Chapter Four
Four
Theo waited for her by the subway stop near Central Park.
He came more into focus once Audrey’s eyes adjusted to the onslaught of early-afternoon autumn light, and she blinked as she mounted the stairs, a slow smile spreading across her lips.
Because he wasn’t wearing his hoodie.
He was still wearing a baseball cap, his thick waves pressed down against the sides of his head, tumbling and licking at his cheeks and his jaw, which were still covered by a black mask.
His right eye was also still concealed within the shadowy depths of those waves and by the shade from the brim of his hat, but this was the first time she’d seen him wear anything other than that hoodie zipped all the way up to his neck.
Instead, he’d traded it for a thick, dark blue cable-knit sweater, nice jeans, and a pair of well-worn brown leather shoes.
And while his usual satchel was still slung across his broad chest, today he clutched something new in his right hand.
A bouquet.
His fingers twitched nervously against the brown wrapping paper surrounding the flowers, and his tremor intensified while he shifted on his feet at her approach.
“H-hi, Audrey,” he stuttered, and his throat bobbed as she stepped up to him. A touch of his red scar slashed across his neck and disappeared under the collar of his sweater. It was usually hidden by his hoodie, but she didn’t let her eyes linger there. She looked back up at his face quickly.
His gaze was fixed on her, one brow bent in concern.
“Are those for me?” She pointed at the flowers, and he nodded.
“I wanted to get them for you because I saw them and thought of you, but then I got nervous that they’d wilt before you could get them in water, so they put some in a plastic baggie for me at the florist and tied it to the base of the stems, but then I worried it’d be too messy if I spilled it with my hand being so shaky, and then I thought maybe I’d gotten them for you too early in the day, so you don’t have to carry these around or anything if you don’t want to, I can—”
He quieted when Audrey gently peeled the arrangement away from him.
It was a mix of roses and other flowers matching the spectacular fiery colors of the fall leaves, their delicate, silken petals bursting into blooms of deep reds and oranges and golds.
Warmth swept up from the bases of some of them, lightening at the edges and reminding her of crackling flames licking through logs.
Others were a deep red, like the horizon melded with the last light of a setting winter sun.
She held them to her nose and took a deep drag of their sweet scent, closing her eyes as she let it wash over her.
He’d matched them with her favorite season.
“I love them. That’s really thoughtful of you, thank you.” She clutched them to her chest. “They’re beautiful.”
“Oh. Good.” His eye crinkled as he looked down at her, and he took a deep breath under his mask. “I’m really glad you like them.”
Audrey plucked softly at his sweater. “I also like this look. No hoodie today, huh?” She raised an eyebrow and grinned wickedly when his throat and the tops of his cheeks burned a deep red nearly matching some of the roses he’d just given her. He rubbed the back of his neck.
“My friend Diego told me I couldn’t wear that on a date. He also tried to get me not to wear the hat, but…” Theo looked down at her apologetically and hid his right hand in his jeans pocket. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been out with anyone. Sorry if it takes me some time to remember how.”
“Do you feel comfortable without the hood?”
His blush deepened and he glanced away from her. “I feel a little naked, if I’m being perfectly honest,” he muttered.
“Then hold these again for a second.” She shoved the bouquet back into his hands and unwound the scarf from her own neck.
“Bend down a little so I can reach.” His brow twitched into half of a bewildered frown, but he did what he was told, his eye widening in surprise when Audrey stood on her tiptoes and tied the scarf around his neck, hiding it and his scar from view.
She straightened it for him and patted it down gently with satisfaction. “Now give me my flowers back.”
She could have sworn his mask lifted over his cheeks, concealing what could only be a grin. He winced and it dropped again, but what was left behind was unmistakable: the part of his face she could see had definitely lit up.
Theo passed her the flowers again, and she took them and slid her free hand in his, clasping her fingers as much as she could around his enormous, warm palm before they crossed the street and set off for the park together.
It was crowded today, filled with playing children and chattering couples and friend groups picnicking in the sun or throwing Frisbees in the perfect fall temperatures.
They wove through the crowds and wandered through the trees, not really needing to talk, simply enjoying each other’s company.
While it was warmer in the sun, it was chilly in the shade, and Audrey clutched her cardigan around her bare neck, drawing it in closer.
“I shouldn’t have let you give me your scarf,” Theo said, finally breaking their silence. He’d been watching her intently as they meandered and tried to find a quiet place to sit. “I don’t want you to get cold.”
She beamed at him. “I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m plenty warm.” But her gaze dropped to his right hip. She’d noticed that his limp had become more pronounced the longer they walked around the park, and he was rubbing absently at it now. She nodded at a nearby bench. “Let’s sit in the sun for a bit.”
She interlaced their fingers to pull him over to it, and he sat heavily beside her, stretching his leg out and setting his bag between them.
“So who’s your friend Diego? Tell me about him.”
“He’s, uh…well, yeah, I guess he’s my best friend.
I don’t have many in general, but I grew up with him.
We’ve known each other since we were kids.
He’s maybe more like my brother than a friend.
” He flipped the top of his bag open and rummaged around.
“Played lacrosse together in high school and were roommates when we went to college.”
Audrey peered curiously inside the satchel.
It was filled with sketchbooks and art supplies, little tins of pencils and erasers, charcoal sticks and pastels and packs of fancy, well-used colored pencils.
The back camera of an iPad Pro glinted from a tablet pocket, safely covered and surrounded with generous padding, the pencil stylus held close in a loop built into its leather case.
His coffee mug was there too, tucked next to a few bright blue paper bags.
Theo plucked out his little black sketchbook and flipped it open to a blank page, reaching for his fountain pen next before pulling out one of the little blue paper bags. He handed it to her and then unscrewed the pen cap, fixing it firmly on the end and pressing the nib to the paper.
“Oh yeah, I got you that too. In case you were hungry.”
Audrey opened it up and was immediately struck with the intense aroma of browned butter and sugar and chocolate.
She knew that logo.
“Did you get me Levain cookies?!” she cried before biting into one.
She closed her eyes and moaned while she chewed, tilting her head back in the sun and sobbing a little as she crunched through the crisp edges, letting the gooey, doughlike center and chocolate chips melt in her mouth and coat her tongue.
“Oh my god, Theo,” she groaned again between bites. “You’re going to spoil me.”
“That’s the plan.”
She glanced at him again. His eye was fixed on her, but his hand was flying across the page of his sketchbook, the dark black strokes gradually taking shape.
His fingers spasmed as he struggled to grip the pen, but he kept at it, and when she tried to peek at what he was drawing, he shook his head and tilted the sketchbook away to hide it from view.
“No. You don’t get to see yet.”
She slowed her chewing and scowled at him before holding the cookie out as an offering. “Do you want some? It’s so good, and we should both get to enjoy it.”
His sketching hand slowed and came to a stop.
The mask shifted over his mouth. “Maybe later. I’m not hungry.
But thank you.” He pointed toward his bag with his pen and went back to drawing, dropping his gaze down to his work.
“I didn’t know what kind you might like best, so I got three.
There’s a dark chocolate peanut butter one, and a chocolate walnut one too, but I wasn’t sure if you might be allergic to nuts or something, so I went with the classic double chip first, and—”
“Theo, it’s all right with me if you take your mask off, you know.”
He froze.
“I really don’t mind your scar.” Audrey leaned over and put her hand on his arm. “Promise.”
“Maybe you don’t. But I do.”
Her face dropped and she lowered the outstretched cookie.
Theo still didn’t look at her. Instead, his eye skipped between the clusters of people sitting in the grass nearby.
It followed the couple walking past their bench, arm in arm and deep in conversation, before traveling over to the group of runners just traversing the bend in the path down the way. He shook his head.
“It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s everyone else.
” He reached over, pen still gripped between his now ink-stained fingers, and covered her hand with his.
Audrey continued to stare at him, one brow slowly raising, and he sighed.
“All right, fine, I guess I’m still a little worried about showing you.
I don’t like it. Or the way it makes me feel about myself. ”
“But I’ve already seen it.”
“And I wish every day I could go back to that moment and take the memory of my face away from you.”