Soup is not a food that allows for much conversation, so we eat in silence for a few minutes. The clock on his kitchen wall mocks me. Instead of the usual numbers, all I see is a countdown to my flight tonight—and a conversation about the letter.
As if he’s in my head, Danny asks, “Hey, Gracie? Would you, uh, want to go somewhere with me tonight?”
My head tilts in soft surprise. “My flight leaves at six.”
“Yep.”
I blink a few times. “I’d miss my flight.”
“True.”
Leaning back in my seat, I study him with a healthy dose of suspicion. My throat feels sticky, like I’ve swallowed a handful of the pricing stickers they use at TJ Maxx. “Is this, like, a date or something?”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he replies casually, seemingly unbothered by my question.
I search his eyes, trying to determine his true intentions. “I don’t want to give off the wrong impression by being seen out with you when it’s—we’re—not like that.”
Danny shrugs. “I don’t care about what other people think.”
“I think I…do.”
He swallows and averts his eyes, hiding from me.What isn’t he saying?
“If you’re concerned about being seen with me in public, we can stay here. It’s not a big deal or anything. Just…I’m hoping you’ll stay a little longer.”
I blink a few times and determine that maybe I should stop overthinking his offer. I haven’t seen much of New York, and there’s probably no harm in staying one extra night. “I’ll need to reschedule my flight and call Elle to make sure she can hold down the fort tomorrow. And I won’t be able to stay past tomorrow evening because I have a team meeting at the clinic on Friday that I can’t miss. Where did you have in mind?”
My heartbeat spikes, and I wonder what it’d be like to leave this bubble with him, beyond the confines of his home. When I refocus, Danny still hasn’t responded. Is he nervous, or…oh God. Whatishis idea of a ‘date’?
“I swear, Danny. If your idea of a good time is an escape room, the only thing escaping will be me, out this door, directly to the airport.”
“You think I’d take you to an escape room? On a da—erm, friendship hangout?”
Jesus Christ.Friendship hangout?
“I don’t know. Escape rooms are very popular. I just read an article about them that said there’s over fifty thousand of them across the world.”
Danny raises an eyebrow. “Wow. Sounds like you’re really into escape rooms. You sure you don’t want to go to one?”
I start rubbing my temples. “Tell me where we’re actually going.”
“Well, assuming you’re still into animal facts,” he says, breezily, “I thought we’d go to this place nearby. They have trivia Monday nights, and tonight is supposed to be animal themed.”
I try not to show too much interest off the bat. The thing is, I absolutely love a scenario where I am a shoo-in to win. Snooping and the burning desire to crush strangers in a battle of wits are my two most fatal flaws. No one can beat me at animal trivia. It’s almost unfair, but it should make for a satisfying night.
“That does soundkind offun,” I admit.
Kind of, my ass. This is my idea of heaven, and Danny knows it.
“Great, I’m glad it sounds ‘kind of’ fun. Maybe we’ll upgrade to ‘fun’ by the end of the night,” he tells me, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“I’ll go call Elle. If she’s okay with it, and there’s a reasonable flight out tomorrow, we can go.”
I feel more pressure going into this non-date-friendship-hang than I did before my vet school exams, and I don’t want to analyze why that is. Instead, I take a deep breath and blow it out into the void, daydreaming about candles.
Chapter 30
Grace
