I’d give him an A+ for a successful diversion. “Where do you think they got the tree for your room from?”
“Really? I’m sorry—I didn’t know.”
“Kidding! Take a joke, plus I’d never give them my tree to bring to you.” I paused for a beat, then said, “I skipped it this year. I guess I’m kind of a Grinch, but in fairness to my Jewish half, I didn’t light a menorah either.”
“Well, that’s kind of you not to pick sides.” It was funny how an easiness could settle back in between two people. “Other than work, what do you do?” he asked.
Luck on my side, the doorbell rang and I got up and padded to the front. Daniel, despite an occasional limp, and Rourke were both on my heels, the former pulling out cash for the delivery person.
“Oh, they have my card on file,” I said, happy I’d made the food order call discreetly.
“It was supposed to be on me. This was my idea.”
“Come on, control freak, you can’t pay for the whole world around you.” I walked toward the kitchen, bag in hand, and set everything on the counter.
Daniel started rummaging through the drawers.
“Do you need something?”
“A few serving spoons?” he inquired and I pointed in the correct direction.
I took a moment to watch the six-foot-plus man moving about my whitewashed kitchen. When I bought the place, I’d never imagined a man living here.
I stood on my tiptoes to grab plates, and Daniel said, “Leave it. Let’s have a picnic. Forks and containers and us. College style for times we missed out on…”
“A picnic? It’s starting to snow.” I felt my eyebrow lift.
“An inside picnic. I saw that you have one of those fires that lights up with a switch. I can handle that… What I can’t do is get down on the floor, so the couch’ll have to do.”
Rourke began jumping at Daniel’s feet as he lifted the bag of takeout, seconding the idea, and off the two of them went.
The television was showing Times Square and the crowds filling the streets as Daniel lowered himself to the couch and set the bag on the table.
Sitting on the other side of the sectional, I mentioned, “You sure went from formal dinner at the hotel to carpet picnic pretty fast.”
Snapping off a lid on some steamed dumplings, Daniel answered as I should have predicted. “We can do the formal dinner tomorrow?”
“Give me that,” I said, snatching a pair of chopsticks out of the bag, waiting for him to pass the appetizer.
Grabbing one dumpling and plopping it in my mouth rendered me speechless for a few moments—thank God, because who knew what other stupid comments I was going to say.
Daniel
Iused the chopsticks to grab some noodles out of the container Wren and I were passing back and forth like experienced lovers, which we were not, and wondered what if I’d been stronger.
“Is this a common date of yours? How you woo all the women—sharing food, hanging on the floor or the couch?”
She caught me with a mouth full of food and I nearly choked. Wren was never one to not speak her mind, except when it came to her parents. And this wasn’t how I typically dated, but I didn’t know what Wren wanted to hear…
“I’m kidding. No need to go through your playbook with me. I agreed to dinner and this is fine, takeout and TV. And another good thing, neither of us is a germaphobe.”
The light illuminated a few highlights in her hair as she took me in.
“Truth. But to answer your question, no, this is not part of my regular repertoire. Actually, lately I’m not dating much. Full transparency, I was married though. For a minute or three.”
She nodded. “I knew that. Hard to miss when your wedding is inPeoplemag, ya know?”
“It ended pretty fast. She wanted all the money and prestige of the tour but wasn’t a fan of the time away. Turns out you can’t have both.”
