Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Steven
“This place is incredible,” Kai breathed, delight evident on her face as we entered the plant bar. It was already open for happy hour.
They served actual food in addition to appetizers, and I think they had brunch on the weekends. Lots of people were already gathered, eating and drinking with friends.
The entire place was filled with plants, not rainforest or jungle plants like the greenhouse at the zoo or the arboretum, but house plants.
I recognized a few types, like monsteras.
There were also a bunch of really neat succulents hanging from the ceiling, including ones that looked like little dolphins.
The place was open and airy, with twinkle lights and a big patio. Live music played softly from the corner. Good thing I wore something a little nicer than yesterday.
Ashton had also worn nice shorts and a plaid button-down that looked a lot like yesterday’s, but I knew was different. He’d worn his hiking boots again, but they were classy boots.
I squeezed Kai’s hand. “I figured it would be a great place to take you.”
“Three for happy hour,” Ashton said to the host.
The host led us to a nice table near, but not on the patio. But even on the patio, there was greenery everywhere, even hanging from the light strings.
We took a quick look at the happy hour menu and decided on beers and a bunch of things to share. As we ate, Kai told us more about her classes and life in Hawai’i.
“Your professor said what about the chickens on campus?” I took another sip of beer. Did I even hear that right?
“There are wild chickens all over campus. They’re everywhere, cats, too. But we were all absolutely astounded when our agriculture professor was like, “Yes please feel free to catch the chickens and take them home and make adobo.” Kai laughed and dipped another chip in the spinach artichoke dip.
“Did anyone do it?” I asked. Wow, that was wild.
“I don’t know,” Kai laughed.
“I’m not sure what adobo is,” Ashton admitted as he grabbed a chicken wing.
“It's a Filipino chicken dish, and delicious. I can make Auntie’s recipe for you sometime,” Kai replied.
That sounded good to me. “I’d like that. I like to eat food.”
“Me too.” Kai nodded.
“You’re Filipino?” I added.
“I’m a whole lot of things, and that’s one of them. So, can you cook?” She took a piece of flatbread pizza.
“Yeah, but it’s Midwestern family dinner type stuff that my grandmother taught me. When not doing hockey things for me, my parents would go off, leaving me in charge of feeding myself, and sometimes my siblings. I do love to grill,” I admitted, grabbing a wing.
“I like to bake. But I can deep fry a turkey and use a smoker.” Ashton tried the spinach dip.
“Those are very good skills as long as you don’t set the porch on fire.” Kai nodded.
“Too late,” I laughed, remembering how he’d done that one summer. “His chocolate chip cookies are absolutely incredible.” So were his grandma’s. Damn, I’d like some cookies right now. Maybe some cake.
“My favorite. I like to bake too, especially pumpkin bread. I can cook a bunch of things. But my favorite things to make are sushi and poke.” She took another chip.
“You can make sushi? That’s a thing normal people can do?” My mind exploded. Could you just make sushi at your house?
“I’m not making anything fancy. But yeah, maybe we’ll find some nice fish at the farmer’s market and I can make some. If you don’t like raw fish, I can make something with shrimp tempura, if you want to try,” Kai offered.
“I like that idea. Let’s see what the market has,” I replied. I was more of a shrimp tempura guy, but I wanted to try her sushi.
I noticed the dragonfly tattoo on Kai’s foot.
“Are dragonflies your favorite?” I asked, remembering that first night–and the necklace Ashton got her.
“They’re my favorite insect. I like how they’re beautiful and free, and often around water.” She finished off the flatbread pizza.
“Fair, I think my favorite insect will be those little pill bugs. I loved those and used to keep them as pets in a box.” I took another wing.
“I like caterpillars. I’m not sure if they’re insects or not, but I like them. Not because they turn into butterflies, but because of how they are just on their own.” Ashton finished his beer.
“Honestly, I thought you’d say spider, which I don’t think is an insect either,” I teased. I didn’t like spiders. Ashton was the type who didn’t squish them–he set them free elsewhere.
Ashton rolled his eyes. He pushed the basket with the last wing toward us. Kai shook her head. I pushed it back to him. Nodding, he ate it.
“Did you get the tattoo for a special reason or just because you like dragonflies?” I asked.
“I got it in memory of my mom. She liked them too. There was this park we’d go to and we’d watch the turtles and dragonflies by the pond.” Kai sniffed a little.
“That seems like a nice memory.” It was great that Kai had good memories of her parents. Not sure mine even noticed I’d stopped talking to them.
“This place is so pretty.” Kai took a few pictures. “I love all of the plants.”
“Me, too,” Ashton said. “Good job, Steven.” He kissed me.
Kai beamed. “Yes, both this and the zoo were perfect.”
Pride filled me. I chose good!
We paid our bill.
“Should we walk around a little?” I offered her my arm.
We wandered down the street, looking at the little shops, then found the farmer’s market, which had everything from fruits and vegetables to flowers, to a little train that went around the market.
Kai squeezed my hand, bouncing in excitement. “This is amazing. I can’t wait to see what they have.”
We tried fancy cheese, spicy hummus, fresh fruit, and local honey.
“Do you know if anyone’s selling seafood?” Kai asked someone as she tried a fancy stuffed olive.
“I don’t think they’re here today,” the woman told us. “The steak man is here. He’s next to the goat cheese lady.”
Kai’s face fell.
“Keep looking around, maybe we’ll find them.” Ashton squeezed her hand. “If not, Steven can grill some steaks, and we’ll find a fish market another time.”
She nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.”
“Yeah, I’ll absolutely grill steaks,” I offered. Did that mean there’d be another time? I liked that idea quite a bit.
We continued walking around the market, Kai scampering off here and there, coming back with samples on toothpicks and tiny bamboo spoons of tasty things.
“Try this.” Kai fed me a piece of fruit. Sweet tart flavors exploded across my tongue.
Strawberry.
“Delicious.” I licked my lips suggestively, meeting her eyes.
“Kai, come here.” Ashton waved frantically from a table a few booths away.
Grabbing my hand, Kai started running, dragging me with her. Ashton was at a table full of big tubs of ice. In them were chunks of fish on little trays, along with containers of little orange round things, some kind of green salad with sesame seeds, pink vegetables, and all sorts of other items.
Kai’s eyes lit up. “Oh, wow.”
“He says the fish is all sushi quality.” Ashton looked very pleased with himself.
Kai squeezed his arm. “This is perfect–if you still want me to make sushi for you tonight.”
“I think that sounds great. Were you thinking of making a sushi appetizer and then I can still grill some steaks or a full sushi dinner? I don’t want to put extra work on you,” I said, menu-planning in my head. “But I’m excited to try it.”
Kai examined the fish closely, asking all kinds of questions.
“I think I’ll do a sushi snack appetizer with two different kinds and while I’m making it, Steven could grill steaks? If he’s willing. We could have surf and turf while we watch our movie.” She beamed.
“I like that idea,” I agreed. “We’ll go to the steak man and get something next.”
Ashton paid for the sushi makings, they had just about everything she needed, and I placed a delivery order for the rest.
We visited the steak man, and I selected some nice ribeyes, and then we chose some fresh vegetables to grill.
“What about dessert?” Kai asked as we passed a booth full of little cakes.
They were all decorated beautifully. A little bit big for one person, but probably perfect if split between the three of us.
“I’ll get the cake? Then we’ve all contributed?” Kai offered. “How about chocolate?”
Yes, I think I’d only be able to eat a third of that one. Maybe less–it looked very rich.
She glanced over at Ashton. “Do you like chocolate cake? I remember you ordered vanilla ice cream. They have a bourbon butter cake.”
"That's one of our specialties,” the woman explained proudly, offering us a tray with bites of cake in tiny, clear cups. “Have a sample.”
Ashton’s look went hungry as we all tried the cake.
“Could we try that one? I like a little chocolate, but this is delicious,” he said.
“It is.” Kai got out her wallet. “We’ll take one.”
I went to pay for the cake, but Ashton gave me a look. Okay, I suppose we could let her buy it. Especially since she genuinely wanted to contribute.
We finished our shopping and got back into Ashton’s truck with all our stuff.
“Who taught you to make sushi?” Ashton asked as we drove.
“One of my dads. He learned to impress my mom when they were dating.” Her shoulders slumped a little.
“What happened to them?” I asked.
“Car accident. They were coming back from a date. With both of us out of the house, they started going on more regular dates. They were all together. There was a drunk driver.”
“I’m so sorry.” I reached over and squeezed her hand.
“Me too,” Ashton added.
“Thanks.” She looked up at us. “I miss them.”
“I’m sure you do,” Ashton said.
“What movie are we going to watch? Do you still want a movie, or would you just like to have dinner and then we can take you back to the hotel?” I asked, wanting to lighten the mood.
“I’d still like to watch something. If you don’t have time for a whole movie, we can just watch a show or something.” Her look went bashful. “I can take a car back. I'd just like some of those couch snuggles.”
“Couch snuggles are all yours. We can absolutely find something on the shorter side to watch so we can still get you back,” I offered.
“Maybe an animated movie? That would be fun,” she offered.
“Sounds fantastic.” I didn't care what we watched, as long as I got to hold her.