Chapter Fifteen
Kelly
Thirty-five minutes later, we were standing in the deli section of the grocery store. We were fourth in line, but Reese was keeping a two-foot radius between us.
She probably thought I was a total creep. I told her I wasn’t a very touchy guy, yet all I’d done since we’d met was touch her. For Christ’s sake, I nearly kissed her this morning—a real kiss. And I would have had that wave not knocked some sense into me.
“You’re really trying to tell me that the best poke on Oahu is from the grocery store?” Reese’s hair was still damp and pulled up into a messy bun. She looked stunning.
“All the locals know the best poke is here.” I rolled my eyes playfully.
She wacked my arm, and I wished I could make her do it ten more times. “So, your local wisdom is the golden rule?”
“You’re welcome to try one of the overpriced places I saw you looking up on your phone on the way over, but you’ll have to try this first. Then you can compare. But you should trust me on this one.”
“You sure like that word, Kelly. We’ll see if your wisdom is as golden as you think.” There was a playful challenge in her eyes. I could listen to her say my name every day for the rest of my life, and it still wouldn’t be enough. “We’ll try yours and then try the place I found.”
“Want to bet on it?” I raised an eyebrow, and she instantly touched hers.
“No way! I’m keeping these bad boys.”
“We can make a different bet. I won’t hold you to the standards of the Iona kids.”
She hummed as she thought about it. “Okay. There should be a prize for the winner instead of a punishment for the loser.”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked, intrigued.
She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking to herself. I felt a burning in my core at the sight of it.
“Okay,” she said. “The loser has to buy the winner shaved ice.”
“First of all, it’s shave ice. If you’re gonna hang with me, I’m going to teach you the proper pronunciation of local words.”
She laughed and moved to hit my arm again.
“Okay, okay. Shave ice. What do you say?”
“Deal.” I put my hand out for her to shake, but she put out her pinky.
“We are getting serious now. A pinky promise?” I teased her.
“Are you scared, Kelly Belly?” she taunted me.
“Never.” I hooked her pinky with mine, and a jolt of energy surged down my arm.
“Next!” the man behind the counter called, and I reluctantly had to let go.
I ordered some spicy tuna and salmon, and then we paid up front. Back in my truck, I dug into my center console for some extra wrapped forks I collected whenever I could. I handed a fork to Reese, and she took it hesitantly. Just like she had this morning with the malasadas.
“Go ahead. Try it and tell me what you think,” I encouraged her.
“I don’t know. This could get messy. Maybe we should wait until we can compare the two pokes.” She nervously clutched her hands together as if trying to hold herself back. Her stomach growled, revealing her hunger.
“Reese, it’s okay to eat in my truck. This thing has been through far worse than you can imagine.”
“Are you sure?” Her stomach grumbled again. “I’m sorry, it must seem weird. I was never allowed to eat in the car growing up. It’s just one of those things that has stuck with me.
“Geez, your parents must have been pretty strict,” I said.
I thought back to the family minivan we’d had and how crusty that thing could get after an outing with us. It was Kahale’s now, and I doubted he kept it in any better condition.
“I promise, I don’t mind if you get my truck messy. You could dump that whole thing on the floor right now, and I wouldn’t be mad. I’d just give you my credit card to go buy more while I cleaned it up with the fast-food napkins I have in my glove box.”
A smile slowly spread across her face, crimson touching her cheeks as she looked down at the poke in her lap.
“I promise I won’t purposely dump it out. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m pretty hungry,” she joked.
“Okay, you dig into the poke and give me the address of the tourist trap you want to go to,” I said.
Her chosen place was about a twenty-minute drive in the opposite direction from home, but I didn’t care.
I drove as she opened the lid of the poke and speared a piece with her fork.
She brought it up to her mouth, eyeing it as if she were a judge on a cooking show.
Carefully, she placed the piece in her mouth and chewed.
A slight moan escaped her lips, and I could tell she was trying to hold back.
She hadn’t even finished her first bite before going in for a second.
“So, what do you think?” I asked casually.
“It’s...alright,” she said in between bites. She was a terrible liar.
“Yeah, looks just alright.” I laughed, and so did she.
“Here, try it.” She used her fork to feed it to me while I kept my eyes on the road.
The sweet and spicy fish tasted familiar, yet with Reese, it felt entirely new.
We drove the rest of the way, with Reese feeding me the occasional bite, and I didn’t mind that she was hogging it. Eventually, we arrived at her poke place of choice. It was a modern design in an up-and-coming shopping center.
When we got out, Reese had finished the grocery store poke. I felt bad that I hadn’t brought snacks for the beach. Next time, I will pack a few different items.
We entered the building, and the line was about fifteen people deep.
“This place seems pretty busy. That’s got to be a good sign,” Reese said.
I looked around and noticed that it was mainly tourists. Not a local in sight. “Yeah, probably,” I said, not wanting to crush her hope.
Twenty minutes later, we finally got to order. The poke was more than twice the price of grocery-store poke. Reese tried to slip her wallet out of her purse, but I rushed my credit card through.
“You didn’t have to do that. This was my idea.”
“I know, but it felt like the right thing to do,” I said truthfully. “Besides, you’re gonna need to save your money for when you buy me some shave ice.”
She rolled her eyes as she bumped her arm into mine. They gave us a number, and we took a seat at a nearby small booth.
Forty minutes passed before they brought our poke over. I could tell Reese was annoyed and hungry again, but she was refusing to complain. The poke itself looked okay upon first impression, but it was about half the amount we had gotten from the store.
Reese immediately dug in but stopped mid-chew on the first bite.
“That good?” I grabbed my fork and took a piece. It had that typical poke flavor, but it fell a little flat. The tuna itself was a little tough and not as fresh as the store-bought one.
Reese took another bite and then frowned.
“So, what’s the verdict?” I smiled, already knowing what she was going to say.
She puts her arms up in defeat. “I’m just glad I didn’t bet my eyebrows on this,” she laughed.
“You have surprisingly good sportsmanship,” I said, taking another bite of the overpriced poke. “Kalani would have sworn up and down that this was the best poke she’d ever had if she had bet on it.”
“I guess that’s the difference between your family and me,” she said, her eyes glowing. “I don’t mind losing to you.”
“No?” I said, my eyebrows reaching my hairline.
“This was a pretty good first non-date. I think you earned some shave ice.” She emphasized the word.
“I see that you’re also coachable. Well, we'd better get going if we’re going to get shave ice and still get you home before dinner.”
“You want to cash that in today?”
I wanted as much time with her as I could get. “If you’re okay with that.”
“I’m okay with that.” The corner of her mouth ticked up. “Where does your local wisdom say the best shave ice is?”
“There’s one about a mile from my house.” I looked down at my watch and saw that it was already 4:00 PM. “Is it cool with you if we stop by my house to feed Ted, though? It’ll be almost five by the time we get your car, and then you’ll follow me back.”
“Wow, do you always take girls home on the first date?” she teased.
I opened my mouth to try to backpedal, but she laughed.
“I don’t mind at all,” she said, calming my nervous system.
An hour later, I was pulling into my driveway, with Reese following right behind me. I pulled into my carport and signaled for her to park right behind me.
I hadn’t planned on bringing Reese back to my house today, so I was thankful I had picked up a little last night before bed.
Reese met me at the front door, and we could hear Ted whining on the other side of the door.
“Sorry about this. We can feed him and then head straight to get shave ice.” I put my key into the lock.
“No, it’s okay. I got a text from my cousin that she and her husband are having a surprise date night. So, my dinner plans with her are now cancelled,” she said, her voice disappointed.
I didn’t like the idea of Reese eating alone. Without hesitation, I asked, “Do you want to eat here? I bet I have something I can whip up for us.”
She looked surprised by this. When was the last time I spent this much time with a woman I wasn’t related to? After spending the entire day together, I should have been ready to move on, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her.
“That sounds perfect.” She smiled sweetly at me, and I felt my heart do a cartwheel in my chest.
As I opened the door and began to say, “I’ll just feed—,” Ted rushed past me and started loving on Reese.
Reese lowered herself to the ground and wrapped her arms around him as he licked her face.
Lucky bastard. Great. Now I was jealous of my fucking dog.
“Ted, that’s enough. Down!” I yelled.
He turned to look at me, and I swear that dog rolled his eyes at me. He went back to getting pets from Reese as she kissed the top of his head.
“Ted Mosby!” I used my stern voice, and he begrudgingly separated himself from her.
“Are you hungry, buddy?” I asked, the words perking him back up.
I led Reese into the house and started turning on some lights. “Make yourself at home.”