“No, God no. It’s hard to think when I’m looking at you.”
“I—” A rumble and a strike of lightning in the distance disrupts me.
“This sucks. I didn’t mean to waste your time. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You didn’t waste my time.”
“We didn’t play Marco Polo and?—”
“We did twenty circles.”
He drops his hands when I do. “What do you mean?”
“Twenty circles and we moved around a bit.” I flick my gaze to the spot we had originally been in and then to the one we’re now in.
“Oh.” He looks genuinely surprised. “I hadn’t realized we moved. Wow. You…you did that.”
“I didn’t do anything. That was all you,” I proudly say.
“But you helped.” He approaches me, his hand grazing mine under the water. Holding my breath, I stay still. “And—” Blinding streaks of light spread across the sky and the rumble is louder than before.
“We should really get out,” I urge and climb out, making a mental note to stop letting myself be so close to him. I’m not only struggling to think but to breathe.
21
JOSIE
As I enter the kitchen,I freeze at the sight before me. So much is going on, I’m not sure what to focus on first: Daniel singing along to a song in another language. The glass containers on the island. More bags of groceries that I know I didn’t see when he showed up. The pots and pans he has on all four burners.
“What are you doing?” I scan the counters and see fruits, vegetables, meat, shrimp, salmon, a variety of sauces, and seasonings. “And what’s with all the food?”
After we came back inside, I got a call from a potential new client. I guess the call ran longer than I anticipated because there’s so much going on, this definitely didn’t happen in the span of a few minutes.
Daniel lowers the music as he turns to look at me. “I should’ve asked you, but I figured you would’ve said no.”
“Said no to what?” I walk farther into the kitchen, eyeing everything and surprisingly, I don’t feel overwhelmed. It’s not messy; it’s organized despite how much space everything takes.
“I’m meal prepping for you.” He grabs a wooden spoon and one of the pots and fills three glass containers. “I hope I’m not overstepping. I know you said you didn’t have the energy andlife gets busy. I know it’s easier getting takeout or buying already made meals, but sometimes there’s nothing like a home-cooked meal. I hope this is okay. I promise to clean all of this up.”
I’m at a loss for words. I attempt to speak up, but nothing comes to mind.
“Um…” Still nothing. “Ah…” I’m blanking here but the bridge of my nose stings and my heartbeat gets scarily fast. “How much do I owe you?”
He sets the pot in the sink and turns the one burner off. “I don’t want you to pay me. This is the least I can do since you won’t let me pay for the lessons.”
“Because that’s the leastIcan do…” It’s an open statement that I don’t have to explain. I know he’s reading between the lines. “You really didn’t have to do this. The already cooked meals are fine.”
“I wanted to. Pen says it’s my love language or whatever that’s called.”
I make a mental note to get referred to a cardiologist. The excessive beats are getting out of control, which can’t be normal.
“Did she now?”
“She made me take a test.” He grins. “Don’t be surprised if she sends you one. They’ll be random and have no purpose but to make you question if you got the correct answer. She once sent me one that said, ‘Can we guess which type of dog you are based on the way you eat your food?’”
“Which one did you get?” I step a little closer to him.
“It’s not right.”
