Page 7 of Knocked Up By The Mountain Man

She sighs, pulling her coat closer around her body, and looking at the diner behind me longingly, as though the thought of apple pie might have changed her mind after all.

I study her face. Something looks different about her. Maybe she changed the way she does her makeup, or maybe she's not wearing makeup at all. I can't tell. I was never good at things like this. All I know is that the difference in her appearance is subtle enough to be hard to explain, but obvious enough that even after all of this time, I can still tell there's some difference in her look.

“Come on,” I say again. “Apple pie and ice cream, maybe some coffee. My treat.”

I can feel her willpower breaking as she bites her lip. I don't wait for her to agree. Just guide her by the shoulder back into Dolly's Diner and back to the booth where the waitress recently cleared both cups of coffee.

“Have a seat,” I say, guiding her to the vinyl-backed booth.

The waitress reappears.

“Hey,” she says. “I thought you were taking off. Change your mind?”

“Uh, yeah,” I say gruffly, gesturing to Alyssa. “Want a coffee?”

The waitress does a double take at Alyssa, then looks at me, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Great. She thinks I'm on back-to-back dates with two different women at the same diner, in the same exact booth, running up the same exact tab. She probably thinks I'm a complete dirtbag, but she doesn't say anything as she writes down our order: Two cups of coffee, two slices of apple pie, two scoops of vanilla ice cream.

“Be right back,” she says, pursing her lips.

The waitress leaves us alone again, and I struggle to come up with something to say to fill the silence.

There's an enormous pressure on my shoulders right now to get everything right, to make sure she stays in Wildwood long enough for me to convince her that it's a good idea to stay forever.

I know, I know. I'm a solitary man.

That was true before I met Alyssa. That would still be true if Alyssa hadn't stepped foot in the diner. If I hadn't seen her today. But the fact is, she's back.

I don't know why.

I don't know for how long.

But while she's in my presence, I'm gonna do my damnedest to convince her that we belong together, that we always have, that I'm a man she can rely on and build a life with. The feeling is exactly the same as it was the night we met, maybe stronger.

I don't believe in soulmates, but maybe there's some kind of pheromone that's unique to this woman. Some sort of combination of traits that makes my caveman brain go haywire.

All I can think about is taking her back to my cabin and making her mine in every way that I can.

Yes, that includes sexually in my mind, and it's a struggle to keep my mind out of the gutter as the waitress brings us two cups of coffee.

I drink mine black, grateful for something to do, while I count the number of sugar packets she dumps inside her own mug. It seems like useful information all of a sudden, knowing how a woman likes her coffee, knowing her likes and dislikes, her needs, her annoyances, pet peeves, the spot on her back that always aches after a long day on the computer, or where to press my thumb into the sole of her feet to make her lie back and groan with gratitude.

None of these data points seemed important when I was sitting across the table from Carla just now, nor with any other woman that my friends have set me up with. Alyssa is the exception. I don't know why, but she is.

So I say awkwardly, "What's your dad like?"

She pauses.

"Um, I wouldn't really know what he's like,” she says. “I don't have any memories of him. He left me and my mother whenever I was two years old. I haven't been able to track him down since. That's why I was here a couple of months ago. I learned he lived here somewhere in Wildwood and tried to meet him."

"Tried?" I ask gently.

“I was told the address I had for him was out of date,” she says. “But I’ve found another possible address for him, also here in Wildwood.”

Her mouth forms a thin, flat line as she says these words.

"Couldn't you just pick up the phone and call him?" I ask her.