I find myself watching the way her fingers curl, the way her eyes light up when she’s animated.
“You’re staring again,” she says eventually.
“I know.”
She laughs, pink heat creeping into her cheeks. “What’s so interesting?”
“You.”
Her smile falters just slightly at that, but her foot hooks around my ankle and stays there. I let my hand slide along the table again and thread my fingers through hers, stroking gently.
“This feels dangerous,” she says.
“Dinner?”
“This. You. The way this is so easy.”
I tilt my head. “Explain.”
She shrugs lightly, but her fingers stay tucked against mine.
“It’s kinda scary how simple this all feels,” she says. “And how easily I might get used to it.”
An old reflex kicks in for half a second, the urge to make a joke and deflect. Or to remind her that easy things don’t always stay easy. But I let it pass.
“Easy doesn’t mean fragile, though,” I tell her instead.
She searches my face. “You’re not scared?”
I lean forward slightly, closing the space between us. “I’ve been in burning buildings. I’m not scared of dinner with you.”
“Show off.” Her mouth curves slowly, watching me carefully. “You’re not scared of much.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yeah? What scares you?”
“Time.” I hold her gaze and swallow once. “Wasting time.”
Her brow furrows. “How so?”
I lean back against the booth, thumb still stroking over the inside of her wrist.
“In my job, when things go bad, they go bad fast.” The restaurant noise hums softly around us. “You learn pretty quickly how much can happen in thirty seconds, a minute. Five… There are moments where you’re standing outside a scene knowing somebody’s inside, and every second matters.” I shrug once. “Sometimes you make it in time, sometimes you don’t.”
Her fingers flex faintly against mine.
“And with Elle…” I exhale through my nose. “Kids grow up while you’re at work. One day, they’re obsessed with penguins, and the next, they don’t need you to tuck them in anymore.”
She smiles softly at that.
“But yeah,” I admit. “I think wasting time scares me more than most things.”
Penny sits with that for a moment, eyes dropping briefly to our joined hands.
“Yeah,” she says lightly. “Leaving before things go bad saves everyone a lot of time and trouble, too.”
The comment catches me off guard, and I frown.
