19. Henley
HENLEY
“I’m going to admit I’m not completely sure what to do in this situation.” I hated having to admit that but I didn’t want Blaine to think this was normal behavior. “I’ve never run into this before.”
Especially in the South.
Blaine looked around at the mostly empty but new-looking restaurant and shrugged. “Well, I’m enjoying the company and I like being able to see the main street. Right over on that corner was where I almost got arrested when I was nine.”
“Huh?” Whatever he saw on my face made him laugh. “I might’ve heard that wrong.”
Grinning from ear to ear, he leaned back in his chair and shrugged. “I had the amazing ability as a child to test anyone and everyone’s patience.”
“I just can’t believe that.” I also couldn’t believe how long we’d been waiting for food. “What did you do?”
As he told me about driving the local police chief crazy, in the back of my mind I was wondering what was going on in the restaurant. We’d been seated quickly and had been given drinks right off the bat, but after that, things had started going downhill.
It’d taken the very polite server ten minutes to take our orders and refill our drinks, but then she’d started avoiding us completely. We were now almost forty minutes from our refills and aside from a few other couples being seated in different parts of the dining room, she hadn’t come back.
We’d gotten a quick smile from her from across the room, but that was about it, and the stressed voices coming from the back of the kitchen said something was wrong.
“You’re lucky you didn’t end up having to be bailed out of jail.” Shaking my head had his grin coming back. “You have to be making this up. You’re polite and well-mannered.”
He’d been a hell-raiser as a kid, though.
“I bet you have some interesting stories.” Stretching out one leg, he rubbed it against mine as he reached for his glass, just playing with the last of the ice that was melting. “What’s one of your favorite memories from when you were a kid?”
Hmm.
“All my memories involve either me or my family doing something dangerous or ridiculous.” I had a few that didn’t make me look terrible or stupid, though. “Okay, when I was about five or six, we were traveling out West for the summer.”
That’d actually been a pretty fun trip right up until they’d left me in Yellowstone.
“My mother wanted a family vacation instead of just traveling for…um…work.” Blaine should’ve at least looked horrified at that, but he simply reached over and squeezed my hand before releasing it.
He really was too nice for his own good.
“We ended up at a campground near Yellowstone for a couple of weeks because my dad found a temporary job doing some land clearing.” He’d been hoping the family he was working for was…interesting…but they’d turned out to be just weird humans.
There was a startling number of them and it made monster hunting difficult sometimes.
“One weekend we were out doing some hiking and pretending to be a completely typical family.” I remembered being hot and slightly frustrated about that, but it’d also been beautiful.
“We stopped by this little stream and my mother let me take my shoes off. I was playing in the water and somehow didn’t notice they’d started walking again. ”
I still wasn’t sure how that’d happened.
Blaine’s eyes got wider. “Oh.”
I wasn’t sure how to explain that part, so I just shrugged and got to the good stuff. “I was a pretty smart kid and got out of the water because I wasn’t supposed to be in it by myself. Then I sat down to wait. Because you’re supposed to stay put if you’re lost.”
I’d seen that on TV, but it only seemed to work if your family noticed you were missing.
“After a few hours, I started to get worried.” Okay, based on Blaine’s wide eyes, maybe I wasn’t that smart and should’ve started worrying sooner.
“Just as panic was setting in, this Bigfoot family came out of the woods. The mom was really nice and said they were going to help me back to the ranger station. I just had to promise not to tell who helped me.”
It’d been an easy decision to make.
“Their kid was really nice but the dad kept rolling his eyes and talking about how badly humans parent their young.” He’d actually reminded me a lot of my father which had been weird at the time.
“We walked through the woods for probably about forty-five minutes and then they watched from the trees while I finished going the rest of the way by myself.”
“Good grief.” Blaine cocked his head and studied me for a moment. “I’m very glad you found such interesting help, but please tell me that as an adult you know this was wrong.”
“Yeah.” Not that anyone else in the family would admit it. “They played dumb when the rangers finally contacted them. My mother said I wasn’t with them on the hike and that I’d wandered off from the campground where family friends were watching me.”
“Really?” Blaine’s disbelief had me trying not to laugh. “There is no way anyone believed that.”
“Probably not but we left that night because I’m pretty sure someone had been called.” It’d opened my eyes to the world around me, though, so I couldn’t be upset about it. “I thought about going back to see if I could find them and thank them, but I haven’t done it yet.”
I wasn’t sure how bright of an idea that was.
Blaine’s leg rubbed against mine. “Why don’t we plan the trip then? We don’t have anything holding us here.”
Was he positive about that?
Wait.
He didn’t think it was a stupid idea?
“I think that sounds like fun as long as you’re up for a road trip.” Had he done anything like that when he was younger? Was he thinking about making up for lost time? “At the very least you’ll get to see more of the country.”
And it might give him time and space from all the memories here?
I was going to have to find someone who talked about the effect of trauma on people but I wasn’t sure where to start looking.
He hadn’t been kidnapped but that seemed to be the closest thing that humans might be able to relate to.
Other options fell into the sci-fi realm, like if he’d fallen through a portal into another world or had jumped time somehow.
And I really didn’t know how to find a therapist who could handle that.
Sitting straighter, Blaine nodded and looked like he was pushing something negative to the back of his mind. “I think that sounds like fun and I also think that’s what you’d like to be doing.”
Before I could deny it, he raised one eyebrow. “Did I or did I not see you looking at a map of the US where you were studying Arizona?”
Oops.
Clearly he hadn’t been dozing like I’d thought.
Sneaky murder kitty.
“There were new sightings of what seems to be a very large bird but…” It could actually be a couple of different things. “I’m not going to…do anything negative to it.”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but I just had this pressing need to go find it.
“I know that.” Blaine reached over and squeezed my hand again as he spoke quieter. “But I also know that you like traveling and you’re very curious.”
Well, yes.
“I like learning and first-hand knowledge is very helpful.” Eventually I had to find an actual mindless monster who was living up to their online reputation. “Sometimes there are actual problems, and I’d like to be able to help with those kinds of situations more.”
“Even if we’re not saving the day or rescuing mindless monsters that’ve been put under a spell, I think looking into the different situations you’ve found online would be interesting.
” Blaine paused and opened his mouth to say something else but strained voices from the front of the restaurant had him frowning.
Neither of us were subtle as we turned to watch two older couples trying to quietly argue with the server about the stack of to-go boxes on the counter. We were too far away and the acoustics were too bad for me to hear, but the way Blaine cocked his head said he was following along.
“What’s going on?” Yes, I was nosy, but I was hoping it’d give us more information about what was happening with our food.
“It sounds like they placed an online order that should’ve been ready half an hour ago and they’re still waiting on one of their meals.
” Still speaking quietly, Blaine hummed as he listened to the clearly frustrated woman who seemed to be in charge of the group.
“The server just told her it’s going to be another twenty minutes. ”
What?
“And now the angry woman is…I think shocked is the best word for it. She’s asking what they’re supposed to do with the three dinners that are already packed up.
” Blaine winced. “The server just offered to make them all again. I missed what happened to begin with but now the whole group is getting upset.”
They were very quiet about it, though.
“Um, this is going to make me sound selfish, but if their orders need to be remade, when will we eat?” My question made Blaine blink. “Okay. This isn’t reasonable. I’m going to very politely go see what’s happening. I’ll be right back.”
Something made him smile as I stood up. “What?”
“Nothing.” He waved me off as he tried to hide his grin. “Thank you for taking care of this.”
“You’re welcome.” If he’d thought of something silly I wouldn’t press him about it. He’d end up embarrassed and that wasn’t what I wanted on our first date. “This shouldn’t take long.”
It took long.
I was patient.
I was polite.
I was shocked.
“Um, I really don’t want one of our meals to sit out for half an hour while you make the other.” What was going on in the kitchen? “That’s…”
Not reasonable.
“I apologize for the delay. Let me see what I can do.” She hurried over to the window to the kitchen where she’d been whispering with the cook just a moment ago.
It didn’t go any better this time but she tried smiling it out as she came back over to me.
“I’ll try to get it out to you as quickly as possible. ”
There was no way that was what the guy cooking had told her…and I was starting to wonder what he was…besides angry and terrible at organization at the very least.
Did I want to wait what was probably going to end up longer than she was estimating?
No.
Okay, what would be best for us?
Us.
There was an us now.
We needed food and to keep getting to know each other.
We needed to relax and…and I wanted us to curl up together.
Yes.
“I’m going to need to cancel my order.” It was the right call for the situation but I was going to have to make sure Blaine knew I hadn’t been rude.
Her sigh said she’d been prepared for that answer. “I understand.”
And she also got things handled quickly as the cook glared at me and mumbled something about…ruining his fun?
What?
I played dumb human and smiled at the server as she said everything was taken care of on her end. Blaine was still smiling as I walked over to the table. “What are your plans for us, my mate?”
“Making you lunch at home and finding something to watch.” It might not be a flashy first date but his smile said he approved. “And I’ve got an idea for a good bribe to make up for some of this.”
The way his eyes twinkled said I probably should’ve been more specific about that bribe part.
Oops.
I’d meant stopping to buy brownie mix at the Dollar General down from the campground.
“I think I’m going to enjoy that.” Still wearing a shit-eating grin, he stood and nodded toward the door as he brushed his arm against mine. “I’ll admit to being a bit out of date on a lot of things, but I don’t think bribes go out of style. I have some ideas for that as well.”
The way his smile shifted to something hotter sent a shiver through me and the way his eyes sparkled said he hadn’t missed it. “I…I’m very curious to see what you come up with.”
I wasn’t going to tell my mate he couldn’t bribe me…I was nervous, not stupid.
“I can’t wait to show you.” He also couldn’t wait to share the good gossip he’d found while I’d been politely interrogating our server because as soon as we walked out, he laughed. “I figured out what the problem was.”
“How?” What had I missed? “What happened?”
“While you were waiting up at the front, the older couple a few tables down from us waved at me. I’m pretty sure they were shifters of some sort but their scent wasn’t familiar.
Either way, he said the news that I was healthy again was already starting to spread and the cook was pissed his hunting trip was canceled. ”
What?
“They’re still doing that?” I’d run into a few articles about hunting parties but nothing lately. “What were they thinking?”
Had they just learned to keep it off the internet?
What had they been going to do to him?
Blaine shrugged, finding too much humor in the situation. “That’s a very good question.”
“This isn’t funny.” I was going to have to save him from himself. “They were trying to kill you.”
“I’d have made a very ugly rug.” His flippant response made me groan, which only seemed to tickle him even more. “Do you think I’d have tasted any good?”
“Still not funny.” What if they’d succeeded? “This is ridiculous.”
I’d been hunting to save the locals from a monster, not because it was fun or I wanted monster stew.
“You’d been thinking I would be tasty.” Looking very pleased with himself, he nodded slowly. “You’re probably feeling bad about it now, but that’s okay, I’ll let you make it up to me.”
Wait.
Hadn’t I been the one who was getting the bribe?
Murder kitties were sneaky.