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“That was actually kind of terrifying,” Paxton says, giving me a bemused look. “Also, why did Sally hate me?”
“Animals are very intuitive. She could tell you were scared of her.”
“And why is her name Sally, again? You are far too set on that for it to be random. There’s a story behind it.”
I consider lying, but he’s staring at me intently, with a gaze that pierces to my very soul. “You’d give me grief,” I say.
Paxton shakes his head. “No, I promise on my mother’s honor, which is actually a promise I take very seriously, that if you tell me, I will not give you a hard time in any way.”
“When we were little, I found an injured possum with a bunch of babies. It was hiding under the shed in our yard. I started sneaking it food. I named it Sally. I was afraid my parents were going to find out and I’d get in tons of trouble.”
“Go on.”
“Then one day when I was sneaking out, after my bedtime, I ran into my mother. I was so afraid she was going to yell at me, but she had a bowl of food. Turns out we’d both been sneaking food to Sally.” I smile at the memory.
“Were you and your mom close?”
“The thing is, I had kind of a challenging relationship with my mother. I used to hear her arguing with my dad a lot. She just wasn’t happy being a full-time mom. She sacrificed her career to stay home and raise us, and I felt like she blamed me for it. I wasn’t planned. She was going to go back to work after she had my sister, but then I came along, and it just never ended up happening.” My gut churns as I speak. “Any positive memories that I have from childhood, I really kind of cling to them. The possum is one of them. My birthday is the other. She didn’t cook a lot, but she used to bake me a cake from scratch every year.”
I sneak a look at him. If he’s going to mock me, I swear I’ll... I don’t know what.
But he’s nodding in sympathy. “I get it. Hey, listen, I will mail the possum people a check, okay?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Hey.” He puts his hand on my knee, and that warm feeling spreads through me again. “Possums made you happy when you were a kid, so they are all right by me.”
He leaves his hand there for several long minutes, and then finally withdraws it.
Words fail me. I don’t know what’s happening with us. What should have been the worst date of all has turned out to be one where I opened up and shared my load with him and felt so much lighter afterwards. And he just gave me the warmest, kindest look, and now I’m questioning whether going to jail would have been easier than trying to protect my heart from Paxton Saul.
19
RUBY
Of course, Paxton refuses to tell me where we’re going. Why would he? Mystery dates are apparently our thing.
“I’ve got a secret,” Paxton taunts me.
“Couldn’t care less.” I shrug. “I’m sure it will be terrible, and I’m sure I will soldier on like the absolute champ that I am.”
I’m not going to let him psych me out. The sun is shining and the weather is beautiful, if a little windy, and I figure I can handle just about anything for a couple of hours.
“It’s a very interesting secret.”
“Your psychological warfare tactics are not working. The force is strong with this one,” I inform him.
I’ve been trying to figure it out the entire ride, but all I know is that I was told to wear comfortable clothing, which is what Paxton always says.
“I can see the wheels turning in your head.”
“No you can’t. Okay, okay, comfortable clothing... Archery? Hunting? Marathon?” I blurt out.
“Keep trying.”
No, I won’t give him the satisfaction. “I see you’ve recovered nicely from the possum fiasco,” I say instead.
“Yeah, well, I was relieved that nobody at the possum place figured out who I was, so I didn’t see any headlines about possum-hating Pax. Worst way to tank a guy’s rep is to have people think he hates animals.” He shudders. “I would not want to have to deal with your sister on that one.”
