“I’ll make sure I make something Jonah likes next time. You tell me what that is.”
He smiled. He didn’t think it’d be this easy to date someone having a child.
But he hadn’t tried either.
“Chocolate chip cookies are always great, and yours are wonderful.”
“I’ll make another batch when I know I’ll see you again.”
“We’ll work it out,” he said. He didn’t want to jump just yet. He was looking at his schedule and trying to figure it out in his mind.
No reason to come off needy, even if he couldn’t get Molly out of his mind.
“So I told someone at work to check out Pulse.”
“You did? Thanks for the business.”
“It was last week. They went. Said the food was out of this world and not what they expected. His wife is a nurse. She loved all the different hospital paraphernalia everywhere. She hadn’t realized that was the theme with the name. I guess I just take it for granted that I know what a lot of the things are, but the truth is, I don’t know as much as I thought. What made you want to work there?”
It was the first time this came up and he had to decide if he wanted to be honest or not. He had no intention of letting anyone know about his family history. At least not anytime soon. Nor could he say that he decorated the bar himself. She didn’t know he owned it.
“There were some in my family who felt I should go into medicine. That wanted me to be a doctor. It’s not what I wanted. I guess part of it is my middle finger to them to be surrounded by what they wanted and I didn’t.”
She burst out laughing. “That is hilarious. I wish I had the guts to do that.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d made a comment about wishing she had the courage to do something. He couldn’t figure it out though. Sometimes she didn’t seem like the angry woman who came in one night and needed a shot to calm her down.
“What is it you’d like to do? Being a food scientist isn’t what you wanted?”
“No. I mean yes, this is the career I always wanted. I know it’s not for everyone and most in my family thought it was odd, but I’ve always been fascinated with learning and research. I like food. I like to eat. I like to cook, but I didn’t see myself being a chef.”
She definitely wasn’t shy about her food. That was one thing he liked about her. She wasn’t afraid to throw back a plate of food with him.
“So what is it you wish you could stand up to?”
“Just mean people,” she said. “I guess it comes from my father. I wish I had said more back than rather than letting it bring me down. We all are who we are. Sometimes we try to change, but it doesn’t matter.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he said. “Especially if that change is for them and not you. You shouldn’t change anything about yourself for other people. You’ll never be happy then.”
“I’m learning that,” she said so quietly that he almost didn’t hear her. “I should probably let you get back to work.”
“Yeah. I came back here to finish up paperwork.”
“Is that the excuse you give to yourself to talk to me?”
“I don’t need an excuse to talk to you. I wanted to. I wish we could have more time together and I guess I’m sorry about that.”
“I understand,” she said. “I’m used to being alone so you’re adding a little bit of spice to my life even with the limited time we’ve got.”
Just another statement that made little sense. It seemed the more he talked with her, the more questions he had. But it still didn’t bother him because he enjoyed being around her.
She’d been more open than him about her life and he knew his time was running out.
That maybe he had to share some about Corinda. If he did that, it might prevent other questions.
She hadn’t asked much about Willow and he was thankful for that.
For not putting him in a position to lie.
