It goes quiet for a few beats. “Yeah. How’d you—”
“Wild guess,” I say a little quickly. “Actually, my friend said you had a pig with you in your profile picture, and I kind of put two and two together.”
Laughter vibrates around me. “I wanted to say something but didn’t want to sound like a creeper.”
“And now I get to sound like one, so thanks for that.”
He laughs again. “My bad. So, I take it you don’t come out to the park anymore?”
“I . . . not since that day. I wanted to, but Travis was pretty against it after the first time. Said I distracted him while he was working because all he could do was worry about me.”
“Worry about you?” His voice shifts. “What’s there to worry about? Looked like you were doing just fine.”
“Yeah, I thought I was too.” I nibble on my lip. “Ah well, I’m here now, and I’ll have to find a different park to sit alone at, hoping another pig will come nibble at my pants.”
“You’re only there for the month, aren’t you? Next time you come back this way, you won’t have to worry about sitting on that bench alone. You can come walk with me and Huey. We could use the company too.”
My cheeks heat. “That does sound nice, but you don’t need someone running into you and hitting your pig with their cane.” Never did I think a sentence like that would come out of my mouth.
He makes a high-pitched sound. “I don’t know. Sounds like a fun time to me.”
“I’m sure.” I hide my smile behind my hand and turn around to grab the popcorn box. “Okay, so this should be in there for two minutes.”
“Okay. Turn the camera around and let’s see this microwave.”
I tear open the package and slip the bag into the microwave. Turning the camera the other way, I wait for him to tell me what to do next, still thinking about his offer to join him on a walk when I get back home. Did he really mean it? Do I want him to mean it?
“Okay, so these numbers are pretty big, which is helpful, and it’s a very typical layout too. Can you find the handle?”
I place one hand on the door, sliding it to the right and stopping when my fingers touch the handle.
“Good,” he says softly. “Now, keep going right . . . and . . . stop,” he says, not even seconds later. “Slide that pointer finger up a little and that will put you on the number two button.”
We keep going until I find the zero and start key, and before I know it, the microwave is making a humming noise. “It’s going.” My voice jumps and popping surrounds me.
“Yeah. See? Easy peasy.”
“Yeah, thanks to you. If you weren’t here, I would have set it to five minutes and would have caused my fifth fire of the year.”
He barks out a laugh. “Nah. You would have had a bunch of burnt corn kernels, smoke, and a horrible smell taking over your kitchen, but that’s all.”
“Yeah, sure. That’s all.” I turn the screen back around, smiling. “Thanks again.”
“No problem. Are we gonna watch that movie now?”
My heart jumps. “Uh . . . are you really sure?”
“Yeah. One condition, though. You’ll have to start it from the beginning. I hate coming into a movie in the middle.”
I nod, my stomach bubbling. “Yeah, okay. My mind was kind of elsewhere during the first twenty minutes anyway.”
“You said it was cute and funny, though.” His voice is accusing.
“Yeah . . . honestly, I was guessing based on two minutes and the trailer.”
He huffs a laugh. “Let’s go find out for sure, then.”
“Lets.”
