His eyebrows rose as they wandered around the kiosks. “If I was a matron in a Regency romance, maybe. But also, I hope nottoovirtuous.”
“Honestly, I’m pretty sure neither of us is feeling all that virtuous,” Stacy admitted. She certainly wasn’t, and from the combination of relief and delight on Keith’s face, she was quite certain he wasn’t either. “Anyway, no, I’m from a small town in Ohio, but the only thing to do there was marry somebody I’d went to high school with, which, no thank you. A while after I finished hairdressing school, a friend of a friend said she was selling her salon in upstate New York, and it just felt right. My parents think I’m nuts, but they don’t even like going to Cincinnati, which is only a 45 minute drive!”
“So you’ve got an adventuresome streak. Me, I grew up here. Born and raised. I went to college locally, but then I got into advertising and ended up in Jersey City.”
Stacy blinked. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that before. Usually they say they live in New York if they live in Jersey City.”
“Well, living in New York sounds cooler, and I’m not sure anybody outside of New York and New Jersey know that there’s a difference anyway, so might as well be cool, right?”
“So you told me Jersey City because…?”
“…I’m not cool?”
Stacy laughed. “I thought maybe it was in case you wanted to sweep me off to your bachelor pad, although it’s like a five hour drive, isn’t it? So it wouldn’t really be much of a sweep.”
Keith, with enough eagerness to be flattering, said, “Would youliketo be swept off to my bachelor pad? It’s not a bad apartment, and I don’t have any housemates.”
“Under the circumstances, I think if we’re going to do any sweeping off—that sounded better in my head—my house, which is a fifteen minute walk up the road, would be more practical. Of course, there’s the housemates topic.” She glanced at Keith, who was trying hard not to look disappointed. “I don’t have any.”
For an instant he blinked with confusion, then laughed. “You had me there.”
Stacy grinned, then made a face at herself. “You’re really doing a number on my grinchiness, mister. I’m usually a real grump this time of year, but I’m laughing and smiling all over the place.”
“Would it be coming on too strong to say I’d like to thwart your grinchiness for a long time to come?”
“Yeah.” A warm fuzzy feeling ran over Stacy. “But I like the sound of it anyway. Look, should we just head over to the Italian place and ask if they’ve got room for us yet? That bite of elephant ear made me realize how hungry I am.”
Keith said, “Yes,” swiftly, then hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. “I don’t mean to sound like a poor starving orphan straight out of Dickens, but I could eat a horse.”
His expression went briefly strange, as if he’d only just heard himself say that, and then, with obvious exasperation that was apparently entirely self-directed, said, “Okay, I could not eat ahorse, but Iamvery hungry! Leafy greens are not enough!”
Stacy’s eyebrows climbed so high she thought she would knock her earmuffs off. “Are you a vegetarian? Or trying to be one?”
“I…” Keith groaned. “No. I do eat a lot of plants, but no, I’m not even a pescatarian. Oh, wait, why, are you? If eating meat is out, I’ll never touch it again.”
“That’s thoughtful,” Stacy said slowly. “Weird, but thoughtful. No, carnivores are fine. I just wondered because of the leafy greens thing.”
“I have no rational explanation for that.” Keith exhaled dramatically, rolled his eyes toward his hairline, and added, “Or if I do, I can’t explain it right now.”
“Probably because you’re so hungry your brain is shutting down,” Stacy offered, unable to hide a smile.
“Yes. That’s definitely it.” Keith gave her a look of gratitude for going along with his absurdity.
Stacy didn’t know that she would have with anybody else. She just felt so comfortable and connected to him, it seemed natural. Her parents, who had been married roughly forever, were exceptionally good at finishing each other’s sentences, or following each other’s thoughts so closely that they didn’t even say whole sentences to begin with. Stacy felt sort of like that with Keith, even though she’d only met him a day ago. They just seemed to fit, somehow.
“Onward to the Italian place, then. So, advertising? Did you model, is that how you got into it?”
He gave her a startled look. “Yeah, kind of. How’d you guess?”
“I saw how you enter a room. You’ve obviously modeled. And I’ve heard stories about people doing stock photo shoots and then being horrified that their images are being used to advertise something they’d never support, right? If I was a model I’d get really interested in that kind of thing. You know, kind of wanting to learn how the sausages were made.” Stacy almost kicked a lump of snow as they walked along, then remembered the ice ball she’d nearly broken her toe on, and pulled the kick at the last moment.
Her other foot slipped and she teetered. Keith’s hand was there instantly, catching her elbow and steadying her. His eyes were kind and concerned as she got her feet back under herself. “You okay?”
“I am thanks to you. That was not going to be a dignified wipeout.”
“Is it really possible to wipe out in a dignified way?”
“No, but it’s especially impossible on a first date,” Stacy said wryly. “Ask me how I know.”
