Chapter 23
He knew exactly what he wanted to do next. He’d been imagining it for weeks.
He would walk her home, arrive at her door, and kiss her the way he’d wanted to after their Forsyth park outing.
It would be at least a 20 minute walk to her place, but he didn’t mind one bit. The weather was perfect, they were full from beer and pretzels, and he could finally spend some time with Fiona without having to pretend.
They took the scenic route so he could point out some of his favorite restaurants and historic sites in the city, shaded from the sun by the picturesque Southern live oaks. After too many failed relationships, he had all but given up on dating. He wanted his time in Savannah to be focused on building his restaurant.
But now, walking with Fiona, he felt like he was seeing the city with fresh eyes.
“You know this is dumb, right?” she asked suddenly, turning to him in the square across from her apartment. “This week it’s long, romantic walks through the city, and next week one of us will be crushing the other one’s dreams.”
Porter shrugged, and reached for her hands. “Sounds exciting to me.”
Fiona shot him a skeptical look.
“We can call all of this off right now,” she said. “We can both call Laura and see whose call gets through first. Or we could try the coin flip idea.”
“Or,” Porter said, touching a strand of her hair that had draped across her shoulder. “We can deal with that tomorrow.”
“Porter,” she said, her blue eyes more frantic now.
“I can take it,” he said. He hoped that was true.
“There is something, though…” he said. He didn’t want to ruin the moment, but he also didn’t want to make a messy situation even messier.
“Alright,” she said, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked up at him.
“You and Sergio. Is that still going on, or –”
She looked confused at first, but then realization flashed in her eyes.
“When you mentioned dealing with the Sergio thing earlier, it didn’t happen to be about him and me, did it?” she asked.
“Uh…” Porter rocked back on his heels, his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, it did. Look, I saw him kissing Jenna. And I don’t know if you two are still seeing each other, but I did ask him about it.”
Fiona laughed.
“I told Jenna he was into her,” she said, confusing him further.
“But I thought you two –”
“We went out a couple of times,” she said, shrugging, “but honestly, I just needed a distraction.”
When he frowned, she added, “from you.”
She looked up at Porter, and a wave of relief washed over him.
“So…you are single now,” he confirmed.
She nodded, and stepped closer to him.
“Just don’t leave me hanging this time, okay?” she told him.
He grinned.
“I won’t.”
He stepped closer, relishing the moment as he finally got to know how her lips felt against his, how her hair felt as he ran his fingers through it, and how her pulse raced as he lightly touched the side of her neck. He thought kissing her would settle him, or answer a lingering question that he couldn’t shake. But it didn’t. It just left him wanting more.