“Right, I wholeheartedly believe those words coming from you.”
“I’m past the point of judging you for what you do to earn money. I’m a lifeguard. It’s nothing to brag about. I’m wearing a similar uniform, if you think about it.”
“Um, no offense, but if you were wearing a similar uniform, you’d probably be in jail for public indecency. Though, I wouldn’t necessarily complain.”
I slap his arm. “Shut up.”
“Look, my job is not a forever thing, okay? It’s not my big dream in life. I’m just hanging onto it until I can find some desk work. I was recruiting for the last four years, so I should be able to find something in an office somewhere. I just need to make enough to support Aya’s expensive taste.”
“Good luck with that,” I tell him.
“Thanks,” he huffs. “Come on, let’s head down the mountain before it’s completely dark. I don’t want to drive off a cliff or anything.” He takes my hand and leads us back to his truck, and I feel certain I really ruined what could have been the best moment of my life.
“Thanks for driving,” I tell him as I hop out of the truck. “Do you live far from here?” I realize I didn’t ask him how the new house was.
“Um,” he says. He removes his keys from the ignition and steps out of the truck. “Yeah, I’m still a resident of the hotel until I find a new place to live. I’ve seen a few options, but I’m trying to decide which is going to be a better place for Aya according to the nearby schools.”
“Wait, what happened to the place you were originally supposed to move into?”
“Didn’t work out.”
“I thought Noa had set that up for you. That’s too bad,” I tell him.
“Yeah, he did.” I will keep my thoughts to myself. Noa is trying his hardest to prove his worth to me, but he still doesn’t always make the brightest decisions. I’m hoping that will change over time as he gets older, but I’m not holding my breath there.
“You must be paying an arm and a leg to stay at the hotel. It’s been a week now.”
“It’s cool. They’re giving me a military discount, so it hasn’t been horrible.”
“Good,” I tell him.
We continue walking side by side toward the entrance of the hotel. “Are you going back to work tonight?” He asks me, probably wondering why I’m walking back into the hotel instead of to my car.
“No, I was going to go sit on the beach for a bit. Don’t think I’m weird … I just like to stargaze. I can’t really do that in my neighborhood because there are too many street lights.”
“Why would I think that’s weird?”
“I don’t know. The life of a loner. It’s not the most common habit to sit on the beach alone at night.”
“Stargazing isn’t just for loners,” he corrects me. “I grew up in Texas. We did that a lot.”
As we walk past the elevators, I stop to thank him. “I appreciate you asking me out tonight. I had fun.”
“Did you?” he asks.
“Of course, I did.”
He shakes his head. “You’re lying. That wasn’t fun. You grew up here, you’ve already seen the peak of the mountain, and we spent half the time talking about our baggage. I think it was a pretty lame date.”
Denver’s appraisal of our date sends discomfort reeling through me. Not knowing how to respond, I wrap my hair behind my ear and look away from him. “It wasn’t lame, Denver. Don’t be silly.”
“I need another chance,” he says.
He’s acting like I said I wouldn’t see him again. I didn’t mean to make it sound that way. “When were you thinking?”
“Now.” He takes my hand and jogs toward the back exit of the hotel.
“Where are we going?” I ask with laughter, surprised at his spontaneity.
