Page 32 of Surprised By Her

She took a bite, and then another.

“How is it?” I asked.

“It’s not New York or Chicago, but it’s respectable,” she said.

“We do what we can here in Arrowbridge,” I said.

“So,” I said, “you don’t want to talk about being an heiress, but what can you tell me about yourself? I know practically nothing.”

Ryan methodically finished her first slice as she thought.

“What do you want to know?” she asked.

“Literally anything,” I said. Everything about her was interesting.

“My favorite color is blue that’s almost gray. I have an MBA from UConn that my father made me get. I wanted to study something else. Anything else. My favorite place I’ve ever visited is Norway. How am I doing?” she said.

“Yeah, no, that’s good. I’ve never been to Norway. I’ve actually never been out of the US. Not even to Canada. I’d like to go to Europe someday. My favorite color is dark green, and I have a degree in communications from UMass. There. Now we know a little more about each other,” I said.

“Do you have a passport?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah, I got one just in case,” I said.

“You should travel, if you want,” she said.

“It’s not that easy. I have work and…life,” I said. We were treading very closely to my anxiety and that was something I absolutely did not want to talk about.

Ryan must have sensed some reluctance because she didn’t push it. “Think about it.”

“I will,” I said. She tried the sliders and said they were good. I’d expected her to have an appetite, but I’d never seen someone demolish an entire pizza and four sliders in one sitting before.

“I feel like I should clap,” I said as she wiped her hands on a napkin.

“Stop it,” she said, and I swore I could see a blush blooming on her cheeks.

“No, it’s a compliment,” I said, finishing my soda and sighing. I turned to watch the sunset and it was pretty spectacular.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I said.

“Yes,” Ryan said in a low voice. A moment later she took the remnants of our meal to the trash and then came back to sit down.

“Do you want to walk around?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said. We put my leftovers in the car and made our way around the lighthouse and down toward the rocks. They could be treacherous when wet, but there were a few little paths that you could take that were relatively safe.

I picked my way down, and Ryan followed closely.

“I’m not a klutz, you know,” I said.

“You have fallen a few times around me,” she said behind me, a hint of a smile in her voice.

“Well that’s because—” I started to say, but then stopped myself.

“Because?” she prompted.

“Never mind,” I said.

I couldn’t tell her that the reason I fell around her was her. My legs didn’t work properly in her presence. Way too embarrassing to admit.

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