CHAPTER19
BART
“Isuppose it’s time to leave?” Serenity said as we walked back to my car after our balloon ride. “It’s a pity that we can’t stay. It’s so beautiful here.”
“We’ll be losing the last of the daylight soon,” I said. “The actual sunset trips were fully booked for the next few weeks and the first available date they had for one is only when we’ll be gone again, so I had to take the pre-sunset slot, but at least we got to see the sunstartingto set.”
“It was beautiful.” She turned when we reached the car to look out over the field with the balloons taking off for their next rides, her hand pressed to her forehead to shield her eyes from the little sunlight that remained.
“It was,” I agreed. “We’re not leaving just yet, though. There’s something else I want to do. Do you mind coming to the grocery store we passed a few miles back and then to the park with me?”
She seemed puzzled but nodded her agreement anyway. “Sure, what are we going to do?”
“It’s a surprise.” I waggled my brows at her.
I opened her door, waited for her to get in, then shut it again before going to the driver’s side. It occurred to me that I was treating this like a date, getting her doors, helping her into the balloon and then off again, getting her drinks, and fetching her food, but I couldn’t help it.
Mom had raised me to treat women right, and although it wasn’t a lesson I always remembered, something about Serenity brought it out in me. Iwantedto do things for her despite knowing she could do them herself.
Shawn had made me take one of those stupidlove languagequizzes once, and mine was acts of service. I guess this was that in action.Maybe it’s not so stupid after all.
The grocery store was just up the road, and Serenity plucked up a basket at the entrance without asking if we’d need one. Smiling sweetly, she followed me to the fresh produce. “What do we need?”
“Grapes and frozen peas from here. Then we need to go find the plastic knives,” I replied, spotting a bunch of grapes on the shelf right in front of me. I dropped it in her basket.
She frowned, arching a brow slightly. Then she shrugged and headed down the aisle toward the freezers. Once there, she took out a bag of frozen peas and grinned as she waved it at me. “Is this one fine, or do you want the smaller one?”
“That one is good,” I said, watching as she dropped it in the basket beside the grapes. “On to the plastic knives, then.”
“Are you going to tell me what we need this for? Grapes, frozen peas, and plastic knives is a pretty weird shopping list.”
“Feel free to add anything you’d like for yourself,” I said jokingly. “I suddenly had a craving for grapes and peas.”
“Are you pregnant?” she teased. “Those sure sound like the cravings of a pregnant woman, but the knives are throwing me off.”
“They’re for throwing,” I said. “I’ve heard there are bars now where people go to throw axes and knives, and I thought we could give it a try.”
She chuckled. “I’ve actually been to one of those, and none of the stuff they have there is made of plastic.”
“Safety first.” I shrugged just as I saw the cutlery hanging on a shelf in the aisle we were about to pass. Heading up it, I grabbed a package of knives and dropped them in the basket, too. “Okay, well, unless you’d like anything else, we’re good to go.”
“I’m stuffed,” she said. “That food on the balloon was delicious. I might get some water, though. How long is this thing we’re doing going to take?”
“As long as we want it to. Probably the rest of the day, but since that’s only about another hour at most, it’s not saying much.”
“No, it’s really not, but I’m getting a water. That champagne was on its way to making me tipsy. Don’t get me wrong, I love my bubbly, but I can’t drink very much of it. It’s the air in it, I swear.”
“I can’t handle too much of it, either,” I said as we walked to the checkout counter. “Let’s grab some waters. Then we can go to the park.”
“Okay,” she said easily, not questioning me again as we paid and loaded up our supplies. Then I drove us to a park we’d passed on our way in.
Serenity kept looking at me like I was crazy, though, even if she had stopped asking questions. I could take a few sideways glances in my stride, thankfully, since I refused to tell her what we were going to do until we got there.
It wasn’t some big secret, and it certainly wasn’t another balloon ride, but that part of our day had been all about her. This part wasn’t something I’d planned, but when we’d driven past the park earlier, I’d realized it was something I really wanted to do. The next hour or so wouldn’t be about her again, but I hoped she still enjoyed it.
While it wasn’t fancy, it would be fun, and I had a feeling it would help me get some peace. These last few days, between meetings with my financial advisors and travel agents, thinking about Serenity had been driving me nuts. But I was also getting antsy. Not about her, but more about being home when we could be out there, exploring and seeing things we’d never seen before.
I’d never been much of a jet-setting type, but I doubted my sudden unwillingness to stay put for too long had anything to do with traveling. Being back in the city had just been bringing back too many memories, and every last one of them reminded me about why this bucket list was so important.