Page 32 of Claiming His Wife
This trip home was making her into something she was not. A liar.
By the time they entered the restaurant and were seated in booths in the back, thoughts of Jon disappeared from her mind, as well as the possibility of Finn having never betrayed her in the first place. They ordered their meals, and Finn explained to her that a close friend of his owned the place. The restaurant itself was rustic and gave off a romantic atmosphere with discreet lighting. When the waitress brought over their water, she was pleased to see paper straws. Finn was shocked by her delight over the straws, and she explained to him the importance of paper straws and the negative effects of plastic straws on the environment.
“You continue to surprise me, Lilah. Not only do you care for people, but you care for our environment as well.”
She simply responded, “I do my part.” The waitress brought over their meals, and Kalilah quickly dug into hers. The lobster she ordered was divine.
“About the kiss...” he started.
She shook her head and feigned ignorance.
“What kiss?” she asked, reaching for the juice atop the table.
Finn halted her action and managed to graze his fingers over her hand, making it tingle. He needed to stop touching her.
“Don’t be daft. You know what kiss I’m talking about.”
Kalilah raised her hand to cut him off and placed her fork onto the plate before she cleared her throat.
“Oh, that kiss. Let’s not make a huge deal about it. It was nothing.” Even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. That kiss was everything.
Finn took her hands in his and said, “That kiss meant everything to me; it gave me hope for us. You can’t say you didn’t feel the connection. I felt my wife in those lips, and if we weren’t interrupted…”
“It’s a good thing we were interrupted. It kept us, me, from doing something I would have regretted.” She saw the scowl on his face but didn’t care. “Can you please do me a favor?”
“Anything except deny the connection that I felt with you during that kiss.”
“Can we not talk about it?”
“I will cease talking about it as long as you make the effort to enjoy yourself on our dates. What do you say?”
She agreed, so after lunch, when Finn took her hand and led her closer to the water, where the paddleboats were stationed, she didn’t make a fuss. Old Montréal bustled with activity. She was sure that if Finn wasn’t holding her hand, she would have gotten lost in the crowd.
When they got close to where the paddleboats were stationed, she slipped her hand from his and made to put some distance between them.
“Last one to get to the boats is a rotten egg,” Kalilah said over her shoulder as she took off in a sprint. She looked back once and saw that Finn was right behind her and burst into giggles.
“You little cheat,” Finn said when he caught up with her. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her against his chest.
“Take it back! I gave you fair warning.” She continued to chuckle, and he couldn’t help but join in her laughter.
“Some things never change,” he said. In the past she had played this exact game with him many times, and he always caught her no matter the distance she’d have between them.
They walked the remainder of the distance holding each other’s hand, like lovers taking a stroll. Luckily when they got to the kiosk, there wasn’t a huge line. Finn paid for their paddleboat and they made their way to the water. After they got settled, another couple tried racing them, and they took on the challenge.
“Go faster, Finn!”
“I am going as fast as we can,” he responded. They both laughed at the silliness of it all. In the end they got ahead of the other couple. They spent the next hour boating along the lake. Kalilah couldn’t remember the last time that she’d had this much fun.
“I want to try ziplining,” she said after they left the paddleboat station. She’d never ziplined before and was curious about it.
Finn agreed and they went towards the ziplining station. They waited in the line for fifteen minutes before they got their turn. After getting harnessed, the guide asked if they wanted to ride together in the sweetheart position. She didn’t want to do it alone. Seeing it from the ground made it seem easy, now being on the top and looking down, she didn’t think she’d be able to make it.
“Sure,” Finn answered, “but only if it’s okay with my lovely wife.” Both Finn and the guide turned towards her waiting for her response and she nodded her head in the affirmative. She was strapped to Finn, sitting astride him as they faced each other. She placed her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. She wondered again why she wasn’t uncomfortable with her present closeness to Finn.
They spent the rest of the afternoon trying out other activities at the old port, and Kalilah began to see Finn in a new light. The day felt like the early days of their relationship. It was as if nothing had changed, except everything had. She wasn’t as trusting as she was before, and Finn? He was more determined than ever.
CHAPTER 9
