Page 89 of Perfect Chemistry

He nodded. “Ok. I am taking you to have a relaxing dinner. No stress, no expectations. Just dinner between two friends.”

I processed the words he had just said, and all of my insecurities bubbled up again. “Is that what we are, Kai? Just friends?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

He reached over and took my fidgeting hands out of my lap and held them while he drove. “Katie, I don’t know what we are, and I don’t think you do either. But we were friends once, and I thought that would be the best place to start. We can start here and decide where we go next.”

I felt my body relax a little. That was fair. He didn’t know me, and I didn’t know him. We had history, but we didn’t know each other now. I let the warmth of his hands keep me tethered to this moment. I didn’t need to worry about anything else outside of this moment.

“Ok. Yeah,” I nodded in agreement. I looked out the window and realized that we were driving outside of town, the roads seemingly familiar. “Where are we going?” I asked him, recognizing some of the farms.

“To a new restaurant that opened up since you left,” Kai chuckled and looked over at me again as he pulled down a familiar road and drove toward a large barn now adorned with a huge sign that read, “Alex’s”.

Alex had turned his family’s barn into a restaurant. It started as a small giggle, but then I started to laugh as Kai parked his car where there used to be a field. “I’m sorry. All I can think right now is that song, ′They paved paradise and put up a parking lot,” I sang.

Kai just looked at me smiling. He brought my hand up to his mouth and gave it a light kiss. “Come on. I don’t want to lose our table,” he told me, opening his door and returning my hand to my lap.

Kai walked around the car, opened my door and took my hand again. I stepped out and fell in step beside him after he closed the car door. It was crazy being back here, and walking into this building with Kai after all of these years.

As we walked into the main doors, my jaw dropped. It was an actual restaurant built inside the barn. A nice one at that. Kai led me up to the hostess station and told her his name. She smiled and joked with him a bit before guiding us back to our table.

I stared at Kai in disbelief. Our table was basically where we had done it for the first time. My face felt like it was on fire.

“What is this?” I whispered to him. Mortified that we were about to eat over the place we had sex the first time.

Kai saw my expression and started to chuckle. “I honestly didn’t know this would be our table,” he admitted quietly.

I stopped staring around the restaurant and looked at my date. His face was just as red as mine, the pink hue having spread up to his ears.

“Do you want to change tables?” He asked me seriously.

I relaxed a bit. His nervousness actually made me feel more at ease for some reason. “No,” I responded quietly, “this is fine.”

I let Kai order our food, since he knew what was best on the menu. He ordered two house steaks with everything, and a glass of the white wine that came recommended as the pairing.

“Are you hoping to get me drunk?” I asked as the wine was placed in front of me.

Kai looked embarrassed for a moment. “Honestly, I don’t drink. I had a bit of a set back recently, and I don’t want to fall into old habits,” he admitted, he ears flushing red.

I chuckled, recalling his drunken confession and decided to let it go. We had time to share all of those stories. The dinner was nice. The food was delicious and the conversation between us flowed.

Chapter 31

Kai’s Point of view

Katie talked about the places that she had been, and I told her about pursuing my PhD. As different as our lives had been, I can’t say that either of us really had it better or worse than the other. I found out that she had a bachelor’s degree and was a certified master woodworker.

Her experiences overseas were nothing like my life of comfort here back home. But I understood loss the same as she did. Katie was surprised when I told her that I was divorced. We talked about how I had meet Jenny in college, and how we married after she got pregnant. I told her about losing Heather when she was just two years old, and my marriage ending after that.

She seemed reluctant to ask questions so I asked about her life. She told me how she had met her husband, Tyson. He seemed like such an amazing man. Her eyes sparkled when she talked about the man he was, and I couldn’t find it in me to feel the least bit jealous. Katie was glowing talking about him, and she was beautiful.

I asked how he passed, and she told me how he died rescuing women and children during a humanitarian aid mission in the middle east. I didn’t know what to say. I saw tears starting to well up in her eyes, and I just reached out to hold her hand.

We never revealed more than we were ready to, but we shared more than either of us expected. We lost complete track of time, sharing stories and reminiscing about all of the crazy choices we each made in life. Suddenly, the dining hall in the restaurant was too quiet.

“Kai!” a man’s voice shouted across the restaurant startling us both, though Katie more so than me.

We both stood up and faced toward the door. A man with a full beard and plaid shirt was stomping across the dining area toward us. He stepped past Katie, then suddenly he was flying through the air, ass over tea kettle.

Katie grabbed his arm at the last second and pulled hard, spinning him toward her. When he lost his balance, she followed him down to the ground, and locked his arm twisted up behind his back.

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