Page 17 of A Gift of Time
Caden hesitated, and my smile faded. “That sounds nice, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“Why? It’s just food.”
A blond eyebrow lifted as his blue eyes flickered to my face. “Okay… I guess some food would be good. I haven’t eaten since six this morning.”
“Yeah, and you get cranky when you’re hungry,” I said, remembering the times I’d called him the Cay Beast because he’d get irritated at the smallest things when he needed food.
One time, he’d snapped at me in the car as we were trying to decide on a place to eat for dinner, so I’d stopped in at McDonalds and shoved a McChicken down his throat. “A McChicken will stop you from McBitchin’,” I had told him.
We had laughed for hours.
“Huh?” he asked, cocking his head. “How’d you know that?”
Dammit.
“Um, I mean, doesn’t everyone get mean when they’re hungry?” I asked with a shrug, playing it cool.
Caden smiled before running his teeth over his bottom lip. Something he did when he was feeling shy. “I guess so.”
Relieved that I’d dodged that bullet, I went to the kitchen to grab my car keys from the bowl I kept them in.
Ihadto pay more attention. Sure, I knew basically everything there was to know about Caden, but in this new reality, he didn’t know who the hell I was.
Once outside, Caden turned to me. “Can we walk instead of drive? It feels amazing today, and I’d love to stretch my legs.”
Caden loved walking everywhere. Usually, unless it was raining or freezing cold, he’d walk to his shop from our house. A house I wasn’t sure even existed now.
“Of course,” I said, feeling a tingling in my chest and pocketing my keys. “And I know the perfect place.”
***
“How did you know I loved Hannah’s?” Caden asked once we were inside the restaurant and at a table.
“Who doesn’t love Hannah’s?” I winked. “It’s only the best burgers in town.”
Yeah, it was true about the burgers, but I would’ve never known about the place if it weren’t for him. Hannah’s was the restaurant we went to on our very first date. It seemed symbolic to me, as if I’d earn his love by re-enacting all the dates from our life together—a life he didn’t remember, but one I couldn’t forget.
“I say the same thing!” He beamed at me. “No one ever knows about this place. Maybe it’s because it’s on the very edge of town and kind of hidden. I don’t know. But I just feel…” Caden’s gaze darted throughout the room “…cozy here. Like there’s a touch of magic.”
I quirked a brow. “You sure that’s just not all the Christmas decorations? I heard Christmas is the most magical time of year, you know.”
“Oh yeah? And who told you that?” he asked, leaning on the table and giving me the cutest damn mischievous grin I’d ever seen.
Was he flirting? God, I hoped so.
“A man named Nick,” I answered like it was no big deal. “He was a chubby older dude with a white beard and everything.”
Caden giggled, and then covered his mouth like he’d just done the unthinkable. “Oh my god. How embarrassing.”
Most men laughed when something was really funny. Caden giggled. Not all the time, but if he wasn’t careful, it just kind of slipped out. He hated it, but I’d always found in endearing.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” I said, reaching across the table and touching his hand. “It’s cute.”
He pulled his hand back, but kept a smile on his face. “It’s awful.”
I tried not to let it bug me too much that he pulled away from me.
He wasnotCaden, my fiancé. He was Caden, a man who’d just met me. It was difficult treating him like a stranger, though, when I knew him so well. Probably knew him better than myself.
