“Oh good, maybe they’ll have to play in the mud.” I looked at Noah hopefully. “That’d be a little more thrilling to watch, don’t you think? Players slipping and sliding all over the field.”
His lips twitched again, and I found it fascinating that such a handsome creature had agreed to date me. There were probably scientists out there itching to do a study on us. “I think it’ll get rained out before they’re forced to do that.”
“Pity.” I set my water bottle on the bench beside me and practically vibrated in my seat as I watched Teresa run after a girl kicking the ball. “So, uh, how was Seattle?”
Noah lifted a shoulder, and his hand pulled mine closer to his thigh with the movement. “Not too interesting. It was work.”
“You didn’t do anything fun while you were there?” I asked, mostly to distract myself from the way our thighs pressed together. “Nothing touristy?”
Noah shook his head and looked back out to the field as Teresa kicked the ball away. Attagirl. “Nothing worth mentioning.”
Well, okay, then.
I was officially out of conversation topics. According to my plan, talking about his trip was supposed to take up at least a quarter of a game’s worth of conversation.
I twiddled my thumb against his to help myself think through the list of topics it would be safe to bring up.
I could ask him how his classes were going?Pass.I’m in all two of his classes, so I already know that.
Talk about the weather?But he already mentioned that. Clouds. Rain. Yada yada.
Bring up the declining salmon population in California?Honestly, it’s such a downer to even think about. Really don’t want to put a damper on Noah’s mood when he just got home.
I heaved a sigh.
“So, how about them… uh, sports teams?” I asked, proud of myself when the question came out sounding somewhat legit. I knew very little about sports, but most guys loved that stuff.
“Sports teams?” Noah gave me a very warranted puzzled look.
“The teams in the, uh, in the game,” I said less confidently, stumbling for the right terms. This was still salvageable. “Didn’t you watch the game last night?”
Noah’s brow rose in amusement as a smile slid across his handsome face. “Which game?”
What theheck? People never specifiedwhichgame when I heard them ask this. You just answered yes or no, and then moved on!
“Umm,thegame.” I racked my brain for a sport I’d seen playing on TV before. “Football.”
“Emma, the football season hasn’t started yet. It begins next week.”
“Well, yeah. Duh. Notfootballfootball, but football.” I internally kicked myself for such an easy blunder. Since when did they not play football year-round? Who decided that? “You know, like what we’re watching right now—when you kick the ball with your foot? I guess Americans call itsocceror something.”
Noah stifled what might’ve been a laugh with a quick cough. “… Emma,you’reAmerican.”
I nodded while metaphorically jumping ship as I realized there was no saving this conversation. Best to just let it go to where things went to die. “Never mind. Forget I asked. So, it’s a real shame about the salmon population here in California, don’t you think?”
Noah only stared back at me. I pursed my lips to hold in any more verbal diarrhea and used all my focus to stare at the girls kicking a ball back and forth so I wouldn’t have to acknowledge how warm my cheeks were getting.
I’d never been much of a blusher before I’d met Noah, but I’d also never so consistently put my foot in my mouth during one conversation.
“The salmon…?” Noah trailed off, trying to follow wherever my crush-drugged brain was taking us.
I cleared my throat and picked at a loose piece of thread on my shorts. “Their numbers are declining…”
Noah sat quietly beside me, and I heard six of my own rapid heartbeats before he made a sound of acknowledgement. “Well, that’s a shame. How is it affecting the fisheries?”
I couldn’t help perking up, but I looked at Noah to verify if he was serious or about to laugh in my face. Only interest and concern shone back in his gaze. “Horribly. There’s cutbacks in the fishing opportunities, and many fishermen’s families are affected on the coast.”
Noah shook his head. “That’s going to have a major trickle-down effect. I suppose we’ll have to postpone the fishing date I’d been planning.”
