She squeaked and raised her palm to her heart.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I smiled down at her.
“Nope, I wasn’t scared.” Her voice was scratchy, and she cleared it.
I raised an eyebrow in question.
She had a slight raise to one corner of her bright pink lips and shrugged.
“Hey, I’m Mar . . .” her nose scrunched. “I’m Mary,” she drew it out long and unsure.
“You positive?” I could tell when I was being lied to, an occupational hazard as a lawyer. Although it wouldn’t take any training to tell with “Mary” she was a terrible liar. Her cheeks had flushed, she refused to make eye contact, and I'm pretty sure she squeaked when I asked if she was sure.
“Yep.” She stared at her shoes.
Okay, whatever. Mary it is. I don’t care either way.
Anna cleared her throat through the megaphone, bringing my attention back to her. “Each team head to your starting zones. They match the numbers on your leading man’s shirt.”
106, got it. I looked at the boxes stacked near the different corn maze entrances and noticed ours off to the left.
“And you’ll need to hold hands,” James leaned over and yelled into the megaphone.
What?
I shot him a glare as he winked at me.
“That way, you stay together,” he added through the megaphone, looking at Anna for confirmation.
Anna looked at the lady with the cane. “Or lock elbows orsomething.”
Great. Thanks, James. Like this wasn’t already awkward enough. Let’s add physical contact into the mix.
I hopped down off the trailer and held out my hand to helpMary.She took a deep breath and put her hand more confidently on mine. We headed toward our entrance.
“Do you always wear a suit on a first date?” She tipped her head to the side. “It seems fancy for a corn maze.”
Did she think I dressed like this for a blind date with a random stranger?
“I came here straight from work to help a friend.” I pointed at James. “I was coming to help him get a date, still not sure how I ended up with one.” We walked to our entrance.
She looked up at me. “You didn’t want a date either? So there isn’t a lot of pressure on us or anything?”
I got my first good glimpse of her eyes. They were green with a dark line around the edge. I had never seen eyes like hers before.
“Zero pressure,” I said.
Anna asked through the megaphone, “Everyone ready?”
“Well, maybe not zero.” Mary placed her free hand on her hip.
My face must have showed my question because she continued.
“If this isn’t like a date-date, let’s win those cookies. Bella’s is the best!”
She hopped on her toes, bursting with energy.
I grinned. Between my car payments and the low salary I took while paying my student loans back to my father, I was on a strong diet of tuna pouches, PB&Js, and cereal.
