“He closed the store,” I say, thinking of the customers he might be missing.
“What’s that?” Mom asks.
I glance back at her. “He has a hardware store. He must have closed it to be here today.”
“Well, that’s very thoughtful. He wanted to spend the day with you, so he closed up shop.”
I shake my head. “No, he shouldn’t have. He needs the business.” I stand and walk to him, steadying myself when my dad suddenly starts to decrease speed. My legs bend forward and my body pitches, ready to throw me to the ground when strong arms come underneath me.
“Whoa, you okay, Birdie?” His husky voice vibrates by my ear, and my hands grasp his forearms as we work to pull me upright.
“Fine.”
“Honey, I didn’t know you were up. You need to stay seated when we’re moving,” Dad says, scolding me like I was five and not thirty.
“Thanks, Dad.” I turn back to Derek. “Can we chat for a minute?”
“Sure.” He looks concerned, so I grab his hand, interlacing our fingers together to reassure him that I wasn’t mad, and pull him to where I was sitting. My mom has already moved by my dad, giving me a minute. “What’s wrong, Birdie?”
I turn to look at him. “You closed the store today.”
Derek looks confused for a moment before he replies, “Yeah?”
“You shouldn’t have done that, Derek. You need weekends for the project doers.”
“Birdie,” he starts, grabbing my other hand and pulling me closer. “I wasn’t going to open today regardless. I didn’t sleep well, didn’t have my car, and wanted to stay with you two today to make sure everyone was okay.”
“But you shouldn’t have to do that,” I start, shaking my head and feeling dreadfully unworthy of his attention. “You shouldn’t have to shift your whole life for me.”
Derek, for a moment, stays quiet. His eyes take in every detail of my face, turning to look at my family and back at me. There’s a clench to his jaw that shows him contemplating something, and I wait with as much patience as I can for him to come to whatever conclusion he has.
“Okay.” He shakes his head slowly, blowing out a breath. “I’m not sure exactly how to put this without being blunt, so I’m just going to fucking say it.”
I frown, waiting. “Say what?”
His large shoulders roll back, and he smiles softly at me. “I’m into you, Birdie,” he states simply, making a little noise of shock escape my throat. “I’m way into you. I don’tthink of anything else. I have thoughts of you morning, noon, and night, and I can’t stop thinking about the next time I get to see you.” Derek pauses, taking a deep breath. “And I’d really like, when the timing is right, to have a chance to take you on an actual date.”
For a moment, I’m surprised, but when I think back to last night—when I think of the shoulder kisses and the holding me and the smiles he throws my way every so often—it’s all too clear, all too obvious.
Relief shatters the moment as I wind my arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer. His hands slide around my waist, and he waits for me to reply. I shake my head. “It’s about time you asked.”
A chuckle slips from his throat, and he regards me for a moment. “I was friend-zoned.”
The boat rocks slightly, and Rora giggles from the other end. I let out a soft gasp of surprise at his words. “You were not!”
“I was.” He nods, still smiling as his eyes trace over my face, thinking back to something. “You asked me to babysit, which I do love by the way, and went out with another guy.”
I bite my lip. “Okay, fine. Yes. I friend-zoned you, but that was only after you friend-zoned me!”
Derek looks genuinely surprised by my words, and I have to stifle a laugh at the outrage that was sliding over his face. “I never friend-zoned you.”
“Um, the game night? When I hinted that I could get babysitters if I needed them and youofferedto babysit instead of being the reason I needed a babysitter in the first place?”
Derek hangs his head and groans. “So my friends were right. They’re never going to let me live that down.”
I let out a giggle that feels younger and more feminine and free than I’ve ever heard before, and his hands wrap around my waist more firmly. “Probably not.”
His eyes hold on to mine, and there’s a tension in his body that tells me he either wants to say or do something in this moment, but with an audience, I doubt we’ll be getting to any of that.
