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God, her smile.
“Can I buy you lunch? Do you have time?”
For you? I have all the fucking time in the world.
I looked at my watch. I had thirty minutes, max. “Yeah, I have time.”
We gave Janet our orders, and when it came time to pay, I tried to pull out my wallet.
Her hand fell on top of mine, stopping me. “I’m paying, remember?”
I wanted to remind her that she didn’t have a job. That she was living on a limited income.
But I had a feeling she’d had enough of people telling her what to do. So, I simply nodded and let her plunk her debit card down.
There was some cozy seating in the small coffee shop, but it all felt a little cramped, especially with Janet now watching and listening to everything we said like we were her own personal soap opera. After getting our food, I asked Marin if she’d be interested in eating outside.
Her eyes darted over to Janet and then back at me, and she laughed under her breath. “That would be great.”
We left the coffee shop and crossed the street. I showed her to an old bench that faced the water. Thankfully, the breeze was fairly calm today, and the afternoon sun made the chilly temperature manageable.
Still, I asked, “Are you cold?”
“No,” she answered, her head leaning back to bask in the warmth of the sun. “It’s actually pretty perfect.”
I ignored everything else and just looked at her. “Yeah, it is.”
Sunrays scattered across the water as I unwrapped my sandwich. She did the same, her body angled toward me as she leaned against the weathered wood.
“So, are you going to ask me about Curtis?” She stared up at me through those thick lashes, waiting.
“No.” I wanted to, but I wasn’t going to.
“Why?”
“’Cause it’s not my place, Marin. If you want to tell me, you will. But otherwise, I’m just going to enjoy this lunch I got from a beautiful woman.”
A shy smile spread across her face.
She ate a bit more, staring at the water as the waves gently lapped at the shore. Finally, she looked up at me. “We broke up.”
I froze.
“You did?” I cleared my throat, hoping she didn’t notice the slightly elevated tone in my voice.
“I should have known, you know?” Her voice was assuredly calm. No tears. No sadness. “I mean, who has a panic attack when their boyfriend drops to one knee?”
“You had a panic attack?”
She’d left that part out in the previous story.
“Yeah.” She awkwardly bit her bottom lip, her sandwich all but forgotten on the bench. “In front of my entire family and a bunch of friends.”
“That sounds…”Awful. I kind of understood why she might have wanted to flee to another state now.
“Embarrassing?”
“I was going to say stressful, but, yeah, I’m sure it was that, too.”
