“Hmm.” Jake flipped the crab cakes over with a pair of tongs. “There are a million little things that I like about every place.”
She eyed him, pressing him for more.
He offered a crooked smile as he tipped the crab cakes up to check that they’d browned. “For example, there’s a little café in Boston where I was sitting near the window. It was the only table open, probably because the old wood window frame allowed a draft, and it was frigid outside. I took my coat off but left my scarf, and found it to be warm enough to manage. I was drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper when I looked up and saw snow falling—it was a big, fast snowstorm. People hurried across the street—one woman even held her briefcase over her head. I watched the streets turn from gray to white in a matter of minutes, and the flicker of the candle in the center of the table was such a complement to the cold outside—fire and ice.”
He was quiet as he cooked for a while. When the crab cakes were properly browned, he turned the heat off on the stove and got three plates from a cabinet overhead.
“Were you there by yourself?” she asked, genuinely curious about how secure he was with being alone. It was just a state of being for her—one she’d grown accustomed to.
“Yep.” When the flounder was finished and lightly fried, Chuck filled a plate and slid it over to her. It looked like something she’d have gotten at a restaurant—a regular restaurant. Then, he filled a glass with the white wine from the fridge and set it next to her.
“Wanna take it outside?” Chuck suggested.
She left her tea and took her plate and glass of wine with her to the back door toward where Jake had nodded as he picked up his own plate. The door was mostly glass, with panes in it, and if one weren’t looking closely, it would’ve looked like more windows. The sun cast an orange and pink glow in the sky as its light pushed away from the sea. Jake followed with his dinner, cradling his wine between his arm and body as he opened the door and allowed her to go first. She walked out into the heat, and treaded carefully along the amazingly landscaped cobbles of his patio. In perfectly edged beds were billowing grasses and flowering bushes. His patio stretched the length of the swimming pool and beyond until it gave way to grass that was so perfectly trimmed that it looked like carpet. At the edge of the property, she could see the dunes of sand and the wire and slatted wood fencing used to keep erosion at bay.
She set her plate down on one of the tables, and Jake and his dad followed suit. As she looked around, she still couldn’t believe this was all Jake’s. How surreal to be having dinner with this man in his mansion of a home at the beach. She would have never imagined Nan’s birthday vacation would have taken such a turn. Her nerves over the Tides Wine Bar had settled a little, although she still had lingering questions. A man who could live out here in this gorgeous, remote location and build a house that reflects that, a man with such respect for his dad—that man couldn’t be the corporate bully that she feared. She was enjoying herself again, trying not to think about the fact that the lifestyle she’d seen there could very well be another side of him that he wasn’t sharing. She’d clearly demonstrated that she wasn’t comfortable with that side of things. And now, things were good. If someone had told her she’d be here before she’d left for vacation, she’d probably have laughed out loud in disbelief, but Jake was so warm and inviting that he made having dinner at his home with his dad seem normal.
As she sat in the warm evening air, she thought again about Jake’s story. North Carolina had very warm summers, but it also had very cold winters. What must this big cottage be like when the sand was covered with snow and all the tourists were gone? It must be cold. “Do you stay here in the winters, or do you go somewhere else?”
He took a sip of his wine and looked out at the ocean. “I stay sometimes. I get a lot of work done in the winter months. It gives me more time to do things like this in the summer.” He raised his eyebrows at her with a grin.
She took a bite of her crab cake and was surprised at how delicious it was. She swallowed. “You’re a really good cook,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“He gets it from me,” Chuck teased.
She laughed. “Do you get a chance to cook a lot?”
What if he brought women back to his cottage all the time? What if this situation she found herself in right now wasn’t unusual for him? Perhaps he wasn’t as lonely as she thought? A little stab of jealousy hit her in the stomach.
“I cook sometimes because I enjoy it, but most of the time, I go out so I can meet people and be around others.”
“It must be lonely in this big house,” she said, hoping her comment hadn’t offended him. What if he wanted to be alone?
“Yes,” he answered quietly, nodding. “When I bought this house, I hadn’t planned on living here alone. I’ve gotten pretty good at being by myself, though. And Dad comes to visit.”
“We’ve both gotten good at living alone,” Chuck said, a loaded grin on his face as he looked at his son. Faith wished she could interpret what it meant.
“Me too,” she smiled.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Chuck said. “It’s nice to share this big table with another person.”
Faith wondered how this night would go. She hadn’t imagined she’d end up at Jake’s home. What would he expect of her tonight after his father left? And what did she plan to allow? She didn’t really know the answer to that. All she knew was that right now, she didn’t want to be anywhere else than right there, under the warm evening sun with Jake.
“I’m surprised Jake didn’t take you out for dinner,” Chuck said. “I’ve never seen him cook for anyone but me before.”
Faith could feel the heat in her face, and she caught herself as she quickly looked down at her plate. Worrying that Chuck had noticed her discomfort, she looked back up at him to try and play it off, but he’d already caught on, his eyes darting between the two of them.
“I took her to the Tides,” Jake confessed.
Chuck sat silently. He was waiting, it seemed, for further explanation. Why would they be eating now if they’d gone to the Tides, he was probably thinking. When neither of them spoke, he turned to Faith. “And what did you think of the Tides?”
It was a direct question, and there was no way around an unpleasant answer. “It was very different than any other place around…” she said, trying with all her might not to show her apprehension.
“Ha!” Chuck tipped his head back, laughter swelling within him, making his shoulders bounce. Then, still smiling uncontrollably, he said another “Ha,” but this one wasn’t a laugh; it was directed at Jake. “She didn’t like it, did she?”
When Jake didn’t say anything, Chuck turned back to Faith. “Nobody likes it, don’t worry.”
