6
Jackson was waiting outside her house when Mia pulled into her driveway. He pushed off from where he leaned against his car and waited for her to put hers in park before walking over and opening her door.
“You’re here early,” she said as she got out of the car.
“I finished early, so I called it a day.” He closed the door behind her and followed her up to her house. “Are you up for heading to dinner right away?”
“That sounds good. I’m starving. Are we going out?”
“Yeah, I thought it might be fun.”
She gave him a weird look. They usually stayed in for dinner unless trivia was involved. But the two of them rarely went out to eat together otherwise. Being in a small town, the options were limited. “I thought you preferred to watch a movie while demolishing some wings.”
He shrugged. “I thought we’d switch it up.”
She deposited her bag in her kitchen before immediately walking back out the door with him again. They hopped into his truck and drove to the resort, where they went into the restaurant.
After placing their orders, Jackson smiled at Mia. “How’d your day go?”
“It went well. Busy. How about yours?”
“Good. I got through a lot of the planters today.”
“What do you plan to plant in them?”
“Flowers in the empty ones, I think. It’ll look nice.”
She nodded. “Put in a few rose bushes somewhere.”
He smiled. “You and your roses.”
“Can you blame me? They’re the flower of love.”
Her face heated at that admission, although she wasn’t sure why. Jackson knew they were her favorite flower. They always had been, but secretly, she knew it was because of their meaning. The idea of a man giving her a red rose would be incredibly romantic, in her opinion. Most men probably paid little attention to the meaning of flowers. But Jackson did.
“Are you going on a date with Jimmy?”
The question took her by surprise. He was rarely one to be so eager, and he had already asked her about it earlier that day.
Mia nodded. “Yes. He called me earlier. We’re going out tomorrow night.”
Their server approached at that moment with their food. Silence descended upon them as they each slowly ate their dinner. Comfortable silences were normal for them, but this wasn’t comfortable. A frown was fixed between Jackson’s eyebrows as he aggressively cut his steak.
“What did that cow do to you?” Mia said with amusement.
Jackson looked up. “What?”
She gestured at his plate. “You seem mad.”
“Oh, I’m not. It’s just really tough.”
Mia raised an eyebrow. If there’s one thing she knew about Miles, it was that he didn’t serve tough steaks.
“I see.”
They remained silent as they finished their food. Then the server came by to collect their plates.
“Is there anything else I can get you?” she asked.
