holidays." I could count on one hand the number of times I remembered seeing Scott since I left for college.
"It took a little longer than I expected to see if this crush of mine was real."
Scott was attracted to me.
Scott had a crush on me.
Scott was going to ask me out on a real date.
I was giddy. A sensation I hadn't felt in far too long. Why?
Because I was attracted to Scott.
And I was going to say yes to a date. "So are you going to go through with it?"
His eyes danced some more. "How do you like fishing, Mackenzie Howard?"