Kairo pressed a few buttons on my computer, and suddenly, the issue had been fixed.
“See. Nothing to worry about.” He winked, then stood to his full height.
I looked up at him as my heart raced with him being so close to me.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” He stepped back and put his hands into his pockets. “I need to go to the park to solidify the date, and I wanted you to ride with me. Maybe we can drop your car off then grab dinner afterward.”
Dinner? Dinner. He wanted to have dinner with me. Calm down, Mycah, it’s just dinner. The man didn’t ask for a date.
I guess I was in my spiraling thoughts for too long because Kairo called my name.
“Mycah.” I looked up. “Is that okay with you?”
“Ye-yeah. That’s fine.”
Taking my car home would be perfect because I could let Cashmere out for a minute before we left, as long as Kairo didn’t mind.
“Cool. We can leave in about twenty minutes. I can follow you to your house, then we can go. I’m sure you probably want to take Cashmere out.”
He made the suggestion before I could mention it, and it made my heart swoon. He was a dog parent, too, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Yes. It should only take a couple of minutes,” I told him.
“That’s fine. My sister is going to take Shadow out for me. Let me go finish up a couple of things before we leave.”
“No problem.”
Kairo went back to his office, and I worked on a few more things until it was time to go.
It didn’t take long to let Cashmere out, then for Kairo to solidify the date for the evening. When we left there, we ended up at alocal restaurant. It wasn’t anything fancy, but the smell of the food made my stomach growl.
“I know this probably wasn’t what you had in mind when I mentioned dinner, but the food here is so good,” Kairo said once we were seated.
The tables looked old, and the lighting was kind of dull, but it felt like comfort. The menu was laminated, and it was only one page, front and back.
“I didn’t have anything in mind, to be honest.”
A heavy-breasted woman approached the table and smiled when she looked at Kairo. She had grease stains on her shirt, with a pen in her hair. When she got close, she smelled like grease and cocoa butter.
“Hey, Chief.”
“How are you today, Mabel?”
“I’m blessed and highly favored.” She turned toward me and smiled. “I ain’t never seen you around here before.”
I smiled at her and said, “I just moved here recently.”
“Oh, well, welcome. Is Chief treating you well?” She glanced at Kairo, then back at me.
“Yes, ma’am.”
I didn’t know if she thought Kairo and I were more than we were, but either way, he had been treating me well.
“Good. Let me know if he doesn’t,” she said as she smiled at me, then at Kairo.
She reminded me of one of them southern grandmothers. She looked like she gave the best hugs.
