He laughed. “Sour?”
“That is not my favorite.” She pushed the plate to his side of the table.
He laughed. “I don’t want it either.” He pushed it back her way.
She scrunched her nose in response.
Tatum picked up the conversation at her last question. “It’s not that I don’t like vegan foods. I like this.” He swirled his fork above the array of confections. “I don’t live the lifestyle. Why, do you?”
“We raise chickens and eat their eggs and there are a couple pork farms. But there are very few cows on our island.”
He nearly spit his water across the table. “How is that possible?”
She laughed at his antics. “My people do not enjoy the texture of the meat. We prefer fish.”
“So, no milk and cookies?”
“Coconut milk and dates.” She perused the selection before her. “What’s that?”
“That is the infamous cupcake.”
“Infamous?”
“It’s so famous, it’sin-famous.” He grinned.
She used a plastic knife to cut a perfect, one-quarter-sized wedge as if she were cutting a tiny cake. She speared the wedge with a plastic fork. He found the action adorable. “Are you always this proper?”
Her fork stopped in midair. “Did I do something wrong?”
He grabbed the remaining cupcake. “These are finger foods.” He took a large bite, leaving frosting around his lips.
She laughed. “You should call themface foods.” Using her fork, she took a dainty bite of the chocolate and cherry creation with cream cheese frosting, and smiled. “I like this one.”
“Me too.”
She continued to use her silverware to take a bite out of each flavor of cupcake. Tatum hooked his arm behind the back of the chair and settled in, enjoying the show. The peanut butter cupcake had Neese guzzling water and smacking her lips—all in the most ladylike way. The dark chocolate and coconut got a shrug. The lemon made her eyelashes flutter. The vanilla had her moaning. He liked the vanilla.
After the cupcakes were sampled, she swirled a spoon through the chocolate pudding. “Tell me more about this farm of yours.”
“It’s not mine. My parents own it. They raise their own feed and milk the cows—all three hundred and fifty.”
Her eyes widened as she patted a napkin to her lips and swallowed. “By themselves?”
He enjoyed the look of horror on her face. “My two older brothers and their families help. My sister’s kid is fourteen and he drives the tractors and everything. They hire extra help if they need it, but it’s a family operation.”
“How many siblings do you have?”
“Four, two sisters and two brothers. I’m the youngest.”
“Blech—that sounds awful. I have one older brother and he thinks he’s king.” Her cheeks blushed almost red as she busied herself choosing her next bite. “My younger brother is not so bad.” She smiled. “Were you tormented by them all?”
“Just by my oldest sister—she was bossy. The rest of us were the best of friends growing up. I never needed a playdate because I always had someone to run out to the treehouse with or go horseback riding.”
Her eyes sparkled. “I’ve always wanted a horse. I asked for one for my fifth birthday and I got a sea horse.”
Tatum enjoyed the way she talked. Her words were rounded and danced from her lips. “Really?”
“I had the most difficult time naming him.”
