“I don’t know. I guess you could think about it however you want. I’m just glad that you brought me here tonight. I’ve heard a lot of cool things about this place, and I wanted to get to see it for myself.”
“Then let’s not waste any more of our time together out here talking about it, and get in there and check it out for ourselves!” I said with a wink.
She grinned and slid out of the car behind me. We held hands as the two of us went inside the museum, and I had to admit, while I never really thought of museums being my thing before, I had more fun with Harper than I ever had before.
The way she would drink in all the information about each of the wax figures she saw, it was like watching a child on Christmas morning staring with all the wonder at the various presents that were under the tree. And the conversation we had with each other was just as natural as it had been when we had been to dinner a few nights before.
It was as though we had been made for each other. I never realized how freeing I could feel in a relationship. I had always viewed them as something that would tie me down and take up all the free time I had, but I could see now that Harper brought a new sense of freedom into my life, and I was eager to take hold of it.
We took our time in the museum, but it still seemed to me like the rest of the afternoon went by much faster than I had hoped. Then again, any time I was with Harper, it seemed that time sped up. I couldn’t get enough of being with her. So, I once again took the chance to ask her for more of her time. It was a risk, but the worst that could happen was that she was going to say no.
“Hey, you want to get out of here and grab some dinner?” I asked.
“I’d love to,” she said. “Thanks.”
“Come on, my treat,” I said.
“This entire night has been your treat. When are you going to let me be the one to treat you to something?” she asked.
“Spending time with you is a treat for me,” I told her. “I don’t think I could afford how much you could charge if you started to charge people to spend time with you.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said, but she didn’t stop smiling.
It made me feel good to make her smile, and I let her be the one to choose the place for food, too. She tried to argue with me at first, but I refused to participate. She got a good feel for how stubborn I could be when it came to be giving someone what they wanted.
I could outsit her in the car until she decided where she wanted to go for dinner, then I would let us move again.
Then again, there was something about her that was so confident, it was like the two of us were meant to be together from the dawn of time. And if that was the case, I was okay with that.
After all, I could see myself with Harper happily living out the rest of my days.
She was amazing in every sense of the word, that was for darn sure.
And I wanted to make the most of what I had with her, no matter how much I could get.
TWELVE
Harper
I decided goingto dinner was a great way to try out the new restaurant I wanted. I was already happy with getting to go see the wax museum, why not throw on the fried chicken restaurant, too?
It wasn’t the kind of place my mom would enjoy, I knew that, and I didn’t like going out and doing things like that on my own. So, when he asked if I was hungry and told me I had to be the one to pick where we went for food, it didn’t take me too long to give in and tell him I wanted to try the Hayloft.
At first, I tried to outdo him.
He said he could outwait me when it came to deciding where we were going for food, and I tried to tell him there was no way. But, he simply put his keys in the ignition of the car and started to ignore me. It didn’t matter how much I tried to get his attention, he was just on his phone.
“I said I would talk to you when you had a place for us to go for dinner,” he told me.
I gave him a look.
“You also said you were more stubborn than I am, and I’m putting that to the test.” I folded my arms, ready for him to give in any second. But, he didn’t seem like he was going to change his stance any time soon, and instead remained in his motionless position as he waited for me to just tell him where we were going.
Once I told him I wanted to go to the Hayloft, the conversation resumed, and we went on as though nothing had happened between us. I couldn’t help but shake my head at him, and he gave me a look.
“What?” he asked.
“You,” I said.