Nate nods and stands. “Watch my omelet, berry. Guard it with your life.”
I know where he’s heading. He’s gone before I can stop him.
A laugh escapes me, and I feel warm in a way that has nothing to do with the hot deck we’re sitting on.
Nate knows I’m unhappy and simply ... fixes it. Without judgment.
I’m determined to be in a better mood when he gets back.
It’s not long before I see him strolling down the stairs, fruit bowl in hand.
“Here you go. Pineapple and grapes. With at least one piece of apple.”
My mouth is already watering again. “Thank you. You really didn’t have to go hunt this down.”
“I should’ve done it the second you got an omelet. What were you thinking?”
I shrug. “I didn’t want to delay us any more.”
“Come on, it’s me. Delay all you want to.”
Nate gives me a smile before going back to his food. I dig into my own, much happier with fruit as my main option.
“So, Cozumel, Mexico,” I say. “Have you looked into it?”
“You haven’t yet?”
“I’ll be honest, I was worried I wouldn’t make it this far.” I shrug. “And any plans that Rob talked about are out the window. I really don’t wanna spend my day having an anxiety attack on the beach.”
Nate frowns and raises an eyebrow. “And he was okay with you doing that?”
He was. And now that I think about it, I’m not thrilled about that fact. “A-anyway, I have no idea what to do here. What have you found?”
“To be fair, a lot of it is water related.”
“That’s fine.” When Nate glares at me, I clarify. “For you to do, I mean. I can hang out here.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I want to spend time with you.” He laughs and shakes his head. “What about that is so hard to get? Whatever we do today, we do together.”
“What about what you want to do? I care about your tastes too, you know.”
“I do, which is why I let you get away with what you pulled yesterday. But not today. Whatever we do, we do together.”
His words are like a balm on my frayed emotions. Him wanting to be around me hasn’t changed.At least that’s something.
“Fine. Should I look some things up?”
“Way ahead of you. I did a lot of reading, and?—”
I fake a gasp. “Wow, I didn’t know you knew how to read.”
Nate rolls his eyes. “Just because I didn’t read at a high school level in elementary school likesomepeople doesn’t mean I can’t do research.”
“It wasn’t only the reading that was your problem.”
