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“I should get back in there. Thanks again for dinner.”
“Anytime.”
She reaches for her door handle and I frown and stop her.
“I’ll get your door,” I tell her, and she sighs, seeming frustrated as she sits back and waits for me.
I hurry to get out and get her door for her. She hops out and avoids my eyes as she brushes past me.
“I’ll talk to you later?” I ask, and she nods.
“Yeah,” she says softly, and I want to reach out and grab her.
I want to make her face me, to demand that she tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it. I know that would only make her close up more though so I squeeze my fingers into my palms and stand still.
“Night, Townes,” she says before she heads inside, and I swallow, trying to dislodge the rock in my throat.
“Good night, Mira.”
The door closes behind her, and I stand there in the cold for another minute, praying that she’ll come back out and tell me that this was all some kind of terrible joke.
She doesn’t though, and I shiver as the wind blows my hair across my forehead. I hurry back to the driver’s side and shift into drive.
I head towards Xavier’s house, but when I pull up outside, his truck is gone, and I know he must be out with Olive. I turn around and head back towards town, trying to figure out where to go now.
I wind up at the Wolf Valley Market and decide to get groceries on the off chance that Mira comes over to stay this weekend.
I park and head inside, grabbing a cart and wandering aimlessly up and down each aisle. I spot a familiar head of brown hair in the cereal aisle and smile as I head over to Ransom.
“Hey,” I greet him, and he looks up, giving me a lazy smile.
“Hey, are you getting groceries for the week too?” He asks, looking at my mostly empty cart.
“More like the weekend, but I don’t know what I want to eat really.”
“Cereal is always a safe choice,” he says, tossing two boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch into the cart.
“True,” I say, grabbing a box for myself too.
“I’m surprised that you’re here. I figured that you would be out with your girlfriend,” he says as we turn and head down the aisle.
“She has to work tonight.”
“Hmm,” he says, eyeing a box of oatmeal for a moment before he passes. “What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?”
“Valentine’s Day?” I ask in confusion, and he snorts.
“Yeah, you know, that holiday for people in love? They have it every year in February. This isn’t ringing any bells?” He asks with a smirk, and I glare at him.
“It is… I just forgot. I’ve never celebrated it before,” I tell him.
“Me either,” he says with a shrug. “Though I might try to this year.”
“Ah, with Ruby,” I say, and he frowns.
“Am I really that obvious about it?” He grumbles more to himself, and I shrug.
“I should make reservations somewhere,” I say, and he nods.
