Page 84 of Up All Night

“Maybe,” she said. “Or you could have missed out on a great relationship.”

Swallowing my bite of food, I shook my head. “No. As wonderful as Rachel is, the only thing we talked about or bonded over was work. We were two workaholics who thought being with another workaholic would be nice, but we were never crazy in love or anything.”

“How long were you two together?” she asked.

“About two years.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow, that’s a long time to have been with someone you weren’t in love with.”

“I thought I loved her, but now I can see that I only cared about her like a good friend. I loved her, but I wasn’tinlove with her.” I set down my fork, finished with my meal. “My parents loved her, though. My dad was pretty upset when we broke things off. He wanted me to marry her and settle down so I could finally be aserious businessman.” I looked down and shook my head, feeling the familiar frustration rise.

And he hadn’t stopped pushing me to find someone to marry since. But I didn’t say that out loud.

“I’m sorry he thinks that way,” she said softly. “From what I can tell, you are averyserious businessman.”

Her attempt to lighten the mood worked, and I let out a light laugh. “Thank you.”

Since we were both finished, I paid for our meals—which I had decided on for winning the mini-golf competition. She hadn’t been happy about it, but I’d won fair and square.

“One more stop before our unplanned day is over,” she said as we walked out to the car.

Relief washed over me as I realized we wouldn’t have to say goodbye just yet. I wanted to stay out with her all night.

That thought made me realize my friendship with Halle had progressed farther than my committed relationship with Rachel ever had. Halle occupied my thoughts to a possibly unhealthy degree. This past week had dragged on as I had not so patiently waited for our time together today. I had tried to time my arrival home at the end of the day to when she usually got home, hoping to run into her. I had been successful a few times, and those chance meetings had been the best part of my day. Every time I was with her, it got harder and harder to not touch her in some way, to not pull her into my arms. Then there was the fact that I loved talking to her. I loved hearing about her life, about her day. Add in how I’d opened up to her about my relationship with my father, and I wasn’t sure what it all meant.

The most scary and disturbing thing was that I was actually planning on going to her cycling class next Saturday morning just so I could see her. If that didn’t prove I was in too deep, then nothing would. Going to a spin class was the equivalent to walking through hell. I was willing to walk through hell for her.

I should be scared of this truth rolling around in my head. I should be running as fast as I could in the other direction. Nothing good could come out of getting myself further hooked on all things Halle.

“Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

Yep, I was a total goner.

She looked over at me and chuckled. “You don’t really have a choice since it’s my unplanned day.”

That was true. But what she didn’t know—what I was just figuring out—was that Iwantedto go wherever she was going. She made me happy. She lessened the burden I felt to be constantly working. Two Saturdays in a row, I hadn’t even checked my email. I hadn’t done that in years. She was all-consuming, and I loved every second of it.

When we parked near Pier 39, I was surprised this was where she had taken us. It was a highly trafficked tourist spot, and most city natives steered clear of it, especially on a Saturday night.

We got out of the car and walked toward the pier.

She looped her arm around mine, the closeness a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, there was nothing romantic or suggestive about it. She’d simply attached herself to my side in a friendly way, probably more to do with the chill in the air than anything else.

She looked up at me with that beautiful smile of hers. “Every good day needs to end with ice cream.”

And that was it. It was decided. I wanted more days like this. More days roaming the city doing whatever would make her smile like that.

“Ice cream sounds amazing,” I said, smiling back down at her.

Our faces were close, and I wished I could erase the distance and take her lips with mine.

But since we were walking and I assumed neither of us wanted to trip or slam into another pedestrian, we returned our attention to walking to the ice cream shop.

After we got our ice cream cones, we walked up and down the pier, talking about random things and going into the little shops. At one store, she made me try on a bunch of weird hats, insisting she needed photographic evidence of me goofing around. I let her, of course, because that’s what a guy does when he likes a girl. She eventually joined in with me, taking selfies of us wearing ridiculous hats and making even more ridiculous faces.

I hadn’t had this much fun since I was in high school. And I definitely hadn’t relaxed and laughed like this…possibly ever.

We walked back down to the end of the pier, stopping at the railing to look out over the black water, the lights from the city reflecting back at us.

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