“I was going to accept your offer.”
“What offer?” he asks, toying with me.
“About tonight.”
“What was tonight?”
“I just hit my head,” I argue.
“You scratched your head and swallowed water.”
“Way to underplay the trauma I just endured.”
“Way to be dramatic,” he continues.
“Tonight, Denver. The date you asked me on.”
“I asked you on a date? Didn’t you ask me on a date?”
“I’m about to say never mind,” I tell him.
“I’ll pick you up at six.”
“We’ll miss the sunset,” I tell him.
“What time do you get off work?”
“Four. I can be ready here by four-thirty. I have a change of clothes.”
“Fine. I’m looking forward to our date that you asked me on,” he says.
I roll my eyes and push myself up to get back to work, but he jumps up first and helps me up the rest of the way. “Thank you, Denver.”
“You know ... is there a chance you’ve gone on dates but were confused about them and thought they were just long walks on the beach, or something?” He grins and pulls his sunglasses off his head, covering his sun-filled, turquoise eyes.
“Oh—maybe I was confused. In fact, maybe I got married and didn’t realize it. I could even have a handful of kids too. Why is it so hard to keep up with?” I jest.
“Trust me, it’s hard to figure out how it all happens sometimes.”
Our conversation goes from a joke to ...is he serious …very quickly, and he leaves on that odd note.
Chapter Thirteen
Denver
I’m not sure Kai realizes I’ve been living at the hotel this past week, but the topic hasn’t come up in our passing one-liners, or earlier today when she fell for me—ha—at least I think I’m funny.
“Why are you leaving?” Aya asks. “I thought you didn’t have to work tonight.”
I have spent every moment with Aya in the last week, as I intend to do while I’m not working this summer. Over the last few years, I’ve had to balance my level of guilt between working and trying to be human and have a tiny bit of a social life, but the balance hasn’t worked out so well. I’ve put Aya ahead of everything in my life, but I think it’s okay to take a little bit of time for myself, though I’ll probably feel guilty all night. “I need to do adult stuff tonight, baby. Tomorrow, it’s you and me all day though, I promise, so you better think of something fun for us to do.”
“Fine,” she groans.
“Mrs. Hale, are you sure this is okay with you?”
“Denver, I know what you’re doing tonight, and I fully support your desire to be a happy man.”
I offer her a small smile and place my hand on her shoulder to kiss her on the cheek. Mrs. Hale never fails to treat me like family, and I try to make sure she knows I recognize that. “Thank you.”
