Page 23 of Conquered Obstacles

I blew a harsh breath. “I didn’t. I’m just trying to stay afloat.”

“We all are,” he chuckled, but not dismissively.

I took it that way at least.

But I felt better that we talked a bit and that he understood that I did want him in my life. I did. I liked Isiah. It wasn’t just his handsome looks or that his coffee eyes made me settle or his voice soothed me. It was the moment I could look past him being a priest his very presence comforted me.

I liked him.

I went to step towards the door, but he hurried towards the passenger’s side saying he had a gift for me.

“I went and picked this up Sunday because the place isn’t open until like three today and closed Mondays,” he said so fast and in his thick Boston accent that I barely kept up with. He lifted out a huge box and kicked the door closed. “And then I couldn’t decide what to get that you would like and the answer was you’d want to try all of it and then it was all in my freezer.”

I moved in front of him and made him lower the box. My eyes went wide when I saw what was inside. I threw back my head and burst out laughing.

Sundaes. Massive ice cream sundaes with lids and all kinds of crazy toppings.

“I’ve really missed you,” I said and kept laughing. “Only you would love this for a date, be two hours early, and get this two days early so we could have this fun.”

“Glad you’re happy,” he sighed, looking relieved.

Of course, I was. I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek before hurrying him inside and making him explain.

The Scoop ‘N Scootery had a few ice cream shops around Boston and were insanely popular. They had unique flavors and crazy sundaes with all kinds of toppings with even crazier names.

I made my tablet appear and pulled up the website, immediately dying of laughter as I looked over the receipt and matched up what he showed me. Any place that named a sundae a Fat Rabbit… I was in. Even if I wasn’t a big butter pecan fan, I was in. I loved the place, and the flavor combinations were delicious.

“Before we get too into everything, they should soften a bit since the toppings all froze too,” he told me. “And I don’t think we can eat them all since it’s breakfast really. Plus, I brought fish. I thought I could maybe give you your first lesson in smoking fish and we could work on some new meat bun ideas.”

He seemed so hopeful it was adorable, like if he thought he would be someone I turned to help for work again that I would turn to him again.

“I just wanted to spend time with you, Isiah. You don’t have to always be useful,” I told him honestly.

“You’re too busy to not be useful around,” he mumbled, frowning as if worried I didn’t like his idea.

“I’d love to learn how to smoke fish,” I hurried to say, nervous he thought I didn’t like the idea. “I love the smell of it. It would be nice to know.”

“Okay, good.”

He went back for the three coolers he’d brought, shrugging when I gave him a funny look as he dragged them all inside. Then he showed me some huge smokers that he thought I might like on my tablet.

Except I wasn’t a fan of my terrace, so I wanted to handle that first. We shared the first sundae as we talked ideas and even extending it maybe. It was supposed to be expensive and fancy, but all it felt was a hodgepodge to me. There were like different types of huge stones and grass growing in between them which was just a hassle.

And then things were uneven and… I probably sounded like a rich whiney person, but it didn’t make sense.

“I honestly like when people have sensible, but it looks fancy like stamped concrete with like the mixed-in sparkly shit in it,” he said, taking my tablet from me. He pulled up some Google images of what he was talking about, and I adored what he showed me. It was black, but then we found some fancy-looking gray stuff that wouldn’t be as hot as black concrete in the summer.

Done and done.

It took a bit of finagling with my power and adjusting, but then I had a terrace I loved. I even made a level appear and checked I’d done it right.

“I’d give you a contractor’s license,” he praised after seeing it was level in several spots.

I burst out laughing, knowing that wasn’t remotely true. But I thanked him for his help and then put in the smoker he liked best after getting the supplies as well. I had to pop over to the place that sold it while cloaked to get a feel for it all, but that had only taken me a minute or two.

It was so nice and normal to listen to him explain to me about seasoning the smoker for an hour or so before we cooked anything like you would a cast iron skillet. I could listen to Isiah talk about cleaning a damn toilet, his voice was so nice.

He wanted to test out ideas for smoked salmon and cream cheese meat buns and maybe like a fish taco one too. I didn’t know how that second one would translate, but I was pretty sure smoked salmon and cream cheese would work with anything short of like ice cream.

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