Between gasps for air, I asked, “Am I heavy?”
His voice scraped. “No, why?”
“Because your face is red?—”
A burst of laughter.
“And it sounds like you can’t breathe?—”
“You’re right, I can’t.”
“And I'm slipping?—”
“Laughing makes me weak.”
Watching a strong, handsome cowboy completely fall apart lit a fire deep in my belly. He could’ve been concerned about what he looked like or the people surely staring at us, but he was fully in the moment, splitting with laughter, unhindered, unconcerned. Free.
Suddenly, I wondered what it was like to be Jesse’s. To be the woman he touched and kissed. I wondered what it would be like to talk to him late into the night and see his face first thing every morning.I blinked my imaginations away. Maybe the door hitting the top of my head damaged my frontal lobe because thoughts like that bordered on clinical insanity.
It was much too soon for me to be having thoughts like that.
Shuffling up to the counter, Jesse lifted me a few inches higher and put my butt on the counter.
On thecounter.
Between him and the wide-eyed McDonald’s employee.
He took a deep, steadying breath, his exhale a whisper of a laugh, breaths heavy between words. “I’m gonna—set her here. Hope that’s—okay.”
The teenaged girl mumbled. “Um…okay.”
I sat, legs dangling off the counter, facing Jesse as his gaze flitted over the menu. He adjusted his belt buckle, unintentionally calling my gaze to the perfect fit of his wranglers. He raised the cowboy hat off his head and raked a hand through his loose red-brown waves. With a smile in his eyes, he put his hat back on and said, “You first.”
Thank goodness I had the McDonalds’ menu memorized, because there was no way I’d be able to shift around enough to see it. I spouted my order over my shoulder then lifted off the counter to get my debit card from my back pocket.
Jesse drew closer to the card reader and waved me away from it. “I got it.”
Before I could stop him, he blocked the slot with his hand and ordered for himself and Cade. Short of aggressively shoving his hand away, there was nothing I could do but watch.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I think I actually did. I’m indebted to you for life.”
I swatted at his shoulder. “Oh, stop that.”
Once the food was paid, we recalibrated, and I limped across the restaurant, with my arm wrapped around his back for support. I complained, “This is ridiculous. What if I can’t walk for the wedding?”
“Well, you’ve already got a better range of motion in it.”
“Do I?” I looked down at my foot. It honestly did feel a little better. Now that I thought about it, the pain reminded me of childhood. Like the time I jumped off the back of my dad’s parked truck and hit the pavement with both feet. I had sobbed in pain but walked around two hours later like nothing happened. “Huh. You’re right, it is moving easier.”
“You might be perfectly fine by tomorrow.”
“Just my equilibrium keeping me humble, I guess.”
Jesse choked a laugh. “If it’s not your kids, it’ll be something else.”
I laughed, relishing in the way his arm squeezed me closer as I did.
