So he was lucky the waiter had saved him.
But he still just wanted to enfold Pauline in his arms and tell her how brave she must have been, how hard he knew it had to be to care for your dying parents, or to wait out a slowly failing marriage.
Kids. Carlos had never really thought about them. When he’d been younger and poorer, he’d been determined that he’d give any potential kids a better upbringing than he got, so he’d set the whole concept aside until he had more money. Then in the Marines, then married to his job—it was the same problem as it would have been with a wife, except much, much worse. Kids needed their parents around, helping them, supporting them, playing with them, going to their games or their concerts.
He would’ve been a terrible dad, and he knew it. So he never really thought about it.
Now, though—
Well, now it was probably too late. He was looking at fifty in a few years. That was too old for a baby, to be sure.
He looked at Pauline, who was surveying their food with obvious delight. She’d be a good mom, he bet. Responsible, thoughtful, willing to put years of effort into taking care of people whether they were grateful for it or not—
What are you thinking?
He didn’t know. Surely he wasn’t considering having kids with a woman he’d just met. When he’d never even wanted kids.
Shaking his head, he let the thought go and focused on the food. He cut the burger in half and slid half of it over on the little plate the waiter had provided. “Here, try it.”
Pauline surveyed it, smiling. “What’s this? Coleslaw?”
“Kimchi.”
She lifted it to her mouth and took a bite. Her eyes went wide. “It’s spicy!” she said through the mouthful.
Carlos couldn’t take his eyes away. How long had it been since he’d seen someone be so delighted by something new? Businessmen were always trying to prove how jaded they were, talking about how they’d seen it all. How anything that was trying to impress was really nothing special.
Out here, though, everyone seemed to be...ready to be delighted. Even by stuff they saw every day, like the Park and the mountains and the sunset.
And especially by new stuff, like kimchi burgers. Pauline swallowed her mouthful and grinned wide. It lit up her face, crinkling her eyes and making her twice as beautiful. “That is a taste I’ve never experienced before in my life,” she said.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“I can’t tell!” she laughed, and took another bite.
You should have new things to delight you every day of your life, Carlos thought, and took a bite of pasta to hide his confusion with himself.
***
Pauline
This food was crazy.
Pauline still couldn’t even quite tell if she liked the burger or not. It was a bit spicier than she was used to, but the flavors were just so interesting. She finished off her half in record time, and then glanced guiltily over at Carlos, who’d only taken a few bites.
“Not to be a pig or anything,” she half-laughed.
He grinned. “I love watching people enjoy things. Eat as much as you want.”
There was a while, then, where everything was about the food. Pauline almost wanted to ask if they could have another date here tomorrow night, because she wanted to try everything else on the menu to see if they would all introduce her tongue to such new and odd sensations.
When they’d slowed down to the point of picking at the last of the fries, Carlos leaned back and asked, “So, what was it like growing up out here, in the middle of all this wilderness? I was a city kid, and the only time I’ve ever spent a lot of time out in the wilds is when I was in the Marines.”
Which must have been a very different experience. One Pauline was incredibly curious about herself, but she wasn’t going to ask about it unless he volunteered, because she knew it might be painful to talk about.
Instead, she said, “I’ve never been as much of an outdoorswoman as some of the people here—not like Lynn, for example.”
Carlos chuckled. “I don’t think anyone’s as outdoorsy as Ken and Lynn. They made it their jobs.”