Chapter TwelveMicah #3
Once I get Lila snuggled and snoring under the covers, I lock her door before closing it, in case Grant escapes and tries sneaking into her room.
Would he actually do that? I have no idea.
But I wouldn’t put it past Lila to welcome him in if he did.
They can do whatever they want once we’re back in Sun City, but we don’t need that right now.
I get back to the lobby at the same time as Fischer, and we both stand there a bit in shock, as if neither can believe what just happened. “How’s Grant?” I ask, a little breathless.
Fischer glances behind him. “He’s crying. He’ll be asleep in ten minutes flat. Lila?”
“Out cold.”
“Ah.”
That’s when the laughter hits, rising from my chest like an active volcano until it erupts out of me with no chance of stopping it.
I’m not a cute laugher. It comes out sharp and staccato and always makes me cry, but I’ve never been one to hold it back so I don’t.
I let it fill the lobby because everything about today has been so far from what I expected that it’s hilarious.
And then the most glorious thing in the world happens.
Fischer smiles . His lips part to show his white teeth, his eyes crinkle at the edges, and everything about him transforms in a way I’ve never seen before.
It’s like he’s a different person, and the sight is so overwhelming that I sink onto the couch as my laughter fades into a triumphant grin.
“You smiled,” I say when Fischer sits next to me. I don’t miss the space he leaves on his other side, which means he chose to sit close enough that our shoulders touch.
“I do that sometimes,” he replies.
I elbow his ribs. “Smiling is something you should do all the time.”
“I’m not happy all the time.”
“But you’re happy now?”
With a sigh, he settles deeper into the couch and rests his head against the back of it so he can look up at the ceiling. “I’m exhausted,” he admits.
I bite my lip, though it doesn’t stop my grin. It’s like he doesn’t remember that he was falling asleep at the office this morning. “That’s what happens when you stay up late watching TV,” I tell him as seriously as I can.
He scoffs. “It’s your fault that I was watching Parks and Rec late at night.”
I can’t begin to admit how much I love that my suspicion is right and he has totally been watching the show I recommended. “It is not! I went to bed at a reasonable time.”
“Yeah, but you got me hooked.” He rolls his head to the side to look at me, which puts his face only a few inches from mine. Though he opens his mouth to say something, it seems to catch his throat and he remains silent, just watching me with increasing confusion in his expression.
“Why do you always look at me like that?” I ask quietly.
He frowns, lifting his head up again. “Like what?”
“Like I don’t make any sense to you.”
That only deepens his frown, and I mourn the loss of his short-lived smile. “Maybe because you don’t make sense,” he says, though he doesn’t seem to like his own answer. “I mean, I don’t understand how you can be so…”
“Adorable?” I supply. “Bubbly? Intelligent? Carefree?”
“Happy.” He reaches up and tucks a curl behind my ear. “I don’t know how you can see the bright side of life so easily when so many things are wrong.”
His fingers don’t move from my ear, which leaves me breathless. Why can’t a date ever pull a move like that? This guy has no romantic interest in me but somehow manages to be a hundred times more romantic than any of the guys who claim to be interested in me.
I don’t know what to say to his declaration, but I feel like I have to say something. But the only word that comes out of my mouth is his name, spoken in a whisper because my heart is suddenly pounding.
I didn’t think it was possible, but his eyes grow darker as his fingers brush my cheek. He takes in a breath.
I don’t breathe at all.
“Oh, am I interrupting?”
Fischer jumps so much at the sound of a voice behind us that he punches me. Not hard, but I still recoil from his knuckles colliding with my cheekbone. “Ah! Sorry!”
“It’s okay,” I tell him, though I press a hand to my cheek anyway as I turn to Lila’s driver. “Hi. Did you need something?”
He glances between us, though Fischer is on the move so it isn’t easily done. “It was getting pretty cold out there with the snow,” he says as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. “Mind if I hang out inside? It will be a few hours, right?”
My eyebrows rise high. “Oh yeah, you can stay inside for sure.”
“It’s snowing? But it’s October.” Fischer glares at the wall of windows as if that might stop it from falling.
It’s already gotten worse in the last few minutes, falling thick and fast. He starts pacing, which must be how he thinks because he starts muttering to himself as well, just loud enough for me to hear.
“We should probably leave before the roads get bad. But we don’t have time to come back up here before the opening.
Lila is useless and the others are two hundred miles from here.
We need to finalize the plans, but the storm could cause complications we don’t need. Not that we have much of a choice.”
He’s going to spiral if I don’t do something. “Hey, Fischer?”
He clenches his jaw, showing off his impressive jawline. “What?”
“Would you rather fight King Kong or a T-rex?”
The question catches him so off guard that his arms drop and he just stands there staring at me for a second. “I don’t think now is the best—”
“Personally, I would rather fight King Kong,” I tell him as I pull my phone out of my pocket and take several photos of the lobby from varying angles. “There’s a greater chance that he would fall in love with me and choose to protect me instead of fight.”
If we set up the food table in that corner by the window, people will get a good view of the massive back patio and its fire pit.
“We could plan to have a fire on the night of the opening! Obviously it will have to be monitored if people are drinking, and we won’t allow any drinks out on the patio, but I think it would really showcase the away-from-the-world appeal of a place like this. Is it gas-powered?”
Fischer doesn’t answer until I look back at him. “Uh, yeah. Yes, it is.” He shakes his head, like he’s shaking away the disaster scenarios that were plaguing him a moment ago. “We should probably add some extra lights on the patio. We didn’t think about it with winter coming up.”
I grin at him before adding a note to the decoration tab on the spreadsheet. “I’m sure we can find some really nice string lights. What do you think about assigning a few of the lodge staff to do personal tours throughout the night?”
Though Fischer doesn’t say it out loud, when he takes my hand and looks at me with a soft expression I’ve never seen before, I feel every ounce of his gratitude.
I feel something else too. Something warm and solid in my chest. I don’t know what it is, but I like it, and more than ever I know that Fischer and I are going to make something great of this event.