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“Aww baby,” her husband pulled her toward his chest. He then smiled at me. “Thank you, Amelia. We look forward to seeing the pictures.”
“Of course,” I said my goodbyes and went to where I had left my bag by the bench.
I bent over to organize my bag when I felt someone looming over me. I snapped back up and whirled around to find Nate standing with two coffees in one hand and a small bag in the other.
“You left early,” he said as he held the small tray of two coffees out of me. “Yours is the one on the right.”
I arched my brow asking, “Do you even know my order?”
“Caramel and hazelnut latte with oat milk and three drops of stevia.”
I blinked, my mouth gaping wide. “How…how do you know that?”
“Whenever I came over, you always had a cup of coffee in hand, or you were among some.”
I thought back to the times he had shown up, and I was deep in editing mode. He would wait patiently and sit while I did my work. I had made both coffees several times but had not told him what I put in my coffee. He liked his coffee one way—black.
I know. So plain and boring, but it suited him. I couldn’t imagine him drinking something sweet like my caramel latte. The black coffee embodied him perfectly—strong, dark, and unforgivingly one taste.
“And you paid attention to all of that?” I took the cup slowly from the tray, still eyeing him like I was looking at some extraterrestrial creature. I took a small sip, not believing he had gotten my order right.
But as soon as the hot liquid hit my tongue, I was in shock.
“Oh, wow! You got it right.”
“Of course I did.” The tips of his lips slowly tilted upward just the slightest bit. “Come on. You’re hungry, and I have never been in this park.”
“What? You’ve lived here for years and never been to Aubrey Park. It’s ten minutes from our building.”
“Does it look like I ever explored parks?”
“I mean, you have this tortured artist thing going on.” I gestured to his entire body. “You also scowl a lot. Like you barely smile.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I smile.”
“Yeah, at me.” It felt good that he did. “But even to Selena. She said hi the other day when we saw you coming into the building, and you scowled. You didn’t even say, ‘Hi.’ You just grunted—like an ape.”
“An ape? Is this any way to speak to the man who came and brought you sustenance?”
I tilted my head to the side, taking him in for a little while. The way the sun was hitting his face just right caused this golden glow to fall on his face. He was majestic—there was no other way to explain it. The green of his eyes partially faded, giving way to some blue, taking on a more hazel tint.
“Come on, grumpy.” I grabbed my bag and swung it over my shoulder.
“I can get that for you.”
I shook my head. “This is where my baby is. No one touches it except for me.”
He held his hands up and surrendered. “My apologies.”
“Okay, come on. Let’s walk.”
We fell into step with each other walking through the park as if we did it daily.
25
NATHANIEL
There were few things in this life that I could tolerate. Amelia just happened to be one of those things. It was strange to me how this woman had just bulldozed her way into my life, and I had allowed her.
