Page 6 of At the Heart of It
They’d both been hungry after the show, and found their way to a quaint little Thai restaurant near the theater. It seemed platonic enough, except that they’d been seated at a candlelit table on the patio beside Lithia Creek, with a canopy of twinkle lights strung through the trees overhead.
“I love this place,” Jonah said as Kate forked up a spicy bite of eggplant from her green curry. “Especially that little mouse over there that keeps darting onto the patio for crumbs, and then running back when the waiter comes out.”
Kate glanced behind her at the bushes to see the tiny pink feet scurrying away. “How do you know I’m not afraid of mice?”
Jonah grinned and poured the last dregs of wine into each of their glasses. “Because I saw you slip him a noodle when you thought no one was looking.”
Kate laughed and lifted her glass, enjoying the crispness of the rosé, the coolness of the evening, the warmth of Jonah’s company. “Guilty as charged,” she admitted. “You’re a very observant guy.”
“I try.” Jonah took a slow sip of wine, then set his glass down and looked at her. “So you just came to Ashland by yourself?”
She felt herself bristling, then relaxed. He was here alone, too, so there was clearly no judgment in the question.
“Yep.” She trailed her fork through the green curry, looking for another bite of chicken. “I used to come here all the time with Anton—that’s my ex. I guess I started thinking of it as ‘our place.’”
“So you’re here to reminisce?”
“God no.” She didn’t realize she’d jerked back until she felt her cardigan slip off one shoulder. Tugging it back up, she shook her head at Jonah. “It’s the opposite, really. I’m here to reclaim it.”
“Reclaim it?”
She shrugged and scraped a pile of rice to the middle of her plate, not wanting to miss a bite of it. “There’s this book I really love about getting on with life after a bad breakup—” She stopped, reconsidering how far she wanted to go down that path as she shoveled sauce-soaked rice onto her fork. “Anyway, it talks about reclaiming memories and places after a split. I used to come here with my parents as a teenager, so it’s really more my place than ours. Anton’s and mine, I mean. I realized I was being silly letting it stay haunted by ghosts of relationships past.”
“Ghosts of relationships past,” he repeated, giving her an odd look. “That’s an interesting turn of phrase.”
“I can’t actually take credit for it,” she said. “It’s from that relationship guide I mentioned.”
Something flickered in Jonah’s face, but it was gone in an instant. Maybe he wasn’t used to women admitting they read self-help books, but Kate refused to feel embarrassed. If anything, it was a point of pride, a reminder that she was willing to improve and grow and embrace change. Anyone who’d judge her for it was not the sort of guy whose opinion she valued.
“Breakups are tough,” he said. “Sounds like you’ve done a good job moving on.”
“I like to think so.” She studied him for a moment. “You’re not married, are you? Sorry to be blunt, but the last three guys I’ve gone out with turned out to be married. Not that this is a date, but?—”
“Divorced.” The answer was firm and decisive, but he didn’t volunteer anything else. Kate lifted her wineglass.
“Well, here’s to having the self-assurance to vacation solo,” she said. “Feeling confident dining alone or seeing a movie by yourself or whatever.”
“Cheers to that,” he agreed, clinking his glass against hers. “Some of my happiest moments have been totally solo. No offense.”
Kate grinned. “None taken. Enjoying the pleasure of your own company is one of the greatest skills to master.”
She replayed her own words in her brain and wondered if they sounded entirely too masturbatory. Jonah didn’t react, so she was probably overthinking things.
She watched him drain the last of his wine and tried not to be disappointed their plates were empty. Despite her assertions about the importance of flying solo, she’d enjoyed his company. A lot, actually. True, there was no point starting something with a guy who lived in another state. Or a guy from anywhere, really?—
“Wait, no, you don’t have to do that.” She made a grab for the credit card he’d handed the passing waitress, but she missed and ended up grabbing the woman’s hip instead. “Sorry about that.” Kate fished into her purse for her wallet. “Please, let me?—”
“It’s fine, Kate.” Jonah grinned at her and caught her hand in his. He didn’t let go right away. “I’m not paying so you’ll put out.”
The waitress giggled and hurried away, and Kate felt herself blushing all the way to the tips of her hair. She sat back in her chair with a grimace. “Sorry. I’m a little out of practice at this. But, you shouldn’t have to foot the whole bill for this.”
“I think I can manage.”
She must have looked dubious, which was pretty lousy of her. It wasn’t like she had any idea how much a bookstore owner made.
Seeming to read her thoughts, Jonah grinned. “I have other sources of income,” he said, pausing long enough to scrawl his signature on the bill the waitress handed him. Reading upside down, Kate could see he’d left a generous tip. “The bookstore isn’t my only revenue stream.”
“Oh. That’s—that’s good.”
