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“My momma taught me well.”
“That she did.” She felt breathless.
“I hope this place is okay. I drove past it the other day, and wanted to try it out.”
“It’s beautiful. And far enough away from Angel Sands, too.”
He grinned. “Yeah, I thought that might help. Didn’t want to be bumping into people we knew.”
“Not on a first date.”
He tipped his head to the side. “Is that what this is? A first date.” Three lines appeared on his forehead, as he thought on her words. “It can’t be, can it? We’ve dated before.”
“We were kids before. We couldn’t afford to date. Not somewhere like this anyway.” It wasn’t quite the truth. She could have afforded it, but she also would have had to ask her father for the money.
The thought of it made her shiver.
“Dates aren’t about affording it. Or money. They’re about being together.”
“Like those picnics we used to have at the cove.” She smiled, remembering the bag full of subs and Cokes.
“Yeah, like those.” His voice was soft. He frowned again. “Would you rather do that? Than eat here, I mean?”
“Go to the cove with subs and Cokes?”
“Yeah. Well it doesn’t have to be subs. I can ask them to prepare us some food and we can take it down there. That’s if you want…”
It was strange to hear him so unsure. And yet it touched her, deep inside. He cared about what she wanted. It had been a long time since anybody had done that.
“I want.” Brooke nodded firmly. She couldn’t think of something she’d like better.
The sun was almost below the watery horizon by the time their food was prepared and they’d driven back to the cove. Aiden parked the car and grabbed the bag of food, along with the plastic glasses and plates the restaurant had given them. Hands full, they made their way down the steps carved into the rock, leading to the cove below.
“It still amazes me how empty this place is,” he said, as they laid the food out on one of the flat brown rocks at the far end of the sandy plain. “You’d think more people would come h
ere. Yet every time I drive past it, it’s empty.”
She looked up at him, her eyelids heavy. “Maybe they know it was our place.”
“Our place?” he murmured. “Yeah, I guess it was. We should put up a sign or something. Trespassers not permitted.” He grabbed the bottle of wine from the bag. “White okay?”
“Yes please.”
He poured her a glass, and filled his own with water. “Cheers.”
She lifted the plastic glass, touching the rim to his. “Cheers.”
By the time they’d finished eating, the sky was dark, and the cove lit only by the candles he’d placed on the rock. The flames flickered and danced, swaying to a barely perceptible breeze. She wiped her fingers on a paper napkin, chasing the food down with a mouthful of wine. When she looked up at him, he was staring at her, his eyes as black as the night sky.
“You look beautiful in candle light.” His voice was low. “As though you’ve swum up from some underwater palace.”
“Like a mermaid?” she asked him.
“More of a siren. You always were impossible to ignore.”
His words were like a shot of adrenaline to her veins. “And you always did know how to sweet talk me.”
“I only said what I knew to be true.”
