“Oh,” she shook her head, “I don’t need anything.”
“Come on,” he said. “You brought me over here. You must be thinking about food.”
“I really don’t...”
“I’m not eating again while I watch you sit there with nothing. It isn’t happening. Halibut and chips?”
“Sure,” she said, liking the way that he bulldozed her protestations in order to make sure she was taken care of. She didn’t know why she liked it. Only that she did.
She never had a man do that before. “You want a Coke?”
“Okay,” she said.
“Go ahead and snag us a picnic bench. I’ll bring the food over.”
She obeyed, going over to the bench and watching him while he placed the order. Paying with cash. It was such a funny, antiquated thing. But there was something essentially timeless about Wolf. And it couldn’t be denied.
You have a crush on him. He appeared yesterday, and you have a full-scale crush on him.
It felt like such a childish thing to think, and there were bigger feelings attached to him that seemed a lot less innocent than that word implied.
But on the surface... Well, she did. She had a crush on him. It made her grin, made her feel a little bit giddy. Because when was the last time she had felt anything quite so...fun? So carefree. She was always trying to do better. Always trying to serve the people around her. Always trying. And this felt completely separate from that. This just felt... It felt good. She was enjoying it.
He turned around, two white cardboard boxes in his hands, and a Styrofoam container on top, and a couple of Coke bottles tucked under his arm. He arrived at the table and laid everything out. The bottles were glass, and it only added to the sense of being out of time. He popped the tops off on the edge of the table and handed her an open one.
“I thought we needed some clam chowder. I don’t mind sharing.”
He held up a spoon, and she realized that he intended for them to use the same one. It made her feel warm.
What was wrong with enjoying this? She had never...done this. Just casually hanging out with a guy like him. It wasn’t like she hadn’t gone on dates. She had. It was just... They were all guys she knew from high school. Guys she knew from town. It was different. This was exciting. He was a stranger. It felt full of possibilities. It felt new.
And she hadn’t realized how much she wanted something new. How much it meant. How exciting it was.
“All right,” she said. “If you insist.”
He took the lid off and took a bite of the chowder. Then passed the spoon to her.
She did not like clam chowder.
She didn’t like it at all.
But she wanted to use the same spoon as Wolf Garrett, and if it was weird... Then she was weird. She took a bite of the chowder, and she really didn’t like it, but she felt warm and emboldened. She realized that she was staring at him, and she looked down, feeling a blush heat her cheeks again. And then she felt the press of his thumb against her cheek. She startled, looking up, and he grinned. “You’re very pretty, do you know that?”
Oh, she wasn’t imagining it. She actually was not imagining this at all.
He lowered his hand, but the impression of the brief touch remained.
“I... I don’t know what to say to that.”
“Say yes, I am very aware of how beautiful I am, and the effect I have on men.”
She laughed. “But I’m not.”
If she didn’t know better, she would say that he looked a little taken aback by that. “Well. That’s going to have to change. Because no one as pretty as you should be in the dark about it.”
She took a deep breath, trying to stabilize herself.
And suddenly, she was very upset that they were eating fish. Because really, that wasn’t sexy. Everyone’s breath was going to be bad.