Page 41 of The Deal Maker

“I’m not sure about that, but I do love a good crunchy pickle.”

“Sweet or dill?” I ask. If he says sweet, I might not be able to hang out with him ever again.

“It doesn’t matter the kind. I like them all. Butter, sweet, dill. Jalapeno flavored.”

My tongue gets hot just thinking about that amount of sour and heat.

“Okay, that’s definitely not something I had you pegged for.”

“Oh, yeah? What was your first impression of me? Before you found out what I do to pay bills.” Duke stares at me again and it’s hard to keep my attention on the actual question since he almost looks like Braveheart with the number of colored frostings all over his face.

What did he ask me again?

“Um, well, to be honest, I guess I trusted you enough to start spilling all my ice cream theory facts. Then again, I was thrown by Hope’s engagement.”

“Didn’t you think she’d get married this quickly?” he asks.

With a shrug, I say, “I knew it would happen at some point, but that she’d be engaged for close to a year before the big day. It feels like we just got out of school and now we’re at the beginning of our adult lives. I figured I’d have at least two to three more years with her as my roommate.”

Duke doesn’t say anything, only working to clean up the mess we made with the frosting. It somehow got all over the table and each other. I always thought I was a clean freak, but it turns out that Duke has that tendency as well.

“Will you look for another roommate once she’s married?”

That’s a question I’ve been putting off. It isn’t a necessary thing, since I have some money saved, but do I need it to keep me sane? “I’m not really sure. I haven’t gotten to that point yet.”

“Being an adult is hard. If only there was a roadmap to tell us where to go and what to do with our lives.”

I nod, trying to look at everything from his perspective. “I think we’d need several maps to figure out life. Like where do wego career wise? Then one for relationships. Then maybe one for dreams.”

“It wouldn’t really be a dream then if we had a map, would it?” Duke asks, with a gleam in his eye.

“I guess if you’re taking it literally,” I say, rolling my eyes before cracking a smile.

Duke finishes posting the photo of us with our cookies, our heads tilted together and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say we look like a couple. Which is totally not in the realm of things I can comprehend right now.

There’s another ping on the phone and we check the app.

It’s time for another food challenge.

Head over to the Rusty Crab to get your next task.

“I don’t think I’ve been there before,” I say. I like some kinds of seafood, and being this close to a port has been great for fresh fish, but all my extra money has gone to the shop since I moved here. “It would be awesome if we could do a taste test.”

Duke frowns and says, “That’s the last thing I want to do.”

“Why?” I ask.

He scratches behind his ear and says, “It’s just not my favorite.”

“Okay, if we have to do some kind of eating challenge, I’ll do it for both of us.”

Duke gives me a soft smile and says, “That would be great.”

We walk over to the restaurant and I’m surprised at the easy silence between us. Usually I’m trying to ramble, but instead, it feels nice to just walk together. Although that gives me too much time to think about all that transpired this morning.

Once inside the Rusty Crab, it’s dark and I’m not sure anyone is there. At least until a woman in her early twenties comes to us.

“We’re closed.”

---