“I like cheesy,” she said, reaching out to take the quilt tucked under his right arm. “Here, let me carry something. I like to be useful.”
“What else do you like?” he asked, sidling closer. “I know we’re supposed to be talking about heavy things, but maybe we can pretend we’re just on a date for a little while?” He smiled down at her, squinting against the sun, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I’d like to know more about you.”
“I’d like to know more about you, too,” she said, laughing beneath her breath. “But I guess I should go first. Since I’ve read an entire folder on you and your genetic history and your abnormally swift swimmers.”
“True.” He inclined his head. “Tell me about Yasmin North.”
She took a deep breath and let it out in a breezy sigh. “Well, I was born in Lonesome Point, but left to find myself when I was in my late teens. Or at least, that’s what I told my parents. In all truth, I was more interested in finding a good time. I spent most of my early twenties traveling the world, working odd jobs, and going to too many rock concerts.”
He scoffed. “Is there such a thing?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she said, nodding her approval. “So I went to a healthy and reasonable number of rock concerts and finally settled down a few years ago. I thought I was going to end up being a Texan. There was a little town not far from here where I made a lot of good friends and had a sweet job working at a historic hotel…but life had other plans.”
She forced a smile, refusing to think of Clint or the Lonesome Point friends she missed or anything else that would bring the fear that had haunted her for the past few months creeping back to the surface. “So now I’m back home, living on my parents’ property in their old farmhouse, working as a social media consultant, and getting ready for the next big adventure.”
Noah ran a hand through his thick hair. “A baby.”
“A baby,” she confirmed in a soft voice. “Kind of the biggest adventure of all, I guess. Bringing a life into the world and hoping you won’t screw it up. I guess I shouldn’t admit that I’m a little afraid of doing the parent thing all wrong, but tonight feels like a night for honesty so...”
“I appreciate it. And I think it’s healthy to worry a little about screwing up.” He smiled. “Since we’re back to the heavy things I guess I might as well ask. Why now? Why have you decided this is the time to start a family? All by yourself?”
“Well, I’m thirty-four, so I don’t have a lot of time to waste,” she said, laughing when Noah’s features twitched with surprise. “I don’t look it, right?”
“You look like you’re twenty-four,” he said. “Tops.”
Yasmin preened. “Thank you. For someone who’s done more than her fair share of shooting whiskey and rocking out to the break of dawn, I will admit that I’m remarkably well preserved.”
He laughed. “I agree. I’m a tequila man, myself.”
She scrunched up her face, sticking out her tongue. “Oh God, I can’t do tequila. I go from zero to silly drunk and feverish in two point five shots.”
“I would like to see you silly drunk, but I only brought beer tonight.”
“Then you should be safe,” she said, hugging the quilt to her chest as she added with a smile. “So yeah, I’m getting toward the end of my fertility, I’ve gotten all my wanderlust out of my system, and I’m ready to love someone forever.” She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “I haven’t had the best luck in romantic relationships, but in this day and age, that doesn’t mean I can’t have a family, a child, someone I can give my heart to and know nothing is going to come between us.”
“That’s a beautiful way to look at it,” he said softly, the smile slipping away from his face. “But why does having a child mean the romantic part of your life is over? Wouldn’t you like to have a partner in this adventure at one point or another? Maybe during the terrible twos?”
“I’m more worried about the teenage years,” she said. “But I was a handful when I was a teen, so I figure anything my kid dishes out is just karma coming back to give me a well-deserved kick in the ass.”
“Or a peck in the ass. Those can be pretty nasty, I hear.”
“You would know.” She giggled, enjoying this walk even more than she’d expected, despite the heavy turn the conversation had taken.
“But seriously,” he said, nudging her arm with his. “Having a child on your own doesn’t mean you have to stay a single mother.”
She arched a brow. “I don’t think men exactly line up to date women raising an infant on their own, Noah.”
“I would,” he said seriously. “If the woman were you.”
She cleared her throat and gazed down at her feet, concentrating on kicking the grass flat in front of her as they crossed over the first ridge in the hill and started down the shadowed hollow on the other side.
“But I am a genius,” Noah continued, saving her from being forced to form a reply. “Maybe the rest of the men out there aren’t smart enough to realize a quality dating option when they see one.”
She tilted her head, gazing up at him out of the corner of her eyes. “Quality dating option, huh? And you can tell that after only meeting me twice?”
“Three times,” he said. “We’re already well into our third meeting, and this one is the most interesting yet. So answer the question, North. We geniuses are pretty good at knowing when we’re being given the runaround. Why no men?”
Yasmin pursed her lips. “I just want to focus on the baby. On being the best mom I can be. Is that so wrong?”