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It wasn’t until we were back in the car, following the directions on my phone, that it hit me that this felt like a date. We both needed a warm meal, of course, but we could have gone through a drive-thru and gone back to the room. But, instead, we were going to a sit-down restaurant together.
And, damn it all, I was nervous, like I was some teenager on his first date.
The only thing I should be thinking about was the mission that lay ahead, but here I was, fluttery over the idea of going to dinner with a woman. Not just any woman, I reminded myself. Nataliya.
There was something about Nataliya that was unlike any other woman I’d ever known. It wasn’t like I hadn’t met beautiful, capable women before because I had. All of my teammates had found women precisely like that. Nataliya just dug under my skin in a way that was entirely new.
The Grocery Store was tiny and served “country classics.” It gave me the vibe of being in someone’s grandparents’ home. The hostess showed us to a dimly lit table and smiled as she handed each of us a menu. “Enjoy,” she said.
Nataliya looked the menu over; a little wrinkle formed between her eyebrows. Without thinking, I reached across the table and soothed that area with my thumb. “You’re thinking too hard,” I said. “It’s just food.”
She waved me off, but there was a smile curling at her pretty lips. “Well, I’d like to get good food, preferably.”
I glanced down at the menu. It was all comfort food, all rich and satisfying. “I’m pretty sure you can’t go wrong here.”
Nataliya’s eyes went back to the menu, and when the waitress came, she ordered the chicken and dumplings. “Oh, that’s my favorite on the whole menu,” the older woman said, writing the order down. “Good choice, honey.”
“How’s the burger?” I asked.
She smiled. “It’s great. You want it fully dressed?”
I nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
The waitress toddled away, taking our menus with her. “I’m not entirely sure what I ordered,” Nataliya confessed when she was far enough away. “Is the chicken in the dumpling?”
“You worked in a diner in Louisiana and never had chicken and dumplings?”
She shook her head. “We had dumplings with Chinese takeout sometimes.”
I chuckled. “Totally different kind of dumpling.”
We were one of the only tables in the whole place, so it took a very short amount of time to get our food. When Nataliya saw her chicken and dumplings, her face twisted in confusion. “Is it like a stew?” she asked.
“Kind of. Try it.” She took a bite, and her face went through a whole slew of emotions. Had I ever watched someone eat with such fascination before? Someone I wasn’t actively pranking, that is? “How is it?”
Nataliya’s nose wrinkled slightly. “Odd,” she said. “But good.”
I smiled. “Good.”
We ate, mostly in silence. I’d learned over the past few days that Nataliya tended to be quiet during meals, but I’d thought perhaps it was because we were eating with my teammates—people who were basically strangers to her. But no, it seemed that mealtimes were just quiet times for her. She would answer questions, but she didn’t feel the need to fill the space with chatter.
I liked that. I could relate to the need for a wind-down time, especially when things had been so chaotic lately.
“Do you need to call Elias?” I asked as we were finishing up.
She checked her watch. “I will at eight thirty. That’s the time Sam and I agreed on. She’ll call me during the day if he wants to speak with me, but I wanted an agreed-on time so he has that constant.”
By then, we would be back at the motel. “I can take a walk if you want some privacy.”
Nataliya shook her head, chuckling. “Do you think he’s not going to want to talk to you?” she asked. “He’ll want to know all about whatever hero stuff we’ve gotten up to.”
That made me snort. “Oh, waiting in a motel for backup is so heroic.”
She shrugged, a delicate rise of her shoulders. “He’s eight. He thinks everything is cloak and dagger.”
I smiled. “I’ll try and make it exciting.”
“That’s all he wants.”
