Chapter 6 William #2
Kit let out a deep breath that blew through her lips like she was calming down. “Yeah, I was, but when I got to the airport my dad called to tell me his flight from London to D.C. had been cancelled and he wasn’t sure when he’d get home. So, I decided to just visit him another time.”
Then as if realizing she wasn’t alone and was standing in front of me in an oversized Dr. Suess-themed T-shirt, Kit shifted her weight, looking a little uncomfortable.
She put her hand on her hip. “But what are you doing here? I assumed you’d be visiting your family or girlfriend or something, like everyone else? ”
“Eh,” I lied. “I needed to get some work done.” I wanted to change the subject, so I offered, “I was looking for something to eat in the kitchen. Want to join me?”
“Yeah, that would be nice.” Kit looked like she was finally relaxing. She started to walk toward me but then remembered something and said, “Oh, when I got home, there was a package on the porch for you.” Kit pointed to a large crate sitting under the Christmas tree.
I recognized the wooden crate immediately. I felt some relief that I had something to offer. “Perfect!”
“What is it?” Kit asked curiously. I headed over to the tree and picked it up off the ground. “It’s my annual gift from my boss. He sends me the same thing every year.”
Kit followed me into the kitchen, and I put the crate on the large island. She looked curious as to what was in the crate, and I couldn’t help but think how cute she looked, trying to peer over the top of the box as I cracked the crate open.
“My boss sends all his directors his favorite bottle of bourbon every holiday season,” I said, pulling out a ridiculously expensive bottle.
Kit tried to hide a look of disappointment.
I smiled when I said, “But even better, he also sends his favorite red wine, and this year it looks like he sent two bottles of red.”
Kit’s eyes lit up in a way that let me know she was interested. I had noticed that Kit mostly drank red wine when she was at The Pub, so I guessed she would like this. She picked up the bottle and examined the labels. “Can we open one?”
“Of course!” I said. She moved across the kitchen to get a bottle opener.
I pulled the rest of the contents out of the crate: a container of chocolate-covered pecans, gourmet smoked sausage, cheese wheels, and crackers.
When Kit turned around and saw the rest of the gifts from the crate, her face completely changed from simply content to actual excitement.
“Want some snacks?” I asked.
“Yes!” Then with the most endearing look of excitement in her face, she cried out, “We can make a sharkcuterie board!”
I must have looked puzzled and before I could say anything she held her finger up, then bent down so that I could only see her hair bobbing around as she dug through the cabinet below. Kit eventually emerged holding up a large cutting board in the shape of a shark. “Sharkcuterie!”
Kit laughed at her own joke. “I never thought I’d need this again.”
“Why do you have that?” I asked, reaching for the bottle of wine and the opener.
“Well,” Kit said, placing the board on the counter, “every year my friends throw a pun potluck, and this year I brought sharkcuterie.” Kit looked satisfied as she reached for the food to start arranging it on the board.
We agreed we needed to eat more than snacks and wine, so we put some pizza bagels in the oven.
I poured each of us a glass of wine. Across the kitchen, Kit hopped up onto the counter to sit and wait for the pizza bagels.
I leaned against the opposite counter with one hand in my pocket and the other holding my wine glass.
Kit told me stories about past pun potlucks.
I liked seeing her like this. She seemed happier, less guarded, and definitely less annoyed with me. My expression must have shown that I was thinking about her because she shifted her weight the way she did when she was feeling self-conscious and asked, “What?”
“Nothing,” I said, looking down at the ground. I was trying not to look at her legs. “I guess I’m just glad you’re still talking to me after I won that bet about the Christmas Tree Competition.”
Kit sighed and said, “Well, I am bound by honor to say nothing negative about your work.”
I took a breath and said, “I know, but you really seemed to dislike me as much as you dislike my work, so I just didn’t think you’d ever be this…friendly toward me.” I chuckled. “I’m just glad I’ve finally figured out how to get on your good side.”
“Oh, yeah.” Kit raised an eyebrow. “And how is that?”
“Ridiculously expensive wine and snacks,” I joked.
“Well, I do love sharkcuterie,” she said with a coy laugh. “And I guess you’re growing on me.”
Kit jumped down from the counter and pulled the pizza bagels out of the oven.
She added them to the cutting board. I refilled our glasses and said, “Why don’t we take this sharkcuterie into the front room?”
“Oh! Let’s watch a holiday movie,” Kit said, practically bubbling. I followed her into the front room. I had to admit that I was enjoying this friendlier side of Kit.
We put the food and drinks on the table. Kit set her cell phone down as she started putting logs into the fireplace. I asked, “Need any help with that?”
“I got it,” she said and looked over her shoulder. “I didn’t think city boys knew much about building fires.” Kit finished putting wood in the fireplace and started the fire. She sat on the far end of the sofa from me.
I pulled the coffee table closer to us so the food would be easier to reach.
I heard a familiar cell phone chime. I checked my cell phone, but I saw that it wasn’t the one chiming.
I looked at the coffee table where Kit’s phone was sitting face up, and I saw the familiar SingleMingle icon pop up and another chime.
“Wait a second!” I said playfully. “After giving me such a hard time about SingleMingle, you’re on the app, too!” I snatched the phone off the table before Kit could grab it.
I read the text alert banner out loud. “MountainMan2000 has winked at you!”
Kit’s face looked shocked and then determined. She lunged at me to grab the phone from my hand, but I quickly held it above my head just out of her reach. “Oh, no. Give me back my phone!” She laughed.
Kit struggled to grab the phone from me.
I liked how she brushed against me as she reached for her phone.
I wanted it to last longer, but after a few seconds I finally gave it back to her.
Kit settled back on her end of the sofa.
She gave me an annoyed look, but she was still smiling.
She swiped across her phone as she popped a few chocolate-covered pecans in her mouth.
“Well,” I said impatiently. “Is MountainMan2000 cute or what?” I hated that I was feeling a little jealous of the interest Kit was showing in this app.
She tilted her head from side to side, as if she wasn’t sure, then finally showed me. “I don’t know. I guess he’s cute.” The guy in the photo was a little older than me. He was wearing a fishing vest, in a boat, holding up a fish. He wore a cap, sunglasses, and had a full beard.
“You can’t even see this guy’s face!” I said, “How can anyone tell if he’s cute or not?”
Kit laughed, raising an eyebrow at me. I hoped she wasn’t picking up on my jealousy.
“Well, was that woman from the bar the other night—what was her name? Peach? —was that woman your type?” Kit shot back.
“No, not really,” I said taking a bite of a pizza bagel, then I realized something. “Hey, if we’re both on this dating app and it pairs you with people you’re geographically close to, then why haven’t we matched?”
Kit scrolled through her phone and said, “Huh. You’re right.
You don’t show up on my ‘singles nearby’ page.
” She took a sip of wine and curled up on her end of the sofa.
“Oh, I bet it’s because I don’t have ‘casual encounters’ selected as something I’m interested in. I have ‘looking for love’ selected.”
“Ah,” I said, taking a big gulp of my wine. “That’s it. We’re not looking for the same thing.”
We were quiet for a minute. I focused on eating my pizza. Finally, Kit asked, “But so wait. You just want to hook up with people?”
“Well, I think the positives of those kinds of arrangements are obvious,” I said with a chuckle.
“You’re not interested in, like, meeting someone? Or dating? Like you go out a few times, and then you hook up, and then you both just go your separate ways?”
“Eh, not exactly. There can be some low-commitment, repeat engagements. I believe colloquially called the booty call,” I said matter-of-factly. “I take it you’ve never really been into casual hook-ups?”
Kit shrugged. “I’ve just had one or two relationships. I dated the same guy all through college, and I’ve been pretty single otherwise.”
“So, no sex with any of these guys you’re dating?” I couldn’t help myself.
Kit cackled a bit and said, “I don’t need a boyfriend to have an orgasm, William.”
“Little Miss Independent!” I laughed and took a sip of my drink.
“Casual hook-ups are overrated, anyway. I stay on the app out of habit really. To be honest, they’re more effort than they’re worth for the most part.
I just fell into the habit because I traveled so much for work that nothing else made sense.
I just didn’t have it in me to put that much effort into a long-distance thing. ”
Kit nodded as if she understood. “I get that. I mean, not for the exact reason, but I moved back here and was so focused on spending time with my mom before she died that I just couldn’t fathom making room for anything else.”
“I haven’t really had a chance to say this, but I’m sorry to hear about your mom passing away,” I said.