Another great thing about summer is that Nate is almost always free, which means I have a lunch buddy when I want one.
Maisie
Yes. Perfect timing too.
Nate
You’re always hungry right at noon. Meet you there in five?
Maisie
I’m clocking out now.
Nate pulls up in his blue SUV right as I’m walking up.
“Well, well. Fancy seeing you here,” he says as he gets out of his car. I immediately have to look up. Nate is tall, like over six feet, and I’m stunted right at five foot two. He has wavy black hair and green eyes. Everyone I meet calls him ridiculously hot. I still see the annoying kid I met when we were ten.
“This weirdo invited me out for lunch. I assume you’re gonna do your best-friend duty and fight him off?”
“Let me at him and I will.”
I can’t help but laugh at the idea of Nate fighting anyone. He’s tougher than his lithe frame shows, especially since I’ve seen him training the teens on his high school football team, but he’s so nice that I can’t imagine him angry.
He’s obviously been out swimming because he’s got his usual summer tan. I have a crippling fear of the water, but Nate blossoms in it.
“Is this where we admit I’m the weirdo in this scenario and I get to buy you lunch?” he asks as he opens the door.
He’s letting me get away with insinuating he’s weirdandhe’s paying? He’s buttering me up for something.
“Aren’t you on summer break? You should save your money.”
“I have my checks split out so I get paid year-round. I’msmart, berry.”
The nickname always puts me in a good mood, but I’m still suspicious of him. “You still can’t tell your left from your right.”
“Why would I need to know that when I have a built-in mechanism for checking?” He holds his hands up in two Ls. “Look. I know what I’m doing!”
I want to remind him of the time we were trying to get out of Nashville after a hockey game ended and he took the wrong left and we wound up stuck in front of the arena for an hour, but I know we’ll never get our food if I go down that path.
And I want my burger.
We order our food and Nate slaps his card down before I can argue. I let him this time, only because I know I’ll be broke after my honeymoon is over.
“Will you get the table to the right of the condiments stand?” I ask.
“This is just a trap to see if I know which way that is.” He narrows his eyes. “But I’ll let it happen if it means you get the food.”
I only shrug and watch as he goes to the table. He, of course, picks the correct one and smugly stares at me as I wait. He’s lucky our numbers are called quickly, because I’m very tempted to make an unsightly gesture in his direction.
I don’t know what it is about Nate, but sometimes it feels like we’re still the kids that met in the school cafeteria all those years ago. No one else can make me joke around like he can. It’s why I cherish him so much.
“Been practicing?” I ask as I bring the food over.
“I also mess up when I’m tired.” He grabs his meal. “Which is always, considering the career I chose.”
“And yet you still love it,” I reply as I cross my arms.
“Love is a strong word. But I do like it.”
