“Boy, that’s a mood killer, huh?” His smile was brighter this time and didn’t even look forced. “Dinner will be ready pretty soon. Wanna help me finish up?”
We spoke very little as I set the table and helped prepare the last of the food. Despite the heavy talk about death and Noah’s expectations of romantic fate, it was a rather soothing experience. It felt normal. Real.
Noah would place a hand on my lower back as he reached across me to get something off the counter. Or he’d catch my eye and just smile.
It felt like we’d done this a million times before.
Whether it was the smells or the noise of the silverware on plates, we’d barely dished out the food before the three dogs crowded between our feet, staring up at the table expectantly.
Noah smiled ruefully. “I have to admit, I’m a poor example of a doggy daddy. I give the boys food while I’m eating. I know it’s bad, but life’s short, right?”
“I’ve already started doing the same thing with Harper. I’ve at least managed to get her not to hop on the chair leg while she waits.”
“Well, see there? We’re not a total lost cause in the discipline department.”
“Yeah. But I’ll never be able to take her to my parents’ house. Unless I lock her in the bathroom during dinner or something. Mom would kill before she let a dog eat at the table.”
Noah shrugged and gestured around the space. “One of the joys of living like this. Nobody gives a shit.”
“True.” I forced a smile. Strange to hear Noah curse. It was second nature to me at this point, unless I was in front of my parents, but Noah had always been the perfect little Christian. Save for that one kiss. I took a bite of the stew before I could make some stupid comment that would make things awkward again. I got a huge bite of sweet potato and chewed for a bit. “This is really good.”
“Thank you! I’m glad you like it, Randall. And don’t worry. I don’t only make Haitian food. It seemed the simplest choice for today.”
“Planning on cooking for me a lot, huh?” I mentally kicked myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Of course he did. He’d made that perfectly clear.
To Noah’s credit, he gave a wink and steered us into safer waters. “I guess you hadn’t seen me on TV, but I’ve been following your photography career since I moved back to town.”
At least he’d thought they were safer waters. Again I heard Stewart’s accusations in the back of my mind. “Oh?”
He chewed for a moment. “Yeah. You’re making quite a name for yourself. I went to one of your exhibits in a gallery in Pioneer Square a little while back. Your photos are amazing. They’re like the beautiful fairy tales. But like how they’re supposed to be, you know? Beautiful and romantic, but dark. A hint of danger in them. Makes them even more magical.”
One of the criticisms I got the most was that my work was too dark. But it seemed to have found an audience nonetheless. “Thanks. It’s nice when someone actually gets it. I’m not trying to recreate Disney here or anything. I think the darkness adds a sense of depth. That series just got picked up by a publisher for a coffee-table-type book. I’m waiting for the contract to….” My words trailed off as my brain caught up. “Wait a minute. You went to one of my gallery shows, and you’ve been following my career?”
Noah nodded; then his smile faltered. “Yeah. Sorry. I guess that sounds creepy. I wasn’t doing it all stalker-like. I went to that one gallery. The rest, well, your work is hard to miss.”
“No. I wasn’t taking it like that.” Though people didn’t recognize my face, my work had begun to take off the past few years. I had quite a large following both locally and on social media. And the price I was now able to charge for photo shoots paid the bills. Not enough to have a savings account, but getting there. “But if you knew about my photography, enough that you actually went to a show, why haven’t you found me before now?”
His cheeks reddened above his beard. “I, ah…. You’re not going to like the answer.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, you don’t have any choice but to say it now.”
“Fine. You asked.” Noah took a breath and let it out, like he was getting ready to jump off a cliff. “You already know that I believe you’re the one. Always have. However, I wanted it to happen naturally. I didn’t want to force it or make it happen. That way we could both trust it, you know? I even avoided going to your website more than once, and I didn’t seek you out on Facebook or anything.”
I had no idea what to do with that. “You wanted it to happen… naturally? Like how?”
“Like how it did.” Another smile. Another look that somehow managed to make my blood heat and communicate that I was being a bit dense. “You just walked in to get a dog one day. It seems you hadn’t noticed that I was a part of the Seattle Humane Society, right?”
I shook my head.
“See. Just like that. You just happened to walk in. I never dreamed we’d meet again like that. But we did. Neither of us forced it at all.”
I did see what he meant. And I liked it. “So what? It’s God putting us together or something?”
The grimace that cut across his face did the unthinkable. It actually made him unattractive. “No. Definitely not.”
I nearly laughed. “Got some feelings there, do we?”
His face relaxed, sliding into his normally beautiful structure. “Yeah. I guess you could say that. Save that for another time, huh?”
