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I press my lips together hard not to laugh at her. "Maybe that's because it'sseafoodpasta?"
"But I'm not supposed to be able to taste the seafood. It's supposed to be so drowned in sauce that I can't taste or…" she shudders, "feel the squishy texture."
I can't hold back my laugh any longer. "You ordered seafood pasta, but you don't actually like seafood?"
"They say it's good for you, so I try to eat it, but only when I know I won't actually be able to taste it."
I grab her plate and bring it to my side of the table while I pass mine over. "You're lucky I love seafood."
She picks up my plate and tries to give it back. "You don't have to give me your whole meal. We should go halvsies so you can still have what you ordered."
"It's fine. You eat it. I'm good with seafood pasta."
She lowers the plate slowly back to the table. "Why are you so nice?"
"I'm not that nice." I chuckle. "I'm just as happy to eat this as I am to eat eggplant parm." I don'tloveseafood pasta and I've been looking forward to that eggplant parm since we got here, but I'm not going to watch as she forces down a meal she doesn't like.
She frowns down at the breaded eggplant like it committed a sin against her. "You shouldn't do this, Xavier. You should practice your boundaries and say no. It's my fault for ordering something I know I don't love at every restaurant I go to."
She's probably right, but I get the feeling not enough people in Cherry's life have done nice things for her. And she deserves nice things. I fork up the biggest shrimp on my plate and stuff it in my mouth. "Mmmm," I say as I chew. "Delicious." It's actually better than I expected and won't be at all torturous to eat.
If I'd hoped to finish Cherry's leftovers, I'm sorely disappointed when she finishes every bite of my eggplant parm. Luckily, the conversation has flowed, and she's kept me laughing enough that I didn't even care what I was eating.
"Want dessert?" I ask as the server takes our food away.
She smiles across the table, all warmth and fondness. "I can't eat another bite. What I want is to see your house."
"My house?" I don't know why that surprises me. It's not the first time she's asked about my house, but I don't really think of my place as a home. Her condo is closer to town and my small cabin is just the place I'm staying until I've accomplished my goals and reached the point where I'm ready to settle down. "It's a good five miles outside of town and not much to see."
"I want to see it. I want to see what the grumpy candy maker's lair is like."
It hits me then just how much trouble I'm in. I'm not as terrible at saying no as she thinks I am, but it's clear denying Cherry Beckstone anything is damn near impossible.
***
We're silent as I drive down the dark, back roads to my grandparents' cabin, but my mind is going a million miles a minute. This is the first time I've brought a woman I'm sleeping with to my home. My grandparents' home, because that's how I think of it, even if they've been gone for over a decade and the cabin has been in my name for just as long.
The moment feels momentous and I don't know if I'm more worried about how it could go wrong or about all the ways it might go right.
My headlights illuminate the small log cabin as I park in front of it. When my grandmother was alive, there'd have been a wreath on the door and poinsettias on the porch. I'm not much for decorating, and the place looks plain and forlorn. Just a single-level with two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen.
"It's not much," I say, but Cherry's looking at it with wide-eyes and a smile, her hands clasped beneath her chin like she's a little kid meeting Santa.
"It's adorable. And in the middle of the wilderness."
"I have neighbors less than five hundred feet away."
"But look at all the trees. And the snow." She stamps her feet like she's running in place. "This is like a fairy tale."
"I haven't updated anything since my grandparents owned it. The inside is beyond outdated."
"And look at that adorable porch."
My heart warms and I can't remember why I was worried that Cherry might be too fancy to appreciate my home. "Grandma loved the porch. She'd sit there all day when the weather was nice."
"Of course she did. Let's see the inside." Cherry flings her door open and takes off toward the house.
The laugh that spills out of me feels like a joy I'd forgotten I could possess. I jump out of my truck and race after her, scooping her up in my arms and carrying her into the house.
