Or maybe it’s the wine.
Fuck it. I may as well finish my glass.
“Pizza’s here,” Jonas announces at the sound of a car door slamming outside.
“Can you grab the door? I gotta run up to my room for my wallet.”
This town’s only pizza place might be the last restaurant on Earth to not rely on an app for ordering and payment. To be fair, the owners are a couple in their seventies, so I don’t think they even have their own cell phones.
I start toward the stairs, taking two at a time. Naturally, there’s a sock in the hallway—when isn’t there? Without stopping, I scoop it up and carry it to my bedroom, where it lands with a swish in the laundry basket.
I can’t help but take a quick glance in the mirror. There’s mascara smudged under my left eye, and a small wine stain on the front of my shirt. But the biggest thing I see in the mirror is the face of anidiot. Colt wasn’t checking me out earlier. He was scrutinizing the hot mess single mom in front of him, and I was too caught up in the wayIwas checkinghimout to realize my mistake.
Shaking my head at my own reflection, I watch a defeated sigh deflate my chest like a punctured balloon and pick up the wallet sitting on my dresser. There’s no time to fix my appearance, nor does it matter anymore.
On the disheartened walk back to the main living space, I silently tell myself it’s not even an issue because,actually,I don’t think he’s that cute. It’s good he wasn’t checking me out. That would only make things awkward.
“Where’s the pizza guy?” I ask, looking from the front door to the kitchen table, where two boxes of pizza are stacked between Colt and Jonas.
“Halfway back to the pizza place, I’d guess.” Colt pulls an empty chair out for me.
Instinctively, I move toward him, rummaging through mywallet to scrounge up cash. “You didn’t need to pay for the pizza. Let me pay you back.”
He shakes his head. “I’m starving, so I’m probably going to eat more of this than both of you combined. It’s only fair I pay.”
“Well…thank you.”
The wine in my otherwise-empty stomach sloshes as I take my seat at the table. I’m a little too close to him.It’s fine.It’s just that I can smell his body wash—or maybe it’s his laundry detergent—and I have a great view of his sharp jawline, peppered with brown stubble that would scratch against the delicate skin of my palm in the most perfect way.
Making a loose fist, I rake my nails across my palm as a substitute and reassure myself that it’s only the dim lighting and alcohol making him so appealing.Nobodylooks and smells good after a day of fishing.
If it’s the alcohol fucking me up like this, pizza will fix me. Even if it’s not the alcohol, pizza will fix me.
I tear an extra cheesy slice of meat lovers from the box, salivating at the long cheese pull. I loop the strand of melted cheese around my tongue three times, then sink my teeth into the slice. It’s so good, I need to shut my eyes to fully appreciate this.
We’ve already established I’m a mess. Colt wasn’t checking me out, and I wouldn’t care even if he was. And thank God, because if I were on a date with a guy, or eating dinner with Alex, I’d force myself to stick to one slice to avoid the bloating. But I have nobody to impress tonight and these shorts have plenty of give in the waist.
I go back for three slices.
“So, do you guys plan to actually catch a fish next time?” My fingernails drum the side of my glass.
Jonas replies, “I caught one today. Colt didn’t catch nothin’ but weeds.”
“Yeah, you caught the biggest minnow I’ve ever seen.”Colt’s tongue presses firmly to the inside of his cheek, and he catches my attention before adding, “We would’ve taken a picture, but the problem is you wouldn’t be able to zoom in close enough to see the fish without the photo getting all grainy.”
He swipes a piece of loose pepperoni from the pizza box and bites most of it, chewing thoughtfully as he leaves one remaining morsel pinched between his thumb and index finger. Then he holds it triumphantly, with a goofy childlike smile and squinty eyes. “This is an exact depiction of Jonas with his fish.”
If I made a comment like that, Jonas would retreat into himself. He’d be embarrassed and angry. But right now, he’s laughing like a hyena. Bouncing in his seat.
“Wait, wait,wait.” Jonas puts his hands up in the air and works hard to regain composure. “This is what Colt looked like when I was casting near him.”
He stands up, clears his throat, and does his best impression of a fearful Colt, leaping to safety. His small body tumbles to the ground, rolling across the floor while fake crying. A gross exaggeration, for sure, but we’re all laughing and Colt’s fighting hard to defend himself.
It’s the best dinner I’ve had…maybe ever.
I lean against the chair back with a relaxed breath. While Jonas moves on to demonstrating a flopping fish—maybe it’s the minnow, though he’s laughing too hard to fully explain himself—Colt’s attention shifts to me.
“Too bad I missed out on all the fun,” I say, eyes falling to the slow slide of his tongue over his bottom lip.
