Page 54 of Keeping Zita

He had two large bags of food from Sonic. Her belly growled at that moment, making them both smile.

“I have to admit, I ate an order of pickle fries between the restaurant and here,” Sage said with a sheepish grin.

“Pickle fries? What are those? And did you get me any?” Zita asked, as he put the bags down on the small table next to the window.

“Thought you said you didn’t want any fries,” he said with a smirk.

“Yeah, well…I didn’t want any then, but the second you said fries, it seems that’s the only thing my belly wants. And if a woman says she doesn’t want something, it’s a pretty good bet she’s lying.”

Sage chuckled. “Gotcha. I hope you aren’t disappointed, but pickle fries aren’t actually fries made out of potatoes. They’re pickles sliced to look like fries, with a ranch dressing dip.”

“Yum!”

“I got several different things, actually, so you could have a choice. I know you said you wanted a chicken sandwich, but so many things looked good. I got a southwest crunch queso wrap, crispy tenders, pretzel twists, a cheeseburger, a grilled cheese sandwich—and of course, the chicken sandwich that you requested.”

“All that?”

“Whatever you don’t want, trust me, I’ll eat. The chicken tenders aren’t grilled, but the sandwich is,” he said, as he unloaded the bags one item at a time.

“It sounds amazing. What if I want it all?” she teased.

“Then you can have it all. I’ll go back and get something for myself.”

“I was kidding,” Zita told him, not really surprised at his answer. “But can we maybe share it all? I kind of want to try everything. That queso wrap sounds awesome. And a pretzel would hit the spot. But I also love their cheeseburgers.”

“Of course we can share. Here, you take first crack at the wrap. I’ll start on the cheeseburger.”

Zita smiled throughout the meal. It felt intimate to be sharing food with Sage. To her surprise, the crazy amount of food was gone quickly, and she didn’t even feel stuffed to the gills. She was obviously way hungrier than she’d thought. “Thank you for insisting on getting us dinner.”

“Of course. Tomorrow shouldn’t be quite as long as today, at least I hope not. I talked to the AD, and he said Grubbner’s pleased with all the extra shots they got done tonight, and since rain’s in the forecast for two days from now, they’d probably shut things down early tomorrow and do another long day when it rains. Get the rainy scenes done while he can.”

“This is the only job where people are actually happy it’s going to rain,” Zita said with an eye roll. “I hate working in the rain. It’s slippery, and often cold, and people tend to hurt themselves more often.”

“The rain will also postpone the helicopter scenes another day, as well.”

“And you’re looking forward to those the most.”

“Naturally. I’m gonna clean this stuff up and let you get some sleep,” Sage said, as he began to pack the bags with the wrappers from their meal.

Suddenly, Zita didn’t want him to go. She still felt bad for that morning. Hadn’t truly explained why she’d been so standoffish and not talked to him all day. Had actively avoided him, in fact.

“Can we talk before you go? Just for a little bit?”

He stopped and stared at her for a long moment. “Of course. Anything you want.” He grinned as he added, “It doesn’t bode well for me in the future, but I can’t say no to you.” Sage stuffed the rest of their wrappers into the bag and walked across the room to the trash can.

Zita sat there a moment, replaying his words in her head. It sounded as if he was assuming they’d be together in the future. After this week was over. It was everything she dreamed but was afraid to go after. That was what this morning was about, after all. She’d freaked out because he was so…perfect. And she didn’t know how things could possibly work out for them.

She stood and walked over to the bed and climbed under the covers. She impulsively patted the mattress next to her. “Sit here with me?”

He did as she asked, sitting against the headboard and stretching his long legs out on the bed next to her.

Zita plumped the pillows under her head and lay on her side, facing Sage, curling her arms against her chest. “I’m really sorry I left so abruptly this morning. And avoided you all day.”

“Why did you?” he asked.

At least he hadn’t said he never noticed. It was pathetic, but that made Zita feel better.

“What are we doing?” she whispered. “I live in California, and you live in Virginia. We couldn’t get any farther apart.”