Chapter Ten
Odette was in front of me. It wasn’t a dream.
I thought I’d seen her when I’d looked down the row of vendors, deciding where to start my morning, but I thought I was going crazy. There was no way Odette was here in the same town as me after I drove thirty minutes to get here.
But yet, here she was in all her glory.
“Lovebirds?” I questioned the woman in the vendor tent beside us. No way she was talking about Odette and me, but then again, I wouldn’t object to the pet name. Odette still consumed my thoughts, even more so now that I talked to her every day.
“Ignore her.” Odette grabbed my arm as she steered me away from the woman and down a different row. I wasn’t sure where we were headed, but she was leading the way down to the end of what looked like a tea booth.
“Back so soon, sweetheart?” The older woman at the booth seemed sincere and worried all at the same time in her questions.
“I need some napkins and another tea, please.”
“Coming right up!”
Odette grabbed napkins from the table and turned to me, dabbing at the wet spot that was quickly drying due to the sun shining. She wasn’t saying anything to me or even looking at me. I could tell from her touch that she was unsure of what was happening, but I wanted her to know that this was okay.
I put my hand on hers, stopping her. Her hand froze, and I moved my other hand to grab her chin and lifted her head so her eyes could meet mine.
“Hi,” I said again.
“Hi.” She seemed out of breath with her response.
“It’s nice to see you.”
“What are you doing here?” Odette looked back down at my shirt and continued to dab at it before moving on to hers.
I was less worried about my old Black Mesa shirt and more about how she was in this moment.
We both clearly didn’t know that either of us was going to be here, or even that bumping into each other was a possibility.
I wouldn’t say I was upset at all. Surprised, maybe a little scared.
With all the talking Odette and I had been doing, we’d both been skirting around the conversation of when we’d see each other again.
I’d sequestered myself into my office most of the time, doing more streams than normal since Odette had been popping up in them to write, and then afterwards, I’d message her as Ryker.
It was a full-time job I was loving, but I needed to get out of the house.
I needed fresh air, and today was the day I chose to come to a farmer’s market.
One that was away from where I live, which I found recommended online.
Completely random.
“I wanted to see the farmer’s market.”
“Of all the farmer’s markets in the world.” Her voice was low; I almost couldn’t hear her.
“I wanted to see this one specifically.” Odette looked up at me, disbelief still in her expression. “I’m also just as surprised.”
“You’re doing far better than I am.” She was still wiping at the same spot on her shirt, so distracted that she hadn’t seen the tea vendor place another tea down for her.
I pulled her hand, took the crumpled napkins, grabbed the tea, and steered her away to a more secluded spot.
When we were far enough away from the hustle and bustle, I handed Odette her tea and watched as she took the first sip.
It was like she was in pure bliss. Her shoulders relaxed, and she was back in a familiar place.
“Do you come here often?” I finally asked.
“I do.” Odette turned and pointed down a road. “I’m just a few houses down that way.”
“You live here?” My question was laced with surprise.
“For around three years now.” Odette shrugged like it was no big deal, but the fact that the woman I’d been falling for for years had only been a thirty-minute car ride away was wreaking havoc on my heart at the moment. “What about you?”
“I’m over near the Jamestown area, but I wanted to get out today, do something new. This farmer’s market is one of the best in New York, and I thought, why not?”
Odette nodded as she took another sip of her tea, avoiding eye contact with me. Both of her hands were wrapped around the paper cup as she took sips every few seconds, almost like she was trying to fill the void. It was clear she was processing what I’d just told her.
“I’m guessing you’ve been here more than a few times, then?” I continued.
“I used to come a lot more but haven’t been for most of this season and really haven’t been for the last few weeks.
” She took a deep breath before finally meeting my eyes.
“I thought, hey, take your notebook, write some words, and get some spices and tea. That would make such a great day. Of all the days I decide to come back, you chose today to come to this market, and I’m trying hard to figure out what this means. ”
Odette let her words ramble all into one before taking a long drag of her tea again.
I took a step forward and placed a hand on her arm. Her eyes finally met mine again. This moment felt like ours, like we were both trying to figure this out, but neither wanted to say it or jinx it.
“Why don’t you show me around to the vendors and give me some recommendations?”
A smile crossed Odette’s lips.
“Is that all you would like?”
My eyebrows shot up because of how I took her question was most definitely not what I think she intended.
I wanted so much more than for her to walk me around and show me a place she was familiar with and most likely loved.
I wanted to kiss her, hold her, call her mine.
I hadn’t had my hands on her in weeks, and now that I did, I didn’t want to let go.
I wanted more time with her.
I opened and closed my mouth a few times before Odette spoke again.
“Ryker.” My name softly left her lips.
“Odette.” I took a step toward her, filling almost all the space between us.
“This is crazy. That you somehow showed up where I’m at, on the one day I chose to leave the house since I got back home from the award show. Tell me that isn’t crazy. That we’ve spent weeks talking to each other, and somehow the universe said, ‘Here, if you won’t do it, I will.’”
She was laughing now; her face showing just how absurd it all sounded, but it was true and real in this moment.
“It is crazy.” I reached my hand out, brushing some flyaways that were sticking to her face. “But I’d be crazy if I didn’t say I loved that it happened. I loved that the feeling we felt at the award show wasn’t just fleeting.”
I placed my hand on her cheek.
“I feel it now. I hope you feel it too because it’s here; it’s real.”
“Ryker.” This time when she said my name, it sounded like a plea. I didn’t know if it meant she wanted me to move forward or to stop. But I knew exactly what I wanted in this moment.
Her.
“Can I kiss you?”
Odette’s eyes went wide, and her head nodded ever so slightly. I tilted my head down toward hers. Our lips brushed softly with the first kiss.
Brief.
Quick.
Not enough.
I pulled away momentarily to look at Odette, whose mouth was slightly open.
I moved in for the second kiss, this one slightly rougher as I moved my hand to the back of her head and pulled her closer.
She tasted not just like tea, but like sugar, sweet and addictive.
A small moan escaped Odette, and I pressed in further, her mouth opening for me, and I let my tongue slip in, getting a better taste.
I could do this all day with this damn woman, but a cough came from close by, and I pulled away, remembering we were not alone. Odette looked up at me, dazed.
“You taste like sugar.”
Odette pulled away and let out a bellowed laugh before taking a sip of her tea that, this time, hadn’t spilled everywhere.
“Ten packets of sugar, if you can’t smell how sweet it is, it’s not sweet enough.”
I grabbed the cup and took a swig of the very warm tea; the sugar hit me first before the hints of black tea.
“Fuck,” I winced and handed her back the cup, and she let out another laugh.
“It’s my favorite,” she shrugged. “I’ve always liked it this sweet, sometimes with a little honey, depending on the season.”
“Seems to be just as sweet as you,” Odette bit her lip at my remark. She took one last long sip before seeming to finish her cup off. “Why don’t you show me around the rest of the market?”
“I’d really love that.”
“Good,” I took a step toward her, filling the space she’d created. “It’s a date.”
“Date?” Odette seemed tense again and unsure of what I had just said.
“Yeah. We just had an unforgettable kiss, you spilled tea on me, and I’m in a new city. Your city, as a matter of fact. This is the perfect setting for a first date.”
She looked at me in disbelief.
“You seem so unreal. Like a character from one of my books, or even my game. How you speak, so surely, like you know exactly what it is you want.”
“Well,” I leaned down and lightly kissed Odette one more time.
“I have no idea what I am doing, and I’m out of my element, but what I do know is that I want to spend more time with you.
Kiss you more. Walk around and hold your hand.
” I grabbed her free hand and intertwined our fingers.
“What I know at this exact moment is that I don’t want to leave your side today. ”
Odette did what I had done earlier, opening and closing her mouth a few times before speaking.
“Then it’s a date.”