“I only asked if he’d heard of them.”
His face darkened. “If he tells anyone you were asking?—”
“He won’t. We have an agreement.”
“How do you know he’ll stick to it?”
“Because he has no reason not to.” I gave his chest a light shove, turning the tables on him. “Why did you come in? You were supposed to text first.”
“Walking in was faster. Besides I wanted a beer.”
My gaze must have darkened.
His face softened. “I saw you weren’t drinking anything alcoholic.”
“It could have been vodka.”
“It wasn’t.”
“How do you know? Can you smell by my breath?”
“I just know.” He paused. “It must have been hard sitting in a bar and not drinking.”
I considered brushing it off, but he’d seen me at my worst when I was detoxing. There was no reason to hide this part of my recovery. “It was. But this afternoon at Walmart was harder, when I walked by the liquor aisle.”
His eyes widened. “You didn’t tell me.”
“You didn’t really give me a chance,” I said with a laugh. “If I recall correctly, you had my clothes off within about two minutes of me walking through the door.”
He grinned. “It was longer than two minutes, but I was off my game.” His smile faded. “How bad was it?”
“I stopped myself from going down the aisle, but barely.”
“Barely is good enough.”
“Then I ordered our steaks at the restaurant bar.”
“And you still didn’t get a drink.” He cupped my cheek. “Those are all wins, Harper.”
“I’d hoped it would get easier. If anything, it feels harder.”
“You’ve been sober for a week. It’s going to get harder before it gets easier, but you’ve got this.”
I gave him a sideways grin. “Maybe I could kiss you and get a taste of beer.”
He smiled back. “I won’t argue if you kiss me, but I had water before I left, so you might be disappointed.”
“Thanks,” I said softly.
“I told you I’d help you through this, and I meant it. I only got a beer because I needed a reason to be in there. I told the bartender I was killing a few minutes before I met friends for dinner, but it still would have looked suspicious if I’d ordered water.”
“Agreed.”
“So where are we going next?”
“A convenience store, but it’s too far to walk. I thought we could take a taxi and pay cash.”
He frowned.
