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“Do you need any help cooking?” she asked.
“I thought we could do some salmon and rice and asparagus, if that works for you?”
She agreed, and I put her in charge of the rice and asparagus while I babysat the salmon in the oven.
Having Natalie in my kitchen was strange, but I liked cooking with her. I liked the way she stood behind me and leaned her chin on my shoulder. I liked the way she bumped into me and laughed. I liked the way she stole a kiss and almost burned the rice.
Dinner wasn’t perfect, but it was edible, which was fine.
“I volunteer for dish duty,” Natalie said when we finished.
“You don’t have to,” I said. The cabin didn’t have a dishwasher, so I felt like half my life was spent washing dishes.
“It’s the least I can do. I have to earn my keep,” she said, pushing my shoulder down when I tried to get up.
I helped bring the dishes over to her and she got to work washing them and soaking the pans that would need to be washed later.
I poured her a glass of wine and then we cuddled on the couch together.
“We should go on a date,” Natalie said.
“Hmm?” I’d been so cozy that I’d missed what she said.
“We should go on a date,” Natalie said. “I want to take you on a date.”
I met her eyes.
“You do?”
“Yeah. You deserve to be wined and dined.”
“That sounds fancy,” I said.
“We could be fancy.”
“Your face is fancy,” I said, kissing her.
“Your ass is fancy,” she said, causing me to burst out laughing.
“What’s so fancy about it?” I asked.
“It just is,” she said, as if that explained things.
“Where would we go on this fancy date?” I asked. She smiled.
“Leave that to me.”
* * *
Natalie spent most of the rest of the week with me. I emptied out one of my dresser drawers, and her toothbrush sat next to mine in the cup on the sink. There was evidence of her all over my house. Her spare shoes by the door. Her jacket on the coat hook. Her underwear mixed with mine in the hamper. I just started doing all our laundry together because it was too much work to separate everything.
Natalie integrated into my life almost seamlessly.
We both ended up deleting our online dating profiles one night, and it was a huge relief. I hadn’t needed it after all.
I wasn’t that nervous to tell our friends about us, because I knew they would be supportive, and they were.
“I mean, this isn’t out of the blue,” Paige said. “Your chemistry was pretty obvious.”
