“No.”He’s smiling now, but there’s nothing teasing in it.“I like that you care so much.I like that you talk to your dog and hum when you’re distracted and leave bobby pins in every room.”
“You noticed that?”
“Stepped on one this morning,” he says dryly.“Felt like a landmine.Still worth it.”
I laugh, my throat tight.“You’re impossible.”
“Maybe.”He shrugs.“But I know what I want.”
My heart flips.“And what is that?”
He holds my gaze unflinchingly.“You.I was waiting for someone special, and now I’ve finally found her.”
“Ledger,” I whisper, licking my lips.
“This is my first date too,” he admits.
My brain bluescreens.Just shuts down.
He said it so casually, like he’s stating a fact.
Before I can respond, our food arrives, breaking the spell.The plates are hot and smell incredible.Chicken, lemon, capers.Cheese, tomato, and baked pasta.My stomach growls audibly.
Ledger chuckles.“Eat,” he says gently.“We can talk logistics after you’re not seconds away from gnawing on the table.”
“Rude,” I mutter, but he’s right.
We dig in.The food is as amazing as it smells.I make a soft, involuntary noise on the first bite, then immediately slap a hand over my mouth.
“Oh, my God,” I mumble.“This is so good.”
“Duly noted,” he says, eyes warm.“Palmer’s for when I want to spoil you with food.Tacos for when you’re craving them.”
We fall into easy conversation again.He tells me a bit about growing up in San Francisco: foggy mornings, crowded streets, sneaking down to the bay with Lula when they were kids.He talks around his parents’ deaths, but I don’t push.
I tell him stories about the salon.The time Mrs.Graff tried to convince me to cut her bangs on a full moon for “extra luck,” or when the plumbing went out mid-perm day, and I had to call the local handyman in a panic.
He laughs in all the right spots, asks questions, and listens like every word matters.
At one point, my phone buzzes in my purse.I check it quickly under the table.
Alexi:DID YOU GO ON THE DATE?Are you alive?Is he hot?(Cough, cough, I’m dying.Text me details.)
I bite back a laugh.
“Everything okay?”Ledger asks.
“Yeah,” I say.“Just Alexi, trying to live vicariously through me while refusing to see a doctor.”
“I heard you forcing her to make an appointment this morning,” he says.“You’re a good friend.”
“Bossy, you mean.”
“That too.”His lips quirk.“I like that, though.”
The way he says it sends a shiver through me.
By the time we’re done eating and splitting a slice of chocolate cake we absolutely did not need, my nerves have mostly settled into a warm, fizzy contentment.
