Page 108 of Falling Back to You

Smiling at me, starry-eyed like he promised, he handed me a bouquet of sunflowers. “For you.”

Happy butterflies soared in my stomach. I’d always said sunflowers were the happiest flowers in the world. He remembered. Clearing my throat, I whispered, “They’re beautiful.”

“Like you.”

Warmth flooded my cheeks. “Let me put these in water and then we can go.”

After the flowers were properly hydrated and smiling on my kitchen counter, Cal ushered me out to his truck with a hand on my lower back.

“Do I get to know where we’re going?” I teased, his hand resting on the headrest near my cheek as he backed out of the driveway. Competent driving was always insanely attractive. I’d dated a handful of guys who drove like we were constantly in a real-life Mario Kart race. Big red flag.

Cal grinned, dimple popping out. “Maybe. If you pay the toll fee.”

“Toll fee?”

“I get to ask two questions that you have to answer honestly.”

Oh boy. There was a vast array of questions he could demand honest answers to, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for all of them. But I did want to know where we were going. “All right.”

“We’ll start off easy. Which do you prefer—orcas or sea lions?”

“I . . . what?”

“Sea life, Elle, keep up. We went to the aquarium in Seattle that one time and you said you preferred the orcas, but I always wondered if that was because they were my favourite. So spill.”

I laughed, relief rolling over me at the unserious question. It was such a Cal thing to ask. “If you remember correctly, I said I liked orcas best and then you said you did, too.”

Cal hummed softly. “Ahh, yes.” He winked at me. “Truthfully, I liked the sea lions better. They’re chatty, friendly guys. Like myself.”

“So you were sucking up to me?”

“Always.” He smiled. “Next question: Where was our favourite date spot?”

“The taco truck and ice cream.”

“Bingo.”

“Wait, is that where we’re going?”

“Among other things, Holiday.” He chuckled, changing lanes as we pulled out of Serenity Springs and headed south. “And they have gluten-free. I checked.”

He checked? Without me reminding him or mentioning it? Time to add taking initiative to the list of most attractive qualities.

His dimple flashed. Seriously, it needed to come with a warning label. “Now tell me about your day. What was something that made you laugh?”

Conversation came easily. I told him about Macy’s newest work horror story (featuring a small child who turned vampire and bit her mid-cleaning—stitches were required) and then about my much less harrowing customers at the Bean. Cal laughed until he had to wipe his watering eyes, then launched into a story about one of the pranks he and a couple of the guys on the team played on the rookies for initiation.

“What’s the deal with Max and Bells?” I asked, shifting to face him. “I saw them at Downto’n last night.”

Cal sighed. “That’s the golden question. We have an office pool going as to when they both admit they’re in love with each other. We’re at almost three years right now.”

“Can I get in on that?”

He barked a laugh as we pulled into the taco place.

I had no idea it was still in operation. It was one of those undiscovered gems that, for all the tourism in the area, the tourists never discovered. Locals hoarded the secret of the taco truck with all the reverence of Buckingham Palace guards, but it hummed with activity for a week night.

Tacos in hand—spicy shrimp and mango for Cal and the least spicy grilled pork for me—we headed for “our spot.” The Edison bulbs still hung overhead, and the picnic table closest to the lake had been repainted a fresh white, but it was the same.