Page 61 of Jagged

"I do. Usually on Sundays I drive out to have dinner with them. They're the cutest newlyweds." She chuckled softly. "Mom was single my whole life. I never even knew my father, but then when she was sixty, she met a man in Cambodia who was working as a Doctor Without Borders. They kept in touch—I had to teach her to use social media—and when he retired, the first place he came to was Seattle where she was teaching. And the rest is history."

"That's the cutest story. They were both in their sixties when they met?"

"Yup. Isn't it sweet? He really is the kindest man." A hint of some kind of accent flooded her voice at the moment. "He's from London originally but hasn't been there in decades."

"That's exciting for them." I smiled at the thought of two people falling in love during their retirement. "It's very cute."

"It is. Seeing her happy in this way is wonderful." Clem's fingers tightened on mine as we made it heavily into the field. The land seemed to curve upward a bit, giving us some height that brought the skyline into view.

"It's great that you can be happy for them."

"Steven treats me very well." She turned to me then, not giving me much of a warning before she caught me in a kiss. Her fingers stroked my cheeks as I fumbled through it initially, until my hands wrapped around her forearms.

Tingles rushed my body at first. This type of engagement was very new to me, and I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. But as soon as she stroked my hair, tucking one side behind my ear while toying with the short stubbles on the other, those tingles turned to chills that radiated to the space behind my navel. She smiled through the kiss, as if she could feel me finally meeting her there. My lips fumbled a little, and sometimes I didn't quite know what to do with my tongue. Instead of panicking over it, I let her lead for the most part as I'd done before.

When we parted, she cupped my face, and stroked her thumb over my lips. "Is this new for you?"

"Somewhat? Slow is new. Kissing…and liking it," I admitted.

"What was it like for you before?"

"I'm used to somewhat casual encounters," another delicate admission left me. "Nothing too serious."

"I understand," she said, her voice soft. "I've only had two longer-term relationships, so I understand the worry and newness."

"How long?" This time, I took her hand and urged her to walk with me through the fields. In public, my confidence wasn't the best when it came to affection, and I didn't want to come across as cold.

"Both about a year, the second a little more than the first." She moved easily with me. "And some more casual encounters in between. It's been a few years though. It takes a lot for me to be interested in someone."

"Me too. At least…interested in getting to know them."

"Are you interested in getting to know me?" She pressed her chin to my shoulder when she asked, and that cute smile remained on her pinkish lips.

"I am." I chuckled and nuzzled her forehead with my chin. "Is it not obvious?"

"It is, but I'm just checking. Because you already know I'm interested in you."

"We're interested in each other."

For the rest of the day, we meandered through the fields, pet a few cows, and ate bucket loads of food truck delicacies. My stomach and my heart filled with fullness, and I found myself leaning into the joy that Clementine brought to my life in such a short time. A flicker of time, per se, but an important one.

We returned back to our campsite after sharing dinner on the grass while watching the music portion of the festival, to find our gear still intact. We toted some leftovers with us, and I continued to nibble on the homemade potato chips and onion rings we picked up on the way. She sipped a luscious lemonade and we shared both. I enjoyed this portion of getting to know her. Sharing seemed meaningful in its own way.

"It's nearly midnight. We were out all day," she said as we came to land by the fire. "It's getting cold though."

"Let's get this started up again," I said, and began immediately rebuilding the fire. "Do we have enough water for the night?"

"Yep. Two gallons in the car." She crouched beside me and began piling on some twigs with my logs. "Think you can fit a little dessert in your belly?"

"There's always room for dessert, in my humble opinion." I chuckled and put my arm out in front of her to urge her back when the fire suddenly took hold of the brush. "Careful."

She flinched under the heat and stroked my arm. "Thanks."

"'Course." I settled on the blanket we returned to its position beside the fire while Clem grabbed a few things from her car.

She came back a moment later with the ingredients to make s'mores. "Like?"

"I do." I chuckled and accepted the smoothed stick she offered me.

---