Page 12 of Deception and New Direction

“Don’t know,” he replied, shrugging. “Itseems the ladies can’t keep their eyes off me whenIwear it.”

His quips were funny, butIdidn't want him to know that.Aguy likeJackwould let it go to his head.

“Alright,CaptainConfident.There’sa mirror in the hallway if you’d rather go look at yourself for a while, butI’mgoing to eat dinner.”Iscooped up a large portion and put it into my bowl.Dashwas sitting by my feet, hopingIwould drop some for him, but no such luck.Idid, however, fill his bowl with his own dinner so he wouldn’t bother me whileIwas eating mine—at least not too much.

Balancing myself on one crutch,Iturned around to grab my bowl, butJackscooped it up. “I’vegot it.Yougrab your drink.Wecan sit on the couch and watch a movie while we eat.”

As much asIdidn’t want to sit next to him on the couch, at leastIwouldn’t have to talk to him if there was a movie playing.

Halfway through the movieIhad to use the restroom, soJackpaused it whileIhobbled my way out of the room.WhenIcame back,Jackhad brought out bowls of movie snacks and refilled our drinks.God…why did he have to be so nice sometimes?Also, how was he still hungry after we just ate like an hour ago?

I waited a little longer beforeIdug into the trail mix.Asany normal person would,Ipicked all the chocolate candies out and ate them, then set the rest of the bowl back on the table.

“What are you doing?” he asked me asIwas setting the rest of the bowl back on the coffee table.

“Trail mix is made up of two ingredients—M&Msand disappointment,”Iexplained to him. “I’msaving myself from heartbreak and regret by only eating the piecesIwant.”

A smile tugged at his lips, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter and amusement.Heclearly thoughtIwas weird, but he just turned back to watch the movie.

After the credits started to roll,Jackturned to me. “Whatdid you think of it?”

It was aMarvelcomic action movie, which wasn’t really my jam, andItold him as much.

“I’m more of a comedy, rom-com, and animated movies kind of person.”

Nothing against other genres, butIpreferred movies with happy endings and lots of feel-good moments.

“Animated movies?” he asked. “Youmean likeDisneyprincess kind of ones?”

“Hey,Beauty& theBeastis a classic, andBelleis the best.Don’tknock it unless you’ve seen it,”Ishared.

“I’ll just take your word for it,”Jackreplied. “I’mmore of a historical war movie buff, likeSavingPrivateRyan,PearlHarbor, andThePatriotkind of guy.”

Those were all too gory for me.Theaction movie we just watched at least had a happy ending, but it was mostly intense thrills and adventure moments—not my style.

“Archer said you drive like a bat out of hell, soIjust assumed you liked action movies,”Jacksaid, andIinstantly got defensive.

“Archer drives like a grandma, so his opinion means nothing,”Icountered. “And, yes,I’veseen some action movies before—like all theFastandFuriousmovies—because, well…eye candy…duh.Itjust isn’t my go-to movie category.

“Eye candy, huh?”

There was that cheeky smirk of his again.

“So?”

“What’s your definition of eye candy?” he asked, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped together, which caused his muscles to flex and possibly my ovaries to spasm. “Whatkind of guy does it for you,Ruthie?”

You.HappyIhadn’t actually said that out loud,IrealizedIneeded to get out of here beforeIdid accidentally open my mouth.

“I’m going to bed,”Isaid, reaching over to grab my crutches and stand up. “Goodnight,Jack.”

“Good night,Ruthie.”Ididn’t need to see him to hear the humor in his voice and know he was smiling at me when he said it.

I made my way to the kitchen to letDashout one more time and tried to clean up some of the dishes whileIwaited for him to do his business.

Dash didn’t have a very thick fur coat, so he often went out, did what he needed to do, and then came right back in when it was chilly out at night.

I had just let him back in and was turning to head to my bedroom whenJackwalked by, carrying his dishes to the kitchen.

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