Jack moved closer, his arm wrapping around my waist from behind. “I couldn’t. Fridays feel like our nights.”
A shiver ran through me as I leaned back against him. He wasn’t wrong. Despite how it had started, Fridays felt special to me, too. “Okay. As long as you’re sure. I know your bar is important to you.”
“Hailey.” Jack turned me to face him. “You’reimportant to me. I had no trouble prioritizing our first date.”
I nodded, my throat tight as I stared back at him.
He smiled at me gently. “You’ll get used to it.”
I blinked at him. “Used to what?”
“To being put first.” He reached behind me, removing my key from the lock and letting it drop into my purse. Then he linked his hand with mine. “I wasn’t kidding before. I’m all in.” He hesitated, his hand squeezing around mine. “If it ever gets to be too much, let me know. I can—” He cleared his throat. “I can take feedback if you need me to back off sometimes. I don’t want to scare you away.”
“I’m not scared of you, Jack.” I looked down at our hands. “I’m all in, too. I just don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Believe me. Everything I’ve done so far I’ve wanted to do. Including this date tonight.” His smile returned.
“Where are we going?” I asked, following him toward his truck.
He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “I’ve actually planned too much, but I wanted options depending on how we were feeling. It’s okay if we don’t get to it all.” He glanced at me. “Do you do better knowing ahead of time? Or are you okay being surprised?”
I was used to being the only one doing any of the planning. The idea that he’d put that much thought into it sent butterflies dancing in my stomach. “I don’t mind being surprised.” There was a lightness to my steps as I realized there was nothing for me to worry about. Jack was taking care of everything. “As long as I’m dressed okay?”
Jack paused in the act of opening the truck door, his eyes skimming my dress down to my bare legs and the short heels I wore. It was another outfit my college friend had helped to pick out.
That intent look was back in his eyes. “You’re gorgeous.”
“Oh. I meant—” I broke off as heat filled my cheeks, and his eyes softened. “Thanks,” I said instead. My hand moved up his forearm to finger the edge of his rolled sleeve. “You look good, too.”
His face drew closer, and my heart thudded in my chest, but he pulled back before kissing me. “Date. We’re going on a date,” he mumbled, pulling open the door.
The giddiness from before bubbled as I sat in his truck, and I couldn’t help bouncing a little as I buckled up, excited by whatever was to come.
The first stop was a candle bar. I’d never heard of anything like that, and Jack explained we could pick out our own scents to make unique candles. There was a whole wall of scents to pick through, what had to be around a hundred. The place wasn’t too busy, and Jack didn’t seem to be in a rush despite all the plans he’d said he made. Instead, he encouraged me to smell each one. Some made me wrinkle my nose, and others didn’t smell anything like the attached name. We had a lot of similar scents we were drawn to, and some we disagreed on, but each time our heads bent together to smell, there was no judgment over our preferences.
Jack had a lot of options written down by the end. I had a very select few since I already knew exactly what I wanted the candle for my apartment to smell like.
Next, we picked out the type of jar to fill. My eyes lingered on the three-wick one. I liked how those burned, not leaving any of the candle surface behind, but it was the most expensive choice.I started to turn away from it, but Jack was already reaching for two of them.
“This one?” he asked. “We can match.”
“Oh, um, I could pick something smaller.” I pointed toward the least expensive candle. One of those had a pretty blue swirl coloring.
“It should be the one you like the most,” Jack said, studying one of the glass jars in his hand. “Three wicks burn so evenly. I like that.”
“Me too,” I admitted, and he smiled at me, leading me over to the barstools along the counter.
The attendant turned to pull the bottles for my three selections while I leaned over Jack’s shoulder to see if I could help him narrow down his ideas. His finger tapped one of the words toward the end.
“I was thinking pineapple,” he said with a grin. “But they didn’t have a pizza scent to pair it with.”
I snorted, leaning into him more. “You really liked this one.” I pointed to the coffee scent.
Jack hummed in his throat. “That reminds me of you, too, and we both did like it. But do they go together?”
The attendant set my scent bottles down. “I can get them for you and see what you think. I’ll add a couple of third options from your list as well.” She focused on showing me the bottles. “Give them a light press as you hold them together. You seemed very sure, but let me know if you change your mind.” She turned to gather the scents for Jack.
I held the tips together, puffing a mixture of Jack’s scent into my nose, my leg bouncing at how close it was—lavender, coconut, and palm trees.
