The taller of the two men, the one with blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a pink polo, stopped next to me.“What year were you born, Mr.Paul?”he asked, unable to hide the rude amusement and satisfaction he felt as he smirked and glanced between myself and Naomi.
“The Year of the Dragon,” I replied before playfully growling.“Why?What year were you born in?”
His head reared back in surprise that I would ask him such a question.“Uh … 1990.”
I thought for a moment, then nodded.“Ah, the Year of the Horse.That’s a good year.Unless you were born before January 27, then you’d be born in the Year of the Snake.Also a good year.”
For her entire fourth grade year, Mabel had been obsessed with the Lunar New Year and memorizing everything and anything she could about it.A lot of those details had apparently stored themselves somewhere deep in my brain.
I’d perplexed the man, and he had no comeback.Scratching at his blond scruff, he murmured for us to have a good night, then let his wife tug him off the floathouse.
Lola had been clearing their table and overheard our exchange.She snickered and smiled at me.“I was born in 2010.What year is that, Mr.Paul?”
“The Year of the Tiger,” I confirmed, not sure how I was able to recall the order of the animals with such ease.What other things that my child had briefly become infatuated with did I retain useless information about?Did I also know the Latin name for almost a thousand birds?
“Cool.”She finished clearing the table of judgement, then headed back inside.
“I’mnot bothered by our age gap,” I said to Naomi, reaching for her free hand again.“Are you?”
“I wasn’t …”
“But you are now?”
Staring at her plate, she pushed her coleslaw around with her fork, but didn’t put any in her mouth.“You and Mabel have already had a rough start to your new life here on the island.I don’t want to add to that by adding another target on your back.”
“You think being in a consensual adult relationship with a woman I care deeply for is adding a target on my back?”I asked, genuinely surprised at her metaphor.“Because I think it’s the greatest thing to ever happen to me.I think meeting you, falling for you, and being so openly welcomed by your family has changed mine and Mabel’s lives for the better in every way.You’ve given us the village and community I never thought we’d find.I don’t see you as a target on my back, I see you as … a breath of fresh air.As a bright, shiny ray of sunshine that chased all the dark clouds away.”
She blinked at me a few times, and her lips parted.
“I’m not sure we’re at the point of saying the ‘L’ word to each other yet—”
Her eyes went wide, and I could tell she was trying hard not to emphatically shake her head.
“But I feel myself heading in that direction.So if this relationship ends, it will be becauseyouend it.Not me.”
“You’re getting really good at this wooing thing,” she said after a moment of sitting there in stunned silence.
I smirked and speared an olive from my quinoa salad with my fork.“I’m trying.”
“Maybe we should get this meal to go.”
My head snapped up from where I’d been looking at my plate, but the shimmer in her eyes quickly subdued the panic rising inside of me.“Yeah?”
“We could go eat this in the back of your truck on the property?”She bobbed her brows.
“You don’t want dessert?”
“Silly rabbit, Iamdessert.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Naomi
IwokeupFridaymorning giddy.
Actually, freaking giddy.
The idea of sneaking out during the workday to meet up with Lennox at his house for a quick little romp filled me with all kinds of excitement.
