“Oh no, that’s okay. I can just walk,” I blurt. I’m not about to get in a car with a hot model when I’m greasy and smell like hamburgers that bathed in coffee and used ketchup as shampoo!
And then Mother Nature, in all her impeccable timing, ruins my plans. A loud clap of thunder makes me jump.Shit. My chin hits my chest, and I huff out a laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “Of course,” I mumble.
“Let’s go, Miss Daisy.” Andy comes up beside me and nudges me lightly with his elbow.
I grab my purse and jacket and walk out the door behind him. Even though it's chilly and raining, I don't bother taking the time to put on my jacket; I just want to leave.
He opens the passenger door after I follow him to a white pickup truck. Sparks of electricity touch over every inch of my skin when he takes my hand to help me inside. I’m thankful for the few seconds he takes to walk around to the driver’s side so my heart rate can recover.
“So where to, Elaina?” I have his undivided attention again, and it’s wonderfully overwhelming.
“Um, Glendale. Do you know where it is? Oh, right, you’re new in town. Of course, you don’t. I’m sorry. I’ll give youdirections. Make a left out of here. Also, I’m sorry about Betty. You don’t have to pick me up and drive me home. You’re not a chauffeur or a taxi. And I can pay you for gas for today. Thank you for taking me home. Again, I’m so sorry.”Breathe, idiot. Breathe.I look down at my lap, wishing I could just disappear when I feel his hand on my chin. He tilts it up so there’s no way to hide that I’m, again, the sole recipient of his hot amber gaze.
“Hey, don’t do that. Where’s the confident girl I just saw serve nine tables at a time without writing a single order down or making one mistake? You knew people’s names, and you asked about their family members. When that toddler started screaming, you knew exactly what to do. You don’t seem like someone who apologizes for something you didn’t do. Mrs. Wilson wants me to get to know people, and I think she was forcing you to be the first victim. So,I’msorry. You don’t have to do this if you don't want to.”
His thumb is drawing small circles on my chin, and I think I understand how people get hypnotized now. Looking at his eyes, feeling his thumb’s lazy movement, listening to his smooth voice… I’m enchanted.
“Elaina? Did you hear me?” His eyes narrow as they roam over my face and I wonder what he sees. The redness of my cheeks from him touching me? The likely smeared mascara under my eyes from sweat? The frizz of my hair thanks to the 1000% humidity levels?
“Uh-huh. Yes. Um. Yeah.” I clear my throat. He removes his hand from my chin. His eyes don’t let mine go as I will my mouth not to beg for him to touch me again. “You don’t have to apologize either. You shouldn’t be forced to get to know anyone, so don’t worry about it. You don’t have to get to know me. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do.” His brows furrow, and something like annoyance or frustration washes over his face before he shakes it off.
He takes a slow, deep breath and pins me with that intense stare. “I do want to get to know you. I just spent five hours with you, and I already like you. You’re kind. You work hard. You’re polite. You make people laugh. When you are concentrating, you hum." At that, he smirks andohmygoddddddit's the kind of smirk you see at the end of a runway, on the cover of a magazine, on billboards with cologne ads. "You make eye contact with everyone, even if it goes on for so long, it borders on weird and uncomfortable.”
I can’t help the peal of laughter escapes me. “You did that on purpose?” My voice comes out a little too high-pitched and I smack him on the shoulder. “I thought you were trying to read my thoughts or something. What the hell, man?” And now both of my hands are waving in the air frantically because I am not only a rambler, but also an exuberant hand talker. As in, I talk with my hands, especially when I’m excited or pissed off or just have any sort of feelings. So always. I am always a hand talker. Blame it on my Greek mother.
He laughs, and I now absolutely cannot contain myself. He has the goofiest laugh I’ve ever heard, and the sound is both confusing and wonderful. How can this Abercrombie model of a man laugh like this? The more he laughs, the more I laugh and I don’t even know what we’re laughing at anymore, but we keep going until there are tears in my eyes and I’m clutching my aching stomach.
“Okay, stop,” I say, finally. “You have to stop. Please! Stop laughing!”
Eventually, he does, and I do too, but then we’re sitting there just looking at each other with big smiles on our faces. It feels… nice. Easy.
Huh.
“So, here’s what we’re gonna do,” he says. “I’m going to pick you up and drive you home for the next few shifts we worktogether. Maybe you can even show me around since I’m the new guy and all.” His brows furrow and he licks his lower lip. I feel my eyes widen and immediately look down at my lap to hide my reaction to his tongue. “We’ll probably be working opposite shifts once you’re done training me and we’ll never see each other for more than a few minutes between shifts after this, anyway. Sound good?”
No! Sounds awful. I want to see you every day and hear you laugh and kiss that dimple. AAAAAAAH! What? Oh my god. WHAT?
“Um. Sure,” I mumble.
“Mrs. Wilson won’t let me get away with not following through on her plan, anyway. I may have only met the lady twice, but I can tell she’s not someone you mess with.” His eyebrows jump up on his forehead like he fears Betty. I like that he calls her Mrs. Wilson.
“You’re right. Don’t mess with her.” I smile at him. “Okay, then. Do you want to start your tour of town now? Or should we start Monday when we work together again?”
“What? Really?” His brows are still up near his hairline, only this time it’s out of surprise. His face is so expressive, now that I’m getting a chance to really see it. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let’s get started now!” And at the sound of excitement in his voice, I giggle. I picture Andy as a little boy being told he can have ice cream after dinner. So cute!
Stop this! Regular person! Remember that insane laugh?
He turns the car on and smiles. “Tell me where to go.”
three
. . .
By the timeI got home that evening, my cheeks were hurting from all the smiling. Andy is sweet and seems to like Marblehead. He enjoyed seeing the marina, and I promised him we’d go back to walk around when it wasn’t pouring rain. When he picked me up on Monday afternoon for our shift, he came to the door and introduced himself to my parents. Of course, my mother was smitten when he called them Mr. and Mrs. James, though my parents immediately insisted on Doug and Eva. When he dropped me off that evening, he walked me to the door because it was dark out, as if I was in any danger walking 20 feet from his truck to my front door.
On Wednesday when we worked together again, he also came to the door. He had a chocolate chip cookie for me that his Aunt Mel had made. He said he remembered me mentioning that I liked chocolate chip cookies best, so he brought me the last one instead of eating it himself. He asked lots of questions about me but never talked about his own life too much. I found out that his parents are both older and retired, living in Grand Rapids, which is where he grew up. They had him late in life and so he cameto spend the spring and summer with his aunt Mel. He said he just needed a change and when he quickly diverted the subject, I didn’t push it.
The only way I got to know any information about him was when customers would ask him where he was from. He was attending Michigan Tech and majoring in Electrical Engineering. He left the day he finished his finals and drove here. He doesn’t have a girlfriend (thank you, Monica, for being the town gossip). His favorite color is yellow, and he doesn't have any siblings.
