“I know.”
The sureness of her voice settled me a little. Mouse bounded over to us and circled us with a happy bark.
“I think he agrees.”
“He’s just happy to see you. And hoping the butcher will give him another bone.”
“I bet he will.” She locked the ladder so none of the kids got ideas about climbing up there.
“Do you want to eat here? Or change it up?”
“I could go for pizza and I need to stretch my legs. I’ve been crouching all morning.”
Mouse followed us as we walked the few blocks up Destiny to Pete’s Pizza. The sun was trying to break through the heavy cloud cover that had been sitting over the town for the last three days.
We grabbed a couple of slices and a can of soda for each of us. Mouse snoozed under the picnic table as I filled her in with the details I got from Dylan and that my scull had finally arrived.
“So now you actually get to take a look at the lake up close.”
“Think you’ll come out with me?”
“In your boat?” She licked the side of her thumb.
“Scull.” When she rolled her eyes, I laughed. “Yeah.” I toyed with the fingers of her free hand. “I’d like the first row to be with you.”
I’d made sure the boat could hold two. As if I’d always been planning to expand my life with her. My instincts continually made room for her, I was just too obtuse to pick up on it.
She tangled her fingers with mine. “As long as you don’t dunk me. That lake is cold.”
“Never.”
“Then let’s plan on it for the weekend. We don’t have much going on except my brother’s party.”
I winced. I hadn’t met her family yet, except for a brief interlude with Lance at the grocery store. I used to be good at being around people and I wouldn’t ever get out of my own way if I didn’t start living again.
She was worth it.
“Speaking of, I need to check on Keaton’s present. It was supposed to be delivered to my PO Box today.” She patted her overall pockets. “Shoot. I think I left my phone in my paint tray.”
“Use my phone.”
She glanced over at my bag. “Can I use your laptop?”
My hand froze over the messenger bag.
She squeezed my hand. “You know what? Never mind. It’s fine. I can check when I get back to Heavenly Bite.”
“No. It’s fine.” I pulled out my laptop and set it on the table. I plugged in my codes to unlock the encryption. LockSure’s logo split apart and my screen came to life. All my files were closed. Safe. I turned the laptop around to her.
“Are you sure?”
“Go ahead. Oh, wait. I need to give you my hotspot login.”
“We have a hotspot on Destiny. All the businesses offer free internet.”
She hit the space bar and I pulled the laptop away.“I don’t log into open internet. You shouldn’t either.” I spun the computer around to log in with my encrypted key but the screen flickered.I frowned.“Did you connect?”
She shook her head. “No. I haven’t even opened a browser.”
