Page 18 of Elijah's Hope
She nodded enthusiastically.
I made a big show of popping the cork. She laughed and clapped as if I had done something miraculous. Then I poured the champagne into the flutes and handed her one. She watched me for a while, but I had hard time reading the expression on her face.
Finally, she said, “You first. I want to make sure you don’t make a yuck face.”
“I’m not sure what a yuck face is, but fine.” I brought the flute to my lips and took a sip. It was sweet and bubbly and absolutely not my thing.
She waited, then tried a tentative sip. “Oh my Christmas! It tickles.”
“Do you like it?”
“I don’t know! I’ve never had a drink make me tickle before.”
But she kept sipping it, so I had to think she was enjoying it. Next was some exotic pâté. The label was in French and I didn’t want to think too closely about what it was. I just took out a knife and spread some on a cracker for her.
“No, you first again.”
“Right,” I muttered. “The yuck face.” I popped the cracker into my mouth and chewed. Then finally swallowed. “Not bad. A little rich and a really intense taste. You try it.”
I spread another cracker with pâté then handed it to her. She took a small bite and scrunched up her nose. “I don’t know if I like this, either. I think we might have done better with some beer and mayonnaise sandwiches. Not that what you did wasn’t the sweetest thing. I mean, I feel just like one of those girls on the show. Champagne, rich-people food, a handsome man who made all this happen. With help from Chris Harrison of course.”
“You watchThe Bachelor?”
“Does a cat have a tail?”
“Do I have to remind you of Stubby?”
“Poor Stubby,” she said. “He just couldn’t get out of the way of old man Vern and his weed cutters fast enough. But yes I watch. I know it’s silly and ridiculous. I like to think that somewhere out there in the world there is a little bit of romance.”
“I don’t get that. I mean, you’re this beautiful, sweet woman. Are all the men in Baton Rouge blind? There had to have been someone in high school or college brave enough to ask you on a date. Heck, of all the profiles we got, I picked out yours almost immediately as my favorite.”
That made her smile. “You did?”
“I did.”
“Why me? What was so special about me?”
I didn’t want to tell her the truth. That it was because she was the opposite of my mother. That her life growing up had been the opposite of mine. That I wanted to spend time with a person like that. Whose life had been easy and normal so that I could maybe see into that world. See how it affected a person.
How it kept them soft, instead of hardening them up.
“You were the whole package,” I said instead. “Everything a man might look for in a woman. Which is why you being single doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m reserved?”
I could feel my eyebrows lifting off my head.
“Okay, I guess I’m not very reserved. I just… Well, I’ve been working hard. Super focused on my studies. I haven’t had a lot of time for this. I think that’s why when I saw your ad, I thought, do this, Shelby. Take a chance. See something different. Meet someone new.”
I reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. “I’m glad you did.”
“I’m glad I did, too. So you better not break my heart.”
I really didn’t want that to happen. The idea of hurting someone so innocent seemed wrong. I decided I couldn’t worry about that, though. It’s not like two people fell in love in a couple weeks.The Bachelorwas nothing more than a TV show and this was real life. A place where an oil rigger living in Alaska with a crappy past didn’t get happily-ever-after with the sweet college grad.
Still, it might have been a good warning. I would keep things light. Keep her a little bit at arms’ length. Enjoy our dates but make sure not to invest myself.
She liked me. That was okay because I liked her, too. And she was right. It didn’t have to be any more complicated than that.
