“Admit it. My suit was very professional.” She takes her bite.
“When did all black become synonymous with professional?”
“When New York said it was.”
“I’m not sure New York said that. I think some lazy business person started the trend.”
“Business person? Give me a break, you know it was a man.”
“Not this man. Last thing I need is a bunch of undertakers selling me optimism.”
Her eyebrows rise, and she nods, giving me a broad smile. “I actually agree with you on this one.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“No, I do! I think you’re right.” She takes another bite, tilting her head to the side. “Your delivery could use some work…”
“I don’t have time to teach you how to think.”
“Oh my God.” She sits back abruptly, dropping her fork and laughing as she covers her mouth. “She said you’d say that... Or a version of that.”
“Who said?”
“It’s not important.” She wipes her mouth, glancing up to catch my frown. It gets me another, short laugh. “You really should work on your people skills.”
“So I’ve heard. You ready? I can’t eat any more of this, and I have a place I want to show you.”
“Sure.” She grabs her phone, and I grab the bill our server left on the edge of the table.
The lights go down, and the chickens launch into a rousing rendition of “Rocky Top” as we walk to the register by the door. Raquel is close beside me, and our hands brush. Automatically, I catch it, threading our fingers. It started last night on the drive in—I reached out and took her hand as we drove, and she didn’t pull away. It’s silly and very high-school-first-crush, but I like holding her hand. It feels good. It feels right.
Those words seem to be my mantra for this little escape. I haven’t forgotten reality is waiting for us two days and three hours from here, but I want to put that away for now. I want to enjoy this time and see where it takes us. I want to stop fighting… Only, it seems I’ve found the ultimate fighter for this venture.
The bill is paid, and we walk out to my car, releasing our hands.
“What next?” She looks up at me smiling. “Dancing go
ats?”
“We’ll save them for tomorrow’s breakfast.”
I have something special in mind. A place I haven’t seen in years. A place I want to see with her…
21
Raquel
We leave the car at the head of a wooded hiking trail that like everything around here seems to go straight up.
Looking ahead, my nose scrunches. “I don’t have much practice hiking.”
“We’ll take the intermediate path. I want to show you something.”
We’re both in jeans and t-shirts. It’s warmer with the sun out, and the temperature is pleasant. Trees surround the path in no particular order, but we’re able to follow the well-worn route using the small markers along the way. Patton seems so familiar with this area. I can’t tell if he’s taking a slower pace for my benefit.
“You must’ve come here a lot when you were a kid.” I’m only slightly breathless.
He pauses and waits for me to catch up. “We came out here… I guess every year for five or six years.”