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And that’s when everything fell apart. A text notification pinged. When she pulled her hand away from me to check her phone, a cloud crept across her face.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
She shook her head, sighed, and angrily chucked her phone into her handbag.
“That was my neighbor. She doesn’t want the cupcakes anymore. Decided it was too expensive and claimed to have found another home baker to do it cheaper. ‘No rush order charge,’ apparently. I’m so done with her bullshit.”
I went back and forth in my mind, trying to figure out how to respond to this.
I made the wrong choice.
“Well, more Twinkies for us then?”
Mal's shoulders drooped when she slung her bag over her shoulder. “I need to go. I’m not really in the mood for Twinkies or an anniversary party now. You can have them if you want.”
“Or,” I offered, “we could continue this somewhere else.”
The look she gave me told me I needed to quiet my mouth immediately.
“I’m sorry, Mal. I wasn’t meaning to be an opportunist. I’m just really enjoying spending time with you and I don’t want you to be alone right now if you’re sad. We don’t have to call it a date.”
She gave me a small smile. “I appreciate that. But maybe another time.”
I followed her delivery van down the road for about a mile, not because I’m a creep, but it turned out we live in the same area of town.
At a stoplight, the weirdest thing happened. Mal got out of her van and ran back to my driver side window. I rolled it down and she handed me a slip of paper.
“Call me,” she said, before leaning in and giving me the sweetest little kiss on the cheek.
I don’t know how long we stared at each other, but it was long enough for the driver behind me to honk his horn when the light turned green.
“Oh my God, go! Crazy woman!”
She laughed and sprinted back to her van, finally allowing traffic to move.
I haven’t been able to get that impromptu date and totally unexpected kiss out of my head. Although I don’t like to play the game of waiting to call someone once I’ve been invited to do so, I decided to wait. Mal was catching up on much needed time with her daughter, and I wanted to respect that.
My dreams the past few nights have been filled with images of her beautiful smile, her laugh…the way her hips swayed when she was carrying all those boxes of cupcakes. I have no idea how I managed to teach class today.
I don’t want to look like a total oinker in front of the PTA, so I wrap the extra cookies up in a napkin and stuff them into my jacket pocket for later, just like something my eccentric late auntie might do. I shake my head at myself. Concentrate, man.
Studying my folded hands in my lap, I must look like I’m praying, or as if I’m hoping the backs of my knuckles will give me a clue as to the best way to ask this slightly scary crowd for money. It’s then that a familiar smell wrecks my concentration completely. Looking up, I see Mal seating herself next to me, her hair gathered up into a messy-but-pretty bun on top of her head, and her face beaming at me.
My heart leaps for joy at my good luck.
“Those are your cookies back there, aren’t they?”
She nods. “I’m the cookie bringer. It’s about all they can get out of me at this school.”
I. Am. In. Love.
“Are you serious? Those are the greatest cookies I’ve ever eaten in my life.” I point at her while I say this, overemphasizing the word “life.” It’s possibly too aggressive. Calm down, idiot.
The way Mal blinks at me squeezes my heart. “I get a lot of compliments like that, but I have to say, it feels extra special coming from you.”
I give her a shy laugh, I crack a corny joke, and she chuckles and rolls her eyes. We continue in this manner much like we did the other night.
“I had fun with you,” I say.
