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“Ughhh!” She huffed.
I laughed. “See what I mean?”
“Okay, but if we’re eating in, you’re doing the cooking.”
I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses realizing she couldn’t see my reaction. “Maybe we’ll go out, I haven’t really learned anything new. But if you want box mac and cheese, I’m a master.”
“You mean in three years you didn’t learn anything new?”
Her question was innocent enough, but my heart fell. It only made me acutely aware that I was too proud to reach out to her despite how badly I missed her. I hated to think about the time I’d wasted. “Not really. Someone else in the house did the cooking. I was always at practice or the gym until around 8 o’clock, but sometimes there were leftovers.”
“And sometimes your girlfriends cooked for you?” Remi asked. The question was meant to be unassuming, but I could hear a little hesitation in her voice.
I wasn’t going to lie to her, but I didn’t like the direction this conversation was headed. I shrugged.
“Sometimes. Sometimes I just grabbed dinner on my own. I had a very specific diet. You know how it is. Same as your dad.” I felt myself flush. Why was this so difficult? It was Remi.
“Yeah. But he still ate stuff he wasn’t supposed to.”
“Right, but you pay for it in the gym if you do it too often. I must eat five times a day. Lots of lean protein, whole grain carbs, peanut butter, nuts, fruit, and veggies.”
“You poooor thing! Only five meals a day? How can you manage?”
I chuckled but offered a woeful face that begged for her sympathy. “Hey, it’s not easy to consume so many calories when it’s not junk food.”
“Oh, gosh,” Remi groaned.
“You’re going to be a doctor! You’d think you’d be extolling me for my good choices!” I teased.
“I would if I weren’t so friggin’ jealous! I have to count calories even if it’s chicken breast and salad.” She flashed a bright smile and pointed toward the last ride of the day.
“I work my ass off, so I need to eat a lot!” I offered in a pathetic attempt to justify the huge number of calories I was able to eat and still stay fit.
Remi put a hand on my shoulder and threw me a glance from her position at my side. In the past few days, whenever she touched me felt like an electric current between us and I wanted nothing more than to extend the contact.
“I know. I’m only teasing. Look! There isn’t much of a line! Let’s hurry!”
I grabbed her hand and we both started jogging toward our destination. “Do I really have to let you sit on the outside?”
“Yes! Her eyes widened. “You promised!”
“Okay, okay! Just checking!”
“If you want, we can let two people in between us and then we both can be on the outside.”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “I’m fine with suffering through with the inside position.This once.” I was rewarded for my jab with a punch in the upper arm which took me by surprise. “Hey! That hurt!”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve gotten used to everyone swooning and giving you everything you want but we grew up together, so it doesn’t work on me.”
“I don’t expect you to swoon.” I squeezed her hand. “I’m just glad you’re here.”
We’d reached the entrance of the Wild Eagle and made our way in for our last ride of the day, and still holding hands we made our way up the winding ramp. Remi didn’t say anything to answer me but when we got to the front of the line, I felt her head briefly touch my shoulder. My heart exploded. Nothing ever felt so right as having this woman next to me and I should have realized it long before this.
For me, the ride was just as fun no matter how we were arranged but it did feel more like flying than the inside seats. Remi’s squeals of delight indicated she was enjoying the outside position more and so I was happy.
***
When we arrived back at the cabin, we both agreed we should clean up before deciding what to do about dinner. The day had seen us both go through the cycle of getting sweaty, then wet on the water rides, then dry and sweaty again, more than once over the course of the day.
