“This.”He held one of those tiny fish over her pizza.Dangling it over the center of it.
“No,” she squealed and pushed it away before it could contaminate it.“Keep your fish away from my pizza.”
“Just one.You won’t even know it’s there.”He tried putting it on her pizza again, but she blocked his hand with her wrist.
“Yes, I will.Keep it on yours.”
“Just try it.”
“Not on your life.Here, you need some real meat on yours.”She grabbed one of the sausage pieces and tossed it on his pizza, landing it right in the middle of it.
“Oh, is that how it’s going to be?”There was a challenge in his eye.
“Yes,” she hissed and tossed another sausage but at him this time instead of the pizza.She aimed for his chest.
Michael caught it easily.“Is that the best you can do?”
He wanted her to toss it where he could catch it?“Ready?”she asked, rolling the sausage crumble in the middle of her palm ready to launch it.
“Bring it,” Michael said confidently.
She tossed it up in the air, making sure it was above his head.Michael’s mouth opened, and he shifted his head to the side as the meat fell in.He raised his hands over his head in triumph.“And the crowd goes wild.Ahh,” he cheered for himself.“Now your turn.”
“Oh no, my coordination is not the greatest.”
“Come on, just try it.”
Andrea set down the next sausage crumble and faced Michael.She couldn’t believe she was doing this.Michael tossed a sausage crumble right over her head.She leaned back to catch it but felt she was falling backward.Her arms windmilled out to catch herself, but steel bands locked around her biceps and held her up.
“Don’t lean so far back.Tilt your head back, but don’t lean your whole body back.”Michael stepped away and grabbed another sausage.
“I think one try was enough.”She’d warned him she wasn’t very good at this.
“One more try.”
“One more.”Andrea widened her stance, keeping a hand on the counter for balance and waited.The meat rose above her head.She opened her mouth and felt it land on her tongue.
“Score!”Michael shouted with his arms up like a ref when a kicker scored the goal.Andrea stood in shock for a moment that she’d caught it.That was a first.
She had never caught anything before.Not with her hands let alone her mouth.She had always been horribly clumsy at school in sports.Her gym teacher had given up on it and let her sit on the sidelines when it came to hand-eye coordination sports.
“I can’t believe I did that,” she remarked in awe of herself.Andrea threw her hands up and did her own little touchdown dance.Take that, gym teacher and everyone else who’d made fun of her.
Chapter 21
“I never had a doubt.”He smiled warmly at her.
“Well, that makes one of us.”
“See, you need to have more confidence in yourself.”
“It was catching a piece of sausage, not making life choices.”
“That’s where it starts.Putting yourself out there.Willing to try.”
Willing to try.Andrea set the sausage down and moved on to the peppers.She had been trying more here lately.Going out of her comfort zone.She thought it would be bad, scary, but it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be.
“Why won’t you let anyone know who you really are?This snarky woman,” he waved his hand over her person, “is just a front to keep people away.”
