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Alanna shook her head, then tossed a corner of the blanket at him. Together, they stretched the blanket out and placed it on a piece of mostly flat ground.
“We stayed here a couple times,” she finally said as she sat on the blanket and carefully arranged the skirt of her dress around her legs.
“Stayed here?” Sully didn’t understand. “Like a camping trip?”
“No. In the car.” Her voice was flat. “In that parking lot.” She nodded toward a small lot next to the playground. “When the shelters were full.”
“Oh.” Sully’s stomach plummeted. He stared at the cars in the lot, trying to imagine a young girl huddled in the back seat. Dede and Layla would have been in the car, too. Why was the world so fucking unfair? So needlessly cruel?
“It was fine,” Alanna said, her voice sharpening. Sully could practically see her walls going up again, all those bricks he’d pried away restacking themselves around her heart. “We survived.”
“It must have been hard, though,” he said as he opened the cooler.
“Money makes the world go round,” she replied with a shrug. “I learned that from an early age.”
“I see money as a tool.” Sully set out the bowl of salad he’d prepared. “It’s a means to an end, but not the end itself.”
“What do you mean?” She scooted over on the blanket and pulled paper plates from the cooler’s front pouch.
Sully carefully sorted his thoughts before speaking, “It’s easy to become too focused on things. On wanting it all. The fancy car, the big house…”
“A new pair of Jimmy Choos.”
“Exactly. But then you’re just chasing money your entire life. You’re either in soul-sucking debt or you’re working just to afford the things you want.”
“But… Jimmy Choos,” she teased as she set out bamboo forks and knives.
“I kind of do things a different way,” Sully explained as he pulled two sandwiches and a container of orange slices from the cooler. Overhead, clouds drifted in front of the sun, throwing shade across them. “I think about what’s really important to me, what kind of life and experiences I want, and then I figure out how much that will cost. Money is a means to finance that life, not something to keep trading in for Jimmy Choos.”
“So, simpler is better?” Alanna asked as she unwrapped a turkey sandwich and inspected it.
“Simpler makes everything easier,” Sully agreed. “I don’t need the fancy things. I’ve got enough right here.” He set out the container of cream pudding he’d made last night using a recipe from an article titledDesserts So Simple Even You Won’t Screw Them Up.
“But don’t you ever want more?” Her blue eyes held his.
I want you,he thought. He swallowed. “Sometimes, but usually I’m happy with what I have.”
“Interesting philosophy.” Alanna opened the container of oranges and took a slice. “To me, money is power. It’s protection.”
“I can see that,” he said as he pulled the final item from the cooler, a bottle of pinot grigio from The Rose and Thorn. “But how much is enough?”
“Easy, there’s never enough.” She took another orange slice from the container.
“There’s a cost to making money. Time. Effort. Mental health.” He set out two plastic cups. “But I do believe it’s okay to splurge on the things that matter.”
“On that we can agree.” She held out her cup as he pulled the cork from the wine bottle.
Two plastic cups of wine later, Alanna rested her head on his shoulder. The sandwiches were gone, the salad demolished, and Sully self-consciously ran his tongue over his teeth in case any stray sprigs of spinach had lodged themselves between his molars.
Alanna sighed as she slipped a spoonful of cream pudding into her mouth. “Thank you for this.”
“For what? The best date ever?” he joked. The wine was getting to him.
She laughed. “Well, someone thinks highly of themselves.” She turned her face toward him. “Thank you for showing me Yucca Hills again. I lived here my whole life, but all I wanted to do was leave. I never saw it this way before. This place is actually kind of charming.”
“Charming like me?” Even though his voice was teasing, Sully’s heart pounded.Yes!She was getting it.Project Magical Datewas working!
She kissed his cheek. “You are all kinds of charming, sir.” She rolled her head back to look at the sky.
