Page 38 of Shea's Hero

“Hmm.” Tiny lines etch between her eyes as she thinks. “What’s your schedule like?”

“I’m working seven to three, except on Saturday. Then I’m on the three to eleven shift. Sunday I’m off. And then back to the seven to three schedule all next week. I told Maya I’d have dinner with her on Sunday night, but I could reschedule if you wanted to do something. Unless that’s too soon. You tell me.”

Wow. That was spectacularlyun-smooth.

A hesitant smile lifts her lips. “What do you think about tomorrow, then? Would that be okay?”

“Yes. That would be perfect.” Immediately, I start running through possible dates. On such short notice, I’d rather take Shea someplace I know. Not the Hop-less Horseman, of course; I’m sure that’s the last place she wants to go. But maybe O’Henry’s, the Irish restaurant in Sleepy Hollow. Or the Horse and Ghost—they have unique drinks and sharable platters thatShea might like. Unless she’d rather stay home. I could bring takeout and we could watch a movie…

“Mini golf is probably out of the question, isn’t it?” A moment later, Shea shakes her head. “Of course it is. Never mind.”

A pang of bittersweet nostalgia hits me. That was one of our favorite things to do when we were together. We’d go to the mini-golf place near Shea’s apartment, and after, we’d head over to the line of food trucks just a few blocks over. We’d get something from each of them and make a little picnic in the park across the street.

We were playing mini-golf the first time I told Shea I loved her. And she got so excited, she jumped on me and nearly knocked both of us into the water hazard.

Man. Those were such good times. Perfect times, really.

Why did I decide to leave? Why didn’t I just stay in Virginia and make a life with Shea?

“Sorry, Oll.” Regret lacing her voice, she adds, “Forget I mentioned it. Anything you want to do is fine.”

“No. I’m glad you did.” Before I can rethink it, I get up and move my chair so it’s next to Shea. Then I sit back down and enfold her hands in mine. “I was just thinking about it. How much fun we had.”

“We did, didn’t we?” And there’s that same regret in her eyes.

“We’ll go. Maybe not tomorrow, but as soon as we can,” I promise. “I’ll find the best mini-golf course for us to go to. And Sleepy Hollow does this food truck corral, something like twenty trucks show up at the park downtown every Thursday night in the summer. So we could do that, too.”

“Oh.” Shea brightens. “That would be awesome.” After a brief pause, she adds, “But for tomorrow… what do you think about something more low-key? Like coming over to watch a movie? And ordering delivery?”

“That sounds great.” And I mean it. This date has been fantastic, but sitting at Shea’s house, holding hands on the couch, maybe even snuggling a little if things go well—that sounds pretty fantastic, too.

Then a thought strikes me. “Wait. Are you going to make me watch one of those creepy movies? One of the ones with a doll getting possessed by a demon? Or a bunch of people locked in a house filled with murderous ghosts?”

“Um.” She gives me a sheepish smile. “It’s just that there’s this new movie that just hit streaming. It looks really scary.” Eyes widening, she adds hopefully, “It might be too much for me to watch by myself. But if you’re there…”

I’ve never minded watching horror movies with Shea, really. It’s just fun to give her a hard time about them. Honestly, it used to be pretty great—whenever she’d get scared, she’d burrow into my arms and I’d hold her until the worst part was over.

Hiding a smile, I reply, “Well, I wouldn’t want you to be scared.”

“You wouldn’t mind? If you’d rather watch something about”—her nose wrinkles, and it’s the cutest thing ever—“history, we can.”

“No, your movie works. And I can grab food on my way over.”

“Okay.” She pauses before adding sweetly, “Maybe we could watch one of those shows on the History Channel after. If it’s not too late.”

Distractedly, I realize my cheeks hurt from smiling.

I’m just sohappy.

Joy is fizzing inside me, bursting to get out.

Then.

As we look at each other, there’s thisclick.

Like two matching pieces finally coming together.

Shea doesn’t need to say anything. It’s all there, in her eyes.

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